Can Zoos really Justify their Existence?

[Shotgun]

If all exotic imports were band. How many exotic species in Australian zoos would have a healthy viable long term population?.

Lions would be around for awhile.

Tigers if they were treated as one species.

Forget about any other cat species.

A few unglulates. Most giraffe are hybrids anyways.

A few small primates species.

Forget about seeing a Polar Bear or Okapi.

Zoos cost millions to run and require huge resources.

Should we not expect larger, healthier populations with many more species included in Australian zoos. Especially the larger State run institutions, instead species numbers are dwindling. One Ocelot left in the Country, I think these kinds of actions are a crime.

Should we not expect animals to breed and thrive and be sent back to their country of origin?.

Or do we just fall back on "Zoo animals are abassadors for their species".


and "educational value".


I welcome intelligent thoughts.


P.s Please think before you respond and no personal attacks,I don't care who you are.

And if it turns into a circus, I'll have to walk away.

 

[Ara]

Can Zoos really Justify their Existence?
Wow, that's one of life's great questions, and to even consider answering it we need to ponder that other great question; " What is the true purpose of a zoo?"

Conventional wisdom says that the three purposes of a zoo are "Education, Recreation and Conservation" (or close variations of those) and I think that is about right. A lot of people consider only the conservation (more correctly "preservation") aspect, but zoos are more than just breeding centres to produce animals for the purpose of returning them to the wild, mainly because at the present time "the wild" is being eroded and degraded and it's pointless just reintroducing animals to wild areas without fixing major problems. Until then, captive breeding is just a holding operation.

I personally believe that zoos play a valuable part in educating the public (even if they don't know they are being educated!) and as a recreation facility. I read once that, in the U.S.A. more people go to zoos in any given year than attend all the football and baseball games. Zoos are an important part of modern living and keep the wonderful diversity of living animals in the eye and minds of ordinary people like myself.

In the specific case of Australian zoos, I agree with you; there is a poor representation of exotic animals in Aussie zoos and there is no excuse for it. Ours is a fairly prosperous country by world standards and our large city zoos are among the most expensive to visit worldwide. For example, I visited Saigon zoo back in April.(Read my review of the place in the Asian forum if you're interested.) Admission charge? 40 cents U.S. Admission charge for Taronga zoo here in Sydney? Slightly in excess of $40!

A major reason for the paucity of exotic species in Aust. zoos is the rather unrealistic belief by the big players in the Aussie zoo world that we should be self sufficient in every exotic species held, and that if we can't be, then we should not keep a species. The attitude of governments here, both state and federal, also does not help.

 

[Jarkari]

The educational value of zoos is greater than you'd expect. And as Ara said even if people aren't aware. Just look at the results of the don't palm us off campaign. I was able to secure a thousand signatures for the campaign at a rural event I attended last year. But I doubt people would have stopped at our site if we didn't have an echidna wandering around on the grass and people holding snakes. My employer didn't charge to attend the event and all of the animal encounters we offered were free. We also provided free sessions for school kids. Zoos are continuously striving to change for the better while remaining financially viable. The thousands of of schools that choose zoos for excursions and lessons shows that they are great places to learn in a unique way that is likely to stay with a visitor for a long time. I know of loads people that have changed habits like recycling mobile phones, thanks to the they're calling on you campaign and putting bells on cats collars or locking them in at night just as a result of spending half hour with me. Not taking all the credit. It helps me get my point across when I talk about how bad cats are for our native wildlife when I show people orphaned possums that were found in a cats mouth. People learn best by experiencing and interacting with what you ate trying to help, that is part of the reason zoos are offering more and more encounters and experiences. It's what the public wants and it gives the zoo a good chance to plug any conservation messages and campaigns. I also know that Melbourne, taronga and Perth have conservation managers who are employed to develop ideas, not to make money for the zoo but for conservation campaigns, Melbourne zoo came up with don't palm us off and they're calling on you and I believe taronga is doing a lot for sustainable seafood!

 

[MRJ]

For example, I visited Saigon zoo back in April.(Read my review of the place in the Asian forum if you're interested.) Admission charge? 40 cents U.S. Admission charge for Taronga zoo here in Sydney? Slightly in excess of $40!

Please - average wage in Vietnam $800 per year, average wage in Australia $42,500 per year. Although I am happy to admit that I did the maths and on a proportional basis Taronga is twice as expensive as Saigon.

 

[jay]

With regard to the paucity of exotic species here. Without going into the issue of biosecurity which is a bit of a joke (we have to inport apples from a country with known fireblight problems but cant import a few hippo).

There appears to be two schools of thought batteling it out as regards what animals a zoo should keep, Native species vs exotics. This is a scientific arguement (zoos are in a better position for conserving their own species) and a what people want to see, tourists from overseas want to see kangaroos and koalas while locals want to see elephants and lions. My opinion is that when I go to a zoo I want tos ee the animals that Im not going to see in my backyard. So forget kangaroos, koalas and kookaburras I see them everyday almost. I am unlikely to ever get the chance to go overseas so i want elephants and lions, and servals and unusual rodents and pink pidgeons etc

With regards to Australia I think that there are plenty of little fauna parks that do a great job with native fauna. Here in Brisbane we have Fleays, Currumbin, Australia zoo and Lone Pine for starters. But if you want exotics you have to all over the place, Polar bears at Seaworld, tigers at Dreamworld, lions at Toowoomba, giraffes and rhino at Australia etc.

So the tourists can go there to see the three Ks and locals should eb able to see the exotics at one place.

Australian zoos are in a position to have great collections of primates, felines and canines of all sizes.
Finally I guess the issue that is behind all justifications of zoos is 'should animals be kept in captivity.