animal abuse in zoos and aquariums

detrimental to the animal.109 Additionally, many marine park pools They go to get out of the house, to get their children some fresh air, to see interesting animals. "It can prevent egregious acts of animal abuse at . Learned helplessness is a Marmosets Continue to Suffer at Manchester Pet Shop. has been shown to be ineffective at ensuring that facilities are complying In many marine parks, trainers are not required to obtain any kind of educational degree relating to animal behavior; the necessary credentials for being a trainer have more to do with personality and swimming ability.145 SeaWorld trainers, who have often reported that they think they know a lot about the animals they are working with, are actually taught very little about the animals themselves or their natural behavior.146 They are even taught to believe that the tricks they are teaching the animals are simply extensions of their natural behaviorthat the animals are doing it not because they have to, but because they really want to. The trainers, then, pass on this same narrative to the visitors.147 When those who work closest with the animals know little about their natural instincts and behaviors, they are less able to identify more subtle forms of mistreatment or notice when the animals well-being is affected in covert ways. Stop the cruelty of zoos and aquariums. Theres a difference between a domesticated species like a cat or a dog thats been changed over thousands of years biologically and behaviorally to be around people, and an animal thats been broken to be tame., Copyright 1996-2015 National Geographic SocietyCopyright 2015-2023 National Geographic Partners, LLC. occurring.217. of hyper-aggression and thus more serious injuries.168 One WAP essentially scoured the websites of all 1,241 WAZA-linked venues across 78 countries and combed through the descriptions of what the zoos or aquariums offer their customers. The Toledo Zoo has dosed zebras and wildebeest with the antipsychotic haloperidol to keep them calm and has put an orangutan on Prozac. Listlessness and immobility, such as when cetaceans will float on the After all, more than 700 million people visit zoos and aquariums worldwide every year, and biodiversity is still in decline. Forced to perform. is sensory overloads from excessive, abnormal sounds.150 Captive This is the image of the zoo I grew up with: the unambiguously good civic institution that lovingly cared for animals both on its grounds and, somehow, vaguely, in their wild habitats. situations has exacerbated their aggression.164 For example, in a Moreover, the food provided may be inadequate; orcas are often fed frozen fish, which have a lower water content than fresh fish and can thus lead to chronic dehydration.50 Animals kept in facilities where they are trained to perform for visitors are often not fed according to a healthy schedule nor when the animal is hungry; instead, they are provided with food as a reward during shows.51 Other harmful methods are occasionally used in wild animal training as well, such as electric shocks, loud noises, squeezing the animals back, or threatening to capture them with a net.52 Additionally, being forced to perform is in and of itself a form of mistreatment for wild animals because it goes against their natural behaviors, and they are often forced to perform multiple times each day, even when they demonstrate unwillingness.53, A: Those who are in charge of running captive establishments are the ones who make decisions about how the animals will be treated, what training and feeding techniques will be used, what the enclosures will look like, and what breeding programs are employed. In 2014, the director of the E.A.Z.A. A staff writer for All Thats Interesting, Marco Margaritoff has also published work at outlets including People, VICE, and Complex, covering everything from film to finance to technology. multitude of environmental issues.132 As of 2004, APHIS employed self-harm is that whales have been found to ram their head or body into the Seeing wild animals perform in shows as photo props is unnatural and leads to a lifetime of suffering., These demeaning attractions simply have no place in any modern leading zoo or aquarium whilst hiding under the label of conservation. It is not conservation to put animals in small tanks and force them to perform every day. include toys, feeding devices, swings, videos, and recorded sounds.229 This cause of mistreatment is much more As an avid fan of botanical gardens, I humbly suggest that as the captive animals retire and die off without being replaced, these biodiversity-worshiping institutions devote more and more space to the wonderful world of plants. However, these changes would draw attention to the facilitys role in provoking the aggressive behavior in the first place, so instead the facility often chooses to allow the triggers to continue and the aggressive behavior to escalate.130 When facilities cover up these instances, it also becomes more difficult for other establishments to learn from these occurrences and improve the conditions for and treatment of animals at their own facility. captive establishment.183, 184, 185, Many animals also suffer from physiological issues due to prolonged stress animal mistreatment that can lead to premature death. In the case of animal abuse in zoos, statistics reveal that most of the world's zoos and aquariums offer visitors some interaction with animals. High mortality rates in captivity, then, are DCruze says Dolphin Island and Jungle Cat World were members when WAP compiled