Increasing Access to Zoos

RatioTile

RatioTile

Well-Known Member
5+ year member
I've been thinking about how blessed we are that we have access to zoos. Most of us live in parts of the world where there is enough demand for zoos and aquariums, and we are healthy enough and have the time and money to travel to them on a frequent basis.

When my friend from Kiribati, which has very little terrestrial fauna whether captive or wild, went to the Taipei Zoo for the first time, she was really excited about seeing every animal, including the "ABCs" we as a community tend to take for granted.

In the face of ecological crises, zoos and aquariums have become more vital than ever in educating the public and winning their hearts and minds over to appreciate and value biodiversity. However, there is definitely a class issue in that probably most of the world's population lacks access to zoos. Much of sub-Saharan Africa and Oceanian islands appear to be zoo deserts. Also, lower-class people in wealthy nations that have many zoos probably have less access to them. The same goes for museums, opera houses, concert halls, and other art, science, and cultural institutions, which are important to maintaining an educated society.

I know people from biodiversity hotspot nations in Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, and Southeast Asia who lack interest in animals altogether, and it can be frustrating convincing them why it's important to combat deforestation, land degradation, and overfishing.

So, as people who care immensely about fauna, the environment, education, and culture, how can we help make zoos more accessible and beloved among the public, especially the underprivileged?
 
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It seems you are raising several issues. One, that there are regions with few if any zoos and two, that it takes money and leisure time to go to a zoo (admission fees, transportation)
A decent zoo offering proper care of animals - especially the ABCs- is expensive to build and run. In countries with few zoos it often requires the government to support the creation and upkeep of a zoo. That's less funding for humanitarian needs.
It is very common for zoos in developed countries to have programs to subsidize admissions by economically limited citizens. Many come as children with school groups. Some zoos have free days. Certainly more can always be done but someone has to fund these programs and that, too, takes away funding that might go to equal housing, food programs, better access to healthy foods and clean water, etc.
I suppose to answer your question "how can we make zoos more accessible?": we could fund visits by those who cannot pay themselves.

When I think of the challenges faced by the poor, frankly lack of a nice visit to the zoo doesn't pop up high on my list.
 
Still, the opportunity to see a zoo or a museum, or experience a live concert, could be a life-changing experience for a low-income child. People who struggle to make ends meet deserve to experience edutainment.

Zooplantman said:
It seems you are raising several issues. One, that there are regions with few if any zoos and two, that it takes money and leisure time to go to a zoo (admission fees, transportation)
A decent zoo offering proper care of animals - especially the ABCs- is expensive to build and run. In countries with few zoos it often requires the government to support the creation and upkeep of a zoo. That's less funding for humanitarian needs.
It is very common for zoos in developed countries to have programs to subsidize admissions by economically limited citizens. Many come as children with school groups. Some zoos have free days. Certainly more can always be done but someone has to fund these programs and that, too, takes away funding that might go to equal housing, food programs, better access to healthy foods and clean water, etc.
I suppose to answer your question "how can we make zoos more accessible?": we could fund visits by those who cannot pay themselves.

When I think of the challenges faced by the poor, frankly lack of a nice visit to the zoo doesn't pop up high on my list.
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I think some lack of access to zoos cannot be changed. Take your friend's example, there is no way to build a sizeable zoo in Kiribati or other pacific small islands, consider that some of them are small, and the one that are inhabitable are crowded with people. They are also far from any continent and so can't be reached. There's no way a government can take a plane and get people to zoo in Australia, for example.

However, do these people really care about zoos? If no zoos are present, then is zoo really a part of their wish-list? They have a larger chance to just take another interest.
 
I was thinking more along the lines of places like Nigeria, which has growing cities and an increasing number of wealthy families who might be interested in zoos, museums, and performing arts. A lot of African nations that have grown their economies over the last few decades could theoretically build excellent zoos.
 
In Latin America visits to zoos are just as much part of weekend family recreational activities and childhood as in the United States, Australia or Europe.

Many zoos here either charge no entrance fee or charge prices that are affordable (there are some exceptions to this though) for your average working class family.

Environmental education at many of these institutions is taken very seriously and some have truly stellar programs (achieved with far fewer resources than zoos in the 1st world have) in order to increase public awareness of the importance of conservation and biodiversity.

I think the key to improving accessibility to zoos and environmental education is keeping entrance prices affordable for working class people and increasing the focus on community outreach.
 
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aardvark250 said:
I think some lack of access to zoos cannot be changed. Take your friend's example, there is no way to build a sizeable zoo in Kiribati or other pacific small islands, consider that some of them are small, and the one that are inhabitable are crowded with people. They are also far from any continent and so can't be reached. There's no way a government can take a plane and get people to zoo in Australia, for example.

However, do these people really care about zoos? If no zoos are present, then is zoo really a part of their wish-list? They have a larger chance to just take another interest.
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I think Kiribati has enough to worry about from the imminent effects of climate change let alone the lack of zoos.
 
Onychorhynchus coronatus said:
In Latin America visits to zoos are just as much part of weekend family recreational activities and childhood as in the United States, Australia or Europe.

Many zoos here either charge no entrance fee or charge prices that are affordable (there are some exceptions to this though) for your average working class family.

Environmental education at many of these institutions is taken very seriously and some have truly stellar programs (achieved with far fewer resources than zoos in the 1st world have) in order to increase public awareness of the importance of conservation and biodiversity.

I think the key to improving accessibility to zoos and environmental education is keeping entrance prices affordable for working class people and increasing the focus on community outreach.
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When I went to Japan I noticed that most city zoo admission fees are under US $6, but aquariums, which are mostly owned by private corporations, have admission fees sometimes over four times that. So being run/subsidized by city governments really helps in increasing public access.
 
RatioTile said:
When I went to Japan I noticed that most city zoo admission fees are under US $6, but aquariums, which are mostly owned by private corporations, have admission fees sometimes over four times that. So being run/subsidized by city governments really helps in increasing public access.
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Yes, it is exactly the same here in Brazil in terms of aquarium entrance fees and these places being owned by wealthy private corporations. As a result of the extortionate entrance fees aquariums do tend to be more middle class in terms of visitation than zoos for obvious reasons.

Many zoos in Latin America are owned and run by Municipal governments or Federal governments and so they are typically subsidized. The problem arises when there are slashes to public spending by governments which put everything in jeopardy (ex-situ conservation, animal welfare, environmental education etc).
 
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RatioTile said:
I know people from biodiversity hotspot nations in Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, and Southeast Asia who lack interest in animals altogether, and it can be frustrating convincing them why it's important to combat deforestation, land degradation, and overfishing.
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Thats why you target the younger generations in environmental education as they are the future whereas many adults can be lost causes.
 
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