Let's examine what affects zoos have on humans and non-human animals:
| Non-Humans Animals |
Humans |
| Lost their freedom |
Been entertained |
| Deprived from their natural environment, society,
family and mates |
Been entertained |
| Unable to choose when to eat, drink or sleep |
Been entertained |
| Animals which would naturally roam for tens of miles a day ]
tread the same few paces daily |
Been entertained |
| Giraffes, which drift gracefully above the trees in Africa,
in the zoo, become awkward looking freaks in a sideshow |
Been entertained |
| Birds' wings may be clipped so they cannot fly |
Been entertained |
| The animals have little opportunity for mental stimulation or physical exercise,
resulting in abnormal and self-destructive behavior, called Zoochosis |
Been entertained |
| With nothing to do, these zoo animals go out of their minds |
Been entertained |
| Abnormal behavior like rocking from side to side, pacing up and down
or round and round, waving or circling the head, are happing over and over again |
Been entertained |
| Elephants spend 22 percent of their time engaging in abnormal behaviors,
such as repeated head bobbing or biting cage bars |
Been entertained |
| Bears pulling out their own fur to the point that the belly and hind legs are bald |
Been entertained |
| Gorilla smear faeces on walls and eat them |
Been entertained |
Despite their professed concern for animals, zoos remain more "collections" of interesting
"items" than actual havens or simulated habitats. Zoos teach people that it is acceptable to
keep animals in captivity, bored, cramped, lonely, and far from their natural homes.
Animals in zoos are treated like stamp collections.
The more animals the better, especially
if they are large animals from foreign places that the public would be willing to pay money
to see. It doesn’t matter if a zoo have only one of a species on its own, or if the space is
much too small for the animal. The "specimens" are arranged in cages to make it easy to
observe them at close range and at all times. They are captured from the wild, and many
die during capture and transport.
The power and dignity of these animals are often stripped from them and instead of being
at one with an environment for which they have evolved, they sit in a wasteland. They are
often no more than caricatures of their wild counterparts.
Caged animals are deprived of their normal society, their families and mates.
They have little opportunity to run, soar in the sky, swing through the trees, or roam
over large distances. Most importantly, they usually have nothing to do, and don't need to
use their intelligence and skills to solve daily problems of survival. they go mad from boredom.
Nothing much changes in a zoo enclosure.
Space in zoos rarely, if ever, matches the animals' natural range, and more commonly is reduced
instead to virtually nothing. Animals which would naturally roam for tens of miles a day tread
the same few paces daily. Some of the fastest animals on earth live in pens so small that they
could not gather pace to a trot, let alone full speed.
Giraffes, which drift gracefully above the trees in Africa, in the zoo, become awkward looking
freaks in a sideshow.
Some zoo enclosures mean that the inmates cannot even enjoy their most basic behavioral repertoire
including exercise, social interaction and bathing.
Birds are virtually stripped of their most precious gift - flight, often able to do little more
than flutter their wings. Birds of prey do not soar, but perch and vegetate. Consequently,
captive birds like vultures and pelicans are prone to bone disease. For fifteen hours a day,
many animals may be shut away in their night quarters with even less room to move. However,
it is not just a matter of space, but also the quality of the environment.
Chimpanzees are our closest relatives in the animal kingdom, their intelligence is universally
accepted, but they exchange the infinite possibilities of the forest for little more than
playground climbing frames, which would not keep a human child occupied for hours, let alone years.
Creatures of the night cannot spend a day away from prying eyes. Reptiles may climb or scratch
at their glass tanks because they don't understand why they can't get out.
Birds' wings may be clipped so they cannot fly, aquatic animals often have little water,
and the many animals that naturally live in large herds or family groups are often kept alone
or, at most, in pairs. Natural hunting and mating behaviors are virtually eliminated by regulated
feeding and breeding regimens. The animals are closely confined, lack privacy, solitary and shy
animals are often in enclosures with viewing from all sides, have little opportunity for mental stimulation
or physical exercise, resulting in abnormal and self-destructive behavior, called Zoochosis.
Deep instincts that have evolved over thousands of years can't find any outlet. The result is
boredom and stress. Animals may become apathetic and just sit in one place. They may show
signs of mental disturbance through abnormal behaviours.
Such obsessive and repetitive behaviours (known as stereotypic behaviour), including self-mutilation,
are common amongst other zoo animals as a result of frustration and boredom. Such pointless
repetitive movements have also been noted in mentally ill people.
With nothing to do, these zoo animals go out of their minds.
The most common abnormal behaviour was repeated movement: rocking from side to side,
pacing up and down or round and round,
waving or circling the head, over and over again. Many species showed such
behaviour in captivity.
The physical, mental, and social aspects of the life of a wild elephant are so complex.
Wild elephants frequently bathe in mud and water. This maintains the skin and is a pleasurable
experience enjoyed by whole families of elephants. Elephants also dust themselves with dry earth,
which it is believed protects the elephants from the sun and insect bites. For elephants in captivity,
particularly in circuses, these behaviours are not possible. Elephants are also deprived of basics
such as mud wallows and dusting facilities. An elephant whose herd and social structure are
so important, imprisoned alone. Elephants spend 22 percent
of their time engaging in abnormal behaviors, such as repeated head bobbing or biting cage bars.