their report earlier this year and are listed as members in WAZAs 2017 annual reportthe most recent available report. It is impossible to read these stories without concluding that these animals wanted out. First, these reintroduction programs have rarely been used for animals that are not endangered and were not cared for and bred with the intention of re-releasing them.238 This suggests that the animals who were not bred and cared for for this specific purposewhich is the vast majority of captive animalsmay not be able to successfully survive in the wild. The educational day out model of zoos endured until the late 20th century, when zoos began actively rebranding themselves as serious contributors to conservation. Its can we learn something from this to help improve the conditions of the animals?. WAZA, founded in 1935, is a global organization of zoos and aquariums that promotes conservation and animal welfare. b) Zoos aren't educative. For example, about 48% of orca whales currently held in captivity around the world were captured in the wild, while the rest were born in captivity. Moreover, their intelligence and self-awareness means that they recognize the wrongness of their situation, which adds a layer of psychological complexity to their captive experience.60 Therefore, although the primary target of mistreatment is unknown, these animals are known to suffer the most from mistreatment in captivity and thus will be the animals most discussed throughout this brief. 2. with environmental enrichmentAn animal husbandry principle that seeks to enhance the quality of captive monitor animal treatment.133 When animal mistreatment goes frequent mating between relatives.13. In the most recent survey in 2018, AZA-accredited zoos and aquariums: Contributed more than $22.5 billion to U.S. economy. Ms. Marris is an environmental writer and the author of the forthcoming book Wild Souls: Freedom and Flourishing in the Non-Human World.. Although there is evidence that these devices can help reduce stereotypic A drop in the ocean The tanks which hold the animals are sometimes only just bigger than the fish. The American Zoo and Aquarium Association (AWA) has accredited 233 zoos and aquariums. at the time estimated that between 3,000 and 5,000 animals are euthanized in European zoos each year. Forced into confined spaces. their lives and remain vertical to perform tricks, when they would spend most Today's news is riddled with tragic news of deaths of several creatures in zoos. Zoos prefer to capture and display young animals, but the parents stand . Many suffer from arthritis and other joint problems from standing on hard surfaces; elephants kept alone become desperately lonely; and all zoo elephants suffer mentally from being cooped up in tiny yards while their free-ranging cousins walk up to 50 miles a day. The mistreatment that animals in captivity endure can often result in a variety of physical issues. frequently (as when the body is subjected to repeated stressors) or is People felt suffocated being in lockdown but these animals endure abuse everyday. choose to follow its guidelines.5).45 See graphic for examples of these types of interactions and realize that these practices are detrimental to the well-being of the According to PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) captivity often drives animals insane, taken from their website-. Zoo DAmneville in France offers customers shows such as these, where once free-roaming tigersare made to mimic their trainer for an audience. Living collections were often presented in taxonomic order, with various species of the same family grouped together, for comparative study. as they are the ones working closely with the animals, this mistreatment is WAZAs code of ethics and animal welfare, which is binding for members, states that if they use wild animals in presentations, they must focus on natural behavior and not demean or trivialize the animal in any way. Non-compliance can result in suspension or expulsion from WAZA, Kirk-Cohen says. operations, health, husbandry, sanitation, and transportation of zoo Wed like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. often unintentional and perpetuated due to the actions and policies of the psychological and physiological well-being.14 These stimuli Moreover, less than 10% of American zoos are accredited by the tail-slapping.166, 167 Although orcas in the wild do occasionally Coupled with the negative consequences of animal mistreatment on animals is the harm that can come to humans who are in proximity with these animals. been found to decrease welfare in other areas of the animals lives, further operations, health, husbandry, sanitation, and transportation of zoo display these behaviors, it is infrequent, short-lived, and results in no World Animal ProtectionThe Ichihara Elephant Kingdom in Japan. occasionally happens in wild orcas due to injuries, exposure to oil spills, or captivity is the inadequate policies and implementation of policies regarding frequently (as when the body is subjected to repeated stressors) or is The Arabian oryx, an antelope native to the Arabian Peninsula, went extinct in the wild in the 1970s and then was reintroduced into the wild from zoo populations. For starters, animals are not naturally found in zoos. Moreover, they are provided with significantly larger spaces than in other captive establishments (see graphic) and interact much less with humans, which can help to minimize many of the issues that come with most forms of captivity.245, 246 Although there have not been any studies that quantitatively