Documentary Review: Morgan Spurlock's The Inside Man

I knew the zoo-themed episode of The Inside Man was going to make me mad the moment I heard of it.  Morgan Spurlock, best known as the producer of Supersize Me, has followed up his most famous antics - stuffing himself with Big Macs - with a new series on CNN that takes him behind the scenes of various social issues.  Last night, zoos were the subject of his focus.  Three facilities were chosen for his review - the Detroit Zoo, GW Zoo (a private zoo run by the self-styled wildlife expert "Joe Exotic"), and the Performing Animal Welfare Sanctuary of California.

Preliminary footage and clips were, to say the least, not zoo friendly.

All in all, I was surprised that the documentary wasn't as bad as I was expecting.  Spurlock spent most of his episode at the Detroit Zoo, interviewing keepers, assisting with animal care, talking to guests, and touring behind the scenes.  Yes, he made some snotty comments (only as voice overs, never to the keepers themselves, giving them a chance at rebuttal), but mostly I was surprised at how happy he seemed to be among the animals.  You could tell that interacting with penguins, gorillas, and other creatures was an exciting, unique experience for him (as it should be).  I don't think he appreciated how much his presence was a disturbance for some of the animals, though, which caused him to misinterpret some behaviors.  Perhaps the gorillas weren't body-slamming the fencing because they were angry at being in a zoo - perhaps they were upset because some stranger with a camera-crew was traipsing about their home.

Spurlock contrasts Detroit with two other facilities.  Joe Exotic's roadside zoo is portrayed as a disheveled dump where visitors cuddle big cat cubs, chimps eat potato chips (and the bags they come in), and massively overweight ligers drag themselves around the zoo.  Joe himself is interviewed briefly, declaring his contempt for AZA, which he dubs "the country club of zoos."  Then, he goes to the PAWS in California, home to the former Detroit Zoo elephants (as well as the Toronto Zoo elephants).  PAWS is portrayed as a wonderland for animals, with any potential problems - Tuberculosis? Drought? Isolated animals? - conveniently ignored as Spurlock bathes an elephant with a hose.

What annoys me the most the Spurlock (besides scenes where he harasses a gorilla trainer at Detroit by acting like an angry ape), is what he leaves out.  He mentions zoo breeding programs, but only as a method of filling zoo exhibits.  He doesn't mention the role that zoos have played in saving endangered species through captive breeding (Arabian oryx, California condor, black-footed ferret), including some which almost certainly would be extinct now if not for zoos.  Likewise, his theory that captive breeding is all about the money ignores the fact that many of our most expensive conservation breeding programs - such as those for amphibians, or Marianas Island birds - are for species that have very little visitor appeal.  Heck, why would anyone go into zookeeping for the money?  Most irritatingly, he says nothing of "the wild' - if zoos stop breeding endangered species (as well as species that may become endangered in the future), what sort of future do these animals have left?  The onslaught of poaching, habitat loss, and invasive species doesn't make me optimistic.

Spurlock at least ends his documentary with one note that I can agree with.  In the future, we need zoos to be more about animals, less about us.  That I hope we could all get on board with.