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Polar bears often suffer severe mentally disturbance. They spend about third of
their time pacing a sign of distress bears pulling out their own fur to the point that
the belly and hind legs are bald. The death rate of cubs in captivity is twice as
high as in the wild.
Caged big cats will often pace the same path again and again, their plodding step not
faltering, crushing vegetation to leave a neat track showing the course they will walk
for the rest of their lives. Great apes and elephants will rock, sway or shift repeatedly
from side to side. Other disturbed behaviour, particularly amongst giraffes, may include
licking the walls and chewing the bars of their pens. Jaguars chew the end of their tail,
which has become completely bald.
Primates may over groom themselves or each other and this can lead to self-mutilation.
Disturbed maternal behaviour may also involve over grooming but also the rejection or
killing of young. Abnormal behaviour in reptiles may manifest itself as climbing or
scratching at their glass tanks because they don't understand why they can't get out.
Other reptiles may become completely sedentary, seemingly sleeping their lives away behind a
rock. The animal may be trying to wait out the environment in which he/she is trapped, but the
wait never ends.
Gorilla smearing faeces on walls and eat them. Gorillas and a chimpanzees vomiting and eating
their vomit.
Abnormal behaviors
Bar biting
The repeated biting, rubbing the mouth along, or even sucking on the
bars of an enclosure, which can result in damage to teeth and the mouth
area particularly if the bars are rusty.
Can be displayed by captive bears.
Tongue playing
The continual licking on walls, bars or gates in an enclosure.
Can be displayed by giraffes and camels.
Pacing
Continuous walking back and forth, following the same path. Signs of regular pacing include
definite paths worn in the ground.
Can be displayed by big cats.
Circling
An acute form of pacing, the following of a defined route placing feet in exactly the same
position each time.
Can be displayed by elephants & bears
Neck twisting
Unnatural twisting and rolling of the neck, often flicking the head around or bending the
neck back. It can be combined with a pacing behaviour.
Can be displayed by giraffe, llama & monkey species.
Vomiting
A form of ‘bulimia’, the repeated vomiting, eating of vomit and regurgitation.
Can be displayed by gorillas & chimpanzees.
Coprophagia
Playing with and eating excrement, smearing it on wall and glass.
Can be displayed by gorillas & chimpanzees.
Rocking
Sitting, sometimes hugging the legs, rocking forwards and back. A recognised symptom of
mental illness in humans.
Can be displayed by chimpanzees.
Swaying
Standing in one place and swaying the head and shoulders, even the whole body, from side
to side. A behaviour exhibited by mentally ill humans.
Can be displayed by elephants & bears.
Head bobbing & weaving
Standing in one place and continuously moving the head up and down, or weaving to and fro.
Can be displayed by bears and elephants.
Overgrooming
Grooming to an excessive extent, pulling out hair or feathers, often leaving bald patches,
irritated and broken skin.
Can be displayed bears & parrots.
Self mutilation
Self-inflicted physical harm, such as biting or chewing tail or leg, or hitting a head against a wall.
Can be displayed by big cats, bears & primates.
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This repetitive, apparently senseless behaviour indicates neurosis or even insanity. It is
caused by boredom, loneliness, frustration, stress and psychological and habitat deprivation.
It is humans who pay for this. They pay to other humans who cause this. And it is humans that
profit on the account of the nonhumans sanity. So who really is the insane?
Zoo babies are great crowd-pleasers, but what happens when babies grow up?
Zoos often sell or
kill animals that no longer attract visitors. Deer, tigers, lions, and other animals that breed
often are sometimes sold to "game" farms where hunters pay for the "privilege" of killing them;
some are killed for their meat and/or hides. Other "surplus" animals may be sold to smaller,
more poorly run zoos or to laboratories for experiments.
Zoos also claim to be educational. But what can they teach us when they can't see how wrong it
is to cage and pen wild animals? Animals, which have become depressed or show unnatural stereotypic
behaviour are only 'educational' in showing how man can drive an animal mad by keeping it in
unnatural prison-like conditions.
Ultimately zoos and safari parks are simply entertainment. Some even present animals performing
little more than circus tricks to keep the visitors amused. People who go to zoos go simply to
amuse themselves, and not to actually learn something about the wonderful creatures who share
this planet with us.
Zoos claim that they afford people the opportunity to see something that many
will never see in the wild. This is true. The zoo world is one where the primates
hide their faces, the predators never hunt and mothers eat their young rather than let
them survive. Elephant will rock and swing for hours. Bears, dogs and cats pace; monkeys
stare; rhinos circle.
Anthropoid apes will eat faeces and gorillas their own vomit. The
zoo people are right, you won't see these "things" in the wild.
Zoos emphasise the domination of humans over other species. This confinement suggests that
humans can do as they wish with other animals. Zoos teach us a false sense of our place in
the natural order. The means of confinement mark a difference between humans and animals.
They are there for our pleasure, to be used for our purposes.
Innocents-in prison all their life. Lonely, solitary beasts shuffle around concrete enclosures,
their eyes sad and empty.
Conventional campaigns will only wider the cages not liberate the animals.
We are their only hope.
Only One Solution