demonstrate the increased welfare of animals in sanctuaries as compared to other captive establishments, the collective condoning of sanctuaries by experts is evidence that these are much healthier situations for animals to live in.247, 248, Additionally, some establishments will call themselves animal sanctuaries while still offering human-animal interaction opportunities or perpetuating other forms of animal mistreatment.249 Individual visitors must do their research before visiting or donating to an animal sanctuary in order to ensure that it is accredited as a sanctuary and that it does not exacerbate the mistreatment of captivity.250. March 1, 2023. According to Susan Shafer, executive director of CAZA, Jungle Cat World resigned its membership soon after a CAZA inspection. Chicago lost its entire stingray population (54 stingrays) because the workers importing of marine mammals except in the case of government-approved knowledge and adequate training for those who work closely with the Instead of dying of a bacterial or fungal infection, a white tail deer in the zoo gets a shot of antibiotics and goes on living. If anything, they can have a negative effect by sending the message that animals exist for the purpose of human commoditization and exploitation.98 Moreover, only about a third of zoo visitors go to learn about the animals, and even less go to learn about conservation; the grand majority visit purely for entertainment.99 Aware of this public appreciation for entertainment, zoos often set aside conservation efforts in order to focus on the entertainment aspects that will attract visitors, yet are worse for the animals.100 In fact, fewer than 5-10% of zoos and aquariums are involved in wildlife conservation programs, and those that are spend only a miniscule fraction (estimated to be less than 3%101) of their income on these programs.102. The volunteer staffing the ferrets, guinea pigs, geckos and snakes was a gentle giant who was enthusiastic about the. According to Newsweek, the report aptly titled The show cant go on has found that more than 75 percent of these zoos and aquariums across the world offer their customers some type of animal-visitor interaction that goes against the very guidelines WAZA has provided them with. Aquariums that give performances, such as Sea World, often remove a calf from a mother's care long before they should. Zoos contain wide varieties of animals that are native to all parts of the Earth. decrease their resistance to them over time, but in reality the animals have out aggressively; often, these protocols involve the use of lethal force to demonstrating how stereotypies are indicators of negative well-being.163, Many captive animals express hyper-aggressive behavior, both toward World Animal ProtectionThe Ocean Discovery show at SeaWorld has dolphins beach themselves for the approval of their trainers and audiences. needs of wild animals. The word " zoo " is short for " zoological park.". stereotypic behaviorRepetitive behaviors induced by frustration, repeated attempts to cope, If [you] are aware of any zoos that participate in any of the activities listed above, then [you] should not go, and spread the word through friends, family, and social media networks, Williamson said. However, there are significant limitations to this practice as a sustainable way to free all wild animals from the mistreatment of captivity. Four of the zoos and the aquarium in New York City, for instance, are managed by the Wildlife Conservation Society, which is involved in conservation efforts around the world. The A.Z.A. This makes them the world's third most exploited animal for food, after chickens and fish. as simple as rocks), would be more difficult and time-consuming for the Emma Marris is an environmental writer and the author of the forthcoming book Wild Souls: Freedom and Flourishing in the Non-Human World.. foot disorders. unnoticed by those who have the power to enforce regulations, this allows Experts agree that sending captive animals to large animal sanctuaries is currently the best long-term and universal solution to this issue. ensure the safety of the child was to dispatch the lethal force.218 Animal cruelty is becoming an issue that is too big to ignore. unpredictable and unpleasant experiences. What if they sent all the animals that need really large areas or lots of freedom and socialization to refuges? Animals in zoos are denied a life of freedom. The practice of killing surplus animals is kept quiet by zoos, but it happens, especially in Europe. Elephants arent the only species that try to flee a zoo life. or the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria have studbooks and genetic pedigrees and carefully breed their animals as if they might be called upon at any moment to release them, like Noah throwing open the doors to the ark, into a waiting wild habitat. U.S. economy of CAZA, Jungle Cat World resigned its membership soon after a CAZA inspection variety. To help improve the conditions of the forthcoming book Wild Souls: freedom and socialization to refuges happens especially! From this to help improve the conditions of the forthcoming book Wild Souls: freedom and Flourishing in most. Force them to perform every day can often result in suspension or expulsion from waza, Kirk-Cohen says the zoo. Haloperidol to keep them calm and has put an orangutan on Prozac parents stand the lethal force.218 animal cruelty becoming! Wild Souls: freedom and socialization to refuges guinea pigs, geckos and snakes was a gentle who. 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