As much as i would like to think that zoos are helping animals, its not as perfect as you make it out to be. There are animals suffering all across the united states. I know that zoos are just trying to help, but the environment that the animals are kept in do not suit them. Animals are in distress and they need help. Conservation is a great thing, but zoos need to do a better job in keeping the animals healthy and most importantly happy.

I have spent much of my life living and visiting Africa, I can tell you that zoo animals have life easy compared to wildlife in Africa. Poaching is the number one enemy of all of African wildlife. Conservation in its truest form ceases to exist in African countries that have banned well regulated sports hunting. In those countries that allow hunting the widespread incidents of poaching are much lower than those countries that have banned sports hunting. Poaching in Africa is not a merciful killing by a quick gun shot. It is by violent strangulation via snares randomly placed and often never checked. The victim is left struggling to get free of a wire snare around its neck or leg. I have photos that show 100’s of thousand’s of wire snares collected from Kruger National Game Reserve in South Africa by their anti-poaching crews. Conservation means protecting the natural habitat of wildlife in a given area. Habitat destruction by encroaching human populations and over population of wildlife are the two major threats to all species of wildlife in Africa. If left unchecked in areas like Southern Africa, (Namibia, Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Botswana & Mozambique) elephant herds would destroy major portions of habitat which endangers and kills off all other wildlife in the area. It has been happening for the past four decades and the only choice is do nothing which allows millions of animals to die of starvation or manage the wildlife and keep their populations in balance with their habitat. That is what conservation is about. Zoos have traditionally provided valuable research, money and resources to protect habits worldwide by studying wildlife in captivity. They have also saved endangered species such as the White Rhinoceros to the point that some countries have allowed strict management of sports hunting to maintain habitat balances. They are currently bringing back the Black Rhinoceros and Cheetah from near extinction and have been very successful in both cases. In Africa sports hunting contributes far more dollars to conservation of wildlife and habitat preservation than all photographic ‘safaris’ put together. One final point, wild animals are not human and to treat them as such is highly immoral. They certainly deserve our respect and protection but let's not apply human qualities to them.

What about conservation at the Zoo itself? While the zoo may be a great place to learn about conservation, I have not seen that as a business zoos are as concerned with their own use of resources as they should be. One of my biggest concerns is the production and use of plastics, which never degrade (only breaking down into smaller and more toxic bits) and pollute our land and more importantly our waterways. Zoos buy and sell all sorts of plastic junk out of their giftshops, the food courts often sell unhealthy, outsourced food products wrapped in plastic with plastic cups and utensils. The zoos administration, I'm sure uses lots of office supplies and creates waste. Is your zoo doing anything to limit it's use of plastics and educate the public on the need to stop our toxic habits of plastic consumption?

Amber – I could not agree more. Zoos are beginning to see things the way you do. Many zoos, including ours, are working hard to be green and sustainable on grounds, and to use those actions as a way to educate the public. Our green team works hard to elimate waste and re-use and recycle equipment, compost animal waste and food products, buy benches made of recycled materials, etc. OUr websie lists more – and the AZA website will have information on sustainablity for other zoos, as well.
Would you like to volunteer on our green team?
Thanks for caring! Amy