THESE ARE THE 10 FACTS ABOUT ZOOS

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Wednesday, 25th August 2021

1. Zoos are deplorable environments for animals.

A Freedom for Animals undercover investigator caught unwell animals at Tweddle Farm Zoo being left untreated and deceased animals being left to decay on the floors in 2010. After our expose, local authorities removed a monkey who had been kept alone and given cake and other junk food to consume, and Freedom for Animals had to send bunnies to the vet to have diseases addressed.

Do you believe safari parks are superior than ‘traditional' zoos? The lions at Woburn Safari Park were kept in small enclosures for 18 hours a day. “The animals were excessively congested, and there was no provision for individual feeding or resting areas,” according to a government zoo inspection report from 2010. There was no evident improvement to the environment. Some of the lions had skin wounds and many scars of varying ages, some of which were new and some of which had healed.”

2. Zoos do not have enough space.

Zoos are unable to provide the same amount of room as animals in the wild. This is especially true for species that travel longer distances in their natural habitat. In zoos, tigers and lions have almost 18,000 times the area they would have in the wild. Polar bears have a millionth of the space of humans.

3. Animals in zoos suffer.

During the day, 54 percent of elephants in UK zoos showed stereotypies (behavioural disorders), according to a government-funded study. One elephant stereotyped for 61 percent of a 24-hour period while watched during the day and night.

4. Animals in zoos die young

African elephants in the wild live up to three times longer than those in zoos. Even Asian elephants who work in lumber camps outlive those born in zoos.

40% of lion cubs die before they reach the age of one month. Only 30% of cubs in the wild are estimated to die before they reach the age of six months, and at least a third of those fatalities are thought to be attributable to conditions that do not exist in zoos, such as predation.

Also Read: Pet-Keeping Has Soared During Pandemic- May Pose a Grim Picture for the Planet Say Experts

5. Excess animals are slaughtered

According to a Freedom for Animals study, at least 7,500 animals — and possibly as many as 200,000 are ‘surplus' in European zoos at any given time.

Zoos in the United Kingdom routinely ‘cull' animals. After the pack's social structure collapsed in 2006, the entire pack of wolves at Highland Wildlife Park was slaughtered. At Dartmoor Wildlife Park in 2005, two wolf cubs and an adult female were shot and killed. “Selective culling because to congestion and fighting in the pack,” the doctor said, adding that “further culling of cubs is needed.” In October 2001, a DEFRA zoo inspection of Dartmoor Wildlife Park discovered "many significant dead animals" stashed in a food freezer "for future taxidermy."

6. Zoos in the United Kingdom are linked to animal circuses

In 2009, Freedom for Animals revealed that a UK zoo, which was a member of the trade association BIAZA (which is intended to keep the highest standards), had a breeding relationship with a problematic animal circus. For several years, Noah's Ark Zoo Farm had been breeding camels from the Great British Circus, then in 2009, the circus sent them three tigers.

7. Animals can be taught to do tricks.

Many zoos teach their animals to do feats like they're in a circus. Many UK zoos have performing sea lions, birds, and elephants.

Electric goads have been used to train elephants in the past. In 1998, Freedom for Animals infiltrated a training session at Blackpool Zoo and filmed elephants being trained to lift their feet and heads, grip sticks in their mouths, and be stabbed in the shoulder and head with elephant hooks.

8. Wild animals are still being stolen.

The capture of 146 penguins from a British territory in the South Atlantic was approved by the UK government in 2003. (Tristan da Cunha). Those who survived the seven-day boat trip from Tristan to a South African wildlife dealer were sold to Asian zoos [11].

Zimbabwe planned to catch two of each mammal species found in Hwange National Park in 2010 and transport them to North Korean zoos. Rhinos, lions, cheetahs, zebras, and giraffes, as well as two 18-month-old elephants, were among the animals. After international criticism from a coalition of organisations, including Freedom for Animals, the plan was halted.

9. Zoos don't help the environment.

Although zoos promise to raise animals for ultimate release into the wild, breeding programmes are largely used to maintain a captive population rather than for reintroduction.

Although lions are popular in zoos, the great majority are "generic" animals with unclear subspecific status and so have little or no conservation significance.

10. Zoos are a failure in terms of education.

According to a Freedom for Creatures survey of UK aquariums, 41% of the animals on display lacked signs indicating their species — the most basic of information.

According to a research conducted in the United States, there is no strong evidence that zoos and aquariums influence visitors' attitudes, education, or conservation concern. The authors of the report recommended zoos to avoid publicising a zoo-funded study that claimed a benefit from visits in terms of education, claiming that "this conclusion is unfounded and potentially misleading to consumers."

The News Talkie Bureau

Source                                

Freedomforanimals