As published in The Star Malaysia
February 17, 2014
What is the aim of a breeding programme?
I REFER to “Zoo kills giraffe to prevent inbreeding” ( The Star, Feb 11)
where
the killing of a young, healthy giraffe in Copenhagen Zoo last week evoked
outrage around the world with animal lovers calling for the firing of the
top
zookeeper and some even making death threats.
The killing – which some newspapers described as an “execution” – along
with the public response, raises a number of issues. The first is with
regard to
zoos’ breeding programmes.
Zoos constantly seek to justify their existence by telling us they are
fulfilling
an important role by “conserving endangered species” with their “breeding
programmes” but, as we have seen by the killing of Marius the giraffe, zoos’
breeding programmes are certainly not about rehabilitating endangered
species to the wild. If they were, Marius could have been returned to Africa
to
live out his life in his natural habitat as nature intended.
But of course, this is not feasible. For a start, he wouldn’t know how to
live by
himself in the wild – and who is going to teach him?
So if the aim of breeding programmes is not to rehabilitate animals to the
wild, what is it?
Clearly the aim of breeding programmes is simply to breed animals so they
can be ogled at a longer time in zoos.
Apart from the fact that most animals wouldn’t know how to survive in the
wild
– admittedly there are exceptions – very soon there will be no habitat left
for
them because we are rapidly destroying it.
But zoos have always made me feel uncomfortable because they deprive
animals of their freedom and natural way of life.
With no tasks to exercise their intelligence or skills, animals become
depressed and listless and totally dependent on humans.
Some of them go crazy from the boredom, deprivation, frustration and stress.
Signs of this are self-mutilation and abnormal repetitive behaviours like
pacing up and down or rocking back and forth.
Even though the animals may look physically healthy and well cared for, they
are telling us they are suffering from inadequate lives.
An additional cause of stress for zoo animals is the fact that they may be
confined in countries which, climate wise, are the total opposite of those
in
which they have evolved to live.
Each year elephants, giraffes and other animals adapted to the heat are
forced to endure freezing winter temperatures in countries such as Russia
and Canada where the winter temperature can plummet to -30°C. Likewise,
polar bears are forced to bake in our searing 40°C summer temperatures.
The outrage following the killing of this one animal made me think, too,
about
the tens of thousands of other animals killed each year simply to feed the
zoos’ captive carnivores.
Whereas animals killed for food in the wild would have at least enjoyed a
natural life, these animals bred specifically for food would have known
nothing
but deprivation and suffering.
And finally, if we are appalled by the killing of one young healthy giraffe,
why
are we not appalled by the killing of billions of young, healthy cows and
sheep
who are “executed” on a daily basis simply to satisfy our taste for flesh?
If there is compassion for Marius, the sweet-faced giraffe who was
needlessly robbed of his life, why have we no compassion for these other
animals who I have no doubt are equally endearing and certainly, equally
deserving of life?
JENNY MOXHAM
Monbulk, Victoria Australia
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