Scientific Director of Copenhagen Zoo, Bengt Holst, responds to the debate article from XX published in Politiken’s online newspaper on April 17, 2018 If you really love animals, stay far away from zoos.
Bengt Holst’s commentary is divided into two parts: first a few clarifying observations about zoos and their purpose, and then answers to XX’s criticisms. In order to provide as precise answers as possible, XX’s views and questions have been extracted from the article and attempted to be answered individually.
The overall purpose of zoos is nature conservation. This goal is achieved through four main activities:
- Creating fascination for nature
- Communicating about nature (nature vision)
- Research & Development
- In situ nature conservation activities
What makes zoos unique in this field is that we build these four main activities on live animals that act as ambassadors for their fellow species in nature. No one else is doing this, which is why we can make a unique contribution to nature conservation. But to be able to do this work far into the future, 50 and 100 years from now, it’s important that we manage our animal population properly. And this applies on two levels:
- Individually – we must provide good welfare for our animals.
- Population-wise – we need to manage our populations so that they are healthy and genetically diverse in 50 and 100 years. Hence the international breeding collaborations.
It’s in this light that you have to see the work of serious zoos and the framework in which we work. And it goes without saying that in order to fascinate and create good communication, we have to make sure that the animals have the best possible opportunities to express themselves. Otherwise, we’re telling the wrong story and therefore not achieving our goal. So good welfare and consideration for the animals’ natural needs are absolutely necessary factors in any zoo operation.
There are good zoos and bad zoos. And there is no doubt that there are many zoos around the world that do not meet the standards that should be expected of them.
Science-based zoos have an overarching purpose and work hard to meet the needs of the animals as much as possible. This is the only way they can fulfill their purpose, which is to actively contribute to the preservation of nature’s diversity. Partly by creating the fascination that is a prerequisite for wanting to preserve nature at all, and partly by participating in international breeding programs that ensure healthy animal populations well into the future. Healthy animal populations that can be used to study the animals to gain knowledge to protect them in the wild, and to support wild populations with reintroductions if necessary.
Finally, it’s also worth emphasizing that serious zoos today work together on non-commercial terms. We don’t buy and sell animals from each other, but exchange them freely based on what is best for the populations. All in light of the overall purpose.
Comments on the individual sections of XX’s opinion piece:
XX:
… what about zoos? From an animal ethics perspective, they are indefensible. It is cruelty to animals when they are not treated as living beings and when they are not given the best possible protection from suffering and fear. And they don’t do that in zoos. Here, animal welfare is compromised to make money.
Bengt Holst (BEH):
Animals in zoos are treated as living beings and with respect for their specific needs. When we design for animals, we look at how they live in nature and identify the demands they place on their environment (physical and social). And on that basis, we design facilities and organize the way we keep them. We do NOT compromise on animal welfare, but strive to meet their natural needs as much as possible. We know that we will never be able to give the animals conditions exactly like in nature, but we can get quite far if we, like all serious zoos, base our management on science and not on gut feelings or romanticized notions of how animals think.
XX:
A life behind glass, bars and fencing is no life for wild animals. Because even though the animals have never tried anything else, a life in captivity still goes against their nature. The confined space prevents the animals from living out their instincts. Hunting, long-distance migrations and life in packs are out of reach. At the same time, they are regularly sold and traded between zoos. This too is part of the mistreatment.
BEH:
Animals are housed in facilities that are designed to accommodate their behavioral needs, including getting the exercise they need. But animals have no particular need to “wander”. They only move if there is a purpose for it. Anything else would expose them to further danger. So, if we just make sure that animals have what they need and are not exposed to danger, there is no reason for them to “wander”. But of course, they need to be able to move around to get the exercise they need.
And of course, there is a lower limit to what is acceptable when it comes to the issue of animal facility size. But in a modern zoo, we are nowhere near that limit. The quality of the facility (i.e. the layout) is of far greater value than the size. It’s the layout that gives the animals the daily challenges that make their lives more complex and triggers much of their natural behavior. Personally, I would rather have a small enclosure that is well designed than a large enclosure that is poorly designed (a fenced football field for a herd of squirrel monkeys gives them a lot of space but not much challenge. On the contrary, they would be scared to death of the open area and cower in one corner. But a small enclosure with trees and bushes where they can hide and get away from each other will fully accommodate their behavior and need for security).
XX:
Animals are transported over long distances where noise, agitation and unfamiliar surroundings stress them. The exchange is done without taking into account the strong bonds that animals can form with each other. This is the case with elephants, which are herd animals that show compassion, grief and altruism.
BEH:
It’s true that animals are sometimes transported over long distances. But that in itself is not a problem as long as the transportation takes place under proper conditions. That’s why there are international rules around this. For each individual animal, it usually only happens once or twice in their lifetime, to fulfill the need to also have a healthy population far into the future. And in the process of bringing animals together to get the best possible breeding pairs, social bonds are also taken into account. That’s one of the things that breeding programs provide.
XX:
It’s true that many zoos are constantly working to improve conditions. They activate the animals and train them. But the stress of life in the spotlight and the unnatural conditions make the animals neurotic. They constantly repeat their movement patterns. Boredom shines out of their eyes. It’s simply not possible to provide conditions for polar bears, giraffes, lions and other wild animals to behave naturally.
BEH:
It’s not true that animals become neurotic. It is true that some animals have stereotypes, and of course you have to work specifically with them to remove the causes of the stereotypes. However, these are few animals, at least in serious zoos, and you can’t generalize in any way. And when it does occur, great efforts are made to remedy the problems. And problems will always arise when dealing with live animals, whether they are zoo animals, pets or farm animals. That’s why we have a professional staff of zookeepers, veterinarians and zoologists to take care of the animals, and we spend a lot of resources on what we call enrichment in zoo language. In short, we do everything we can to give the animals as many challenges in their daily lives as possible, so that they have a life similar to what they have in the wild.
XX:
Zoos justify their existence by being part of international breeding programs that protect endangered species. It’s all about nature conservation. But Givskud Zoo itself states that only a third of their species are endangered in the wild. In other words, animals are bred for captivity and entertainment.
BEH:
It’s true that some of our breeding programs are with animals that are not directly endangered in the wild. But it’s not only the endangered animals that are exciting and need to be preserved, it’s also the others. That’s why we have breeding programs for both categories, so that both will still be around in a hundred years. At the same time, there is also the unknown factor that we don’t know which species will be endangered tomorrow. And if we only start a breeding program for that species at that time, it’s often too late. And to be clear: animals are not bred for “entertainment”, but for fascination!
XX:
It’s sad that the number of rhinos, elephants, tigers and other animals in the wild is declining dramatically. But it’s just as sad to let these animals live a life behind bars. It’s better to let nature take its course than to give animals a life in captivity.
BEH:
Well, you might think so. But our philosophy is that we humans are the main cause of the decline of many species. So it is also our responsibility to do what we can to reverse this decline. And the work of the serious zoos is one of the means to do this. We cannot stand alone. But by working closely with other conservation institutions and projects in the field, we can achieve at least part of our goals. And that’s better than throwing in the towel and “letting nature take its course”. After all, it’s not nature that takes its course, but human behavior that causes the problems.
XX:
In recent years, travel agencies have steadily announced that they have removed elephant rides, tiger petting and excursions with other forms of animal cruelty from their travel recommendations. “It’s great that Danes are becoming more conscious about avoiding animal cruelty when traveling. But it makes it even more unbelievable that many turn a blind eye to the obvious mistreatment taking place right under their noses in domestic zoos.
BEH:
There is a big difference between these circus-like initiatives and serious zoos. Zoos are of course against the exploitation of animals in this way! We emphasize showing the animals with respect for what they are and not for what we can turn them into. And when we train the animals, it’s not to do circus acts with them, but to be able to carry out various examinations on them, such as dental checks and blood tests without stressing them.
XX:
But we need to be more conscientious about animals. We can do that by changing our way of thinking. Wild animals should not come to us – we should come to them. The rich biodiversity should be experienced in a natural way.
BEH:
But how many people have the opportunity to travel to the many exotic destinations? The alternative is that they don’t experience the amazing diversity of the animal world and therefore don’t have a relationship with it. If you don’t have a relationship with nature, you don’t take responsibility. And thus we destroy the foundation for nature conservation.
Bengt Holst 18 APR 2018
