Why do we need zoos?

It was a random afternoon when I was reading the novel, A Tiger for Malgudi when this thought struck me: Why do we need zoos? Sure, Raja seems happier at a zoo but really why DO we need zoos? So this article is literally me typing my thoughts. A long, long time ago there were human exhibits in what was referred to as ‘Ethnographic’ museums. Natives of different lands whose lifestyles were relatively unknown were brought to Europe and America to do something easy yet difficult: live. They were forced to carry out their normal activities with thousands of people gawking at them. They were chained, malnourished and tortured mentally and physically. They were torn from their lands to become exhibits reducing their existence to non- living things. They also performed practiced acts to showcase their ‘primitiveness’. These were meant to educate people about the different cultures and people across the world but really served the pathetic ‘superiority’ of civilised Europeans. Another concept was ‘freak shows’ where people with physical and mental disabilities performed acts for the amusement of the nouveau riche. People laughed and enjoyed others’ special qualities and termed them as ‘imperfections’. Those without arms or legs were called ‘Snake man’ or ‘Seal man’. This sounds cruel, unfair and like Hitler’s utopia. Thank God humans finally put an end to these inhumane actions. But did we? I have been fortunate (or unfortunate) enough to visit zoos in India and outside. In tropical Singapore, people were filled with immense sorrow when Inuka the polar bear born and raised in captivity in the country died at 27. There was much media attention around the polar bear whose name was chosen through a naming contest across the country and birthdays celebrated with extravagant cakes. So we took polar bears from their native habitats (somewhere not as hot as Singapore) and put them in an artificially induced atmosphere with a single iceberg to make them feel at home. However close their captive area may be to their original habitat, it still doesn’t take away the fact that it is artificial. So they are torn from the where they are meant to live and forced to live in captivity for public attraction. Check that. Also the zoo is known for their show timings where birds fly from nowhere perfectly onto the staff’s arm, audience can touch a bear and tourists can feed leopards. Performing acts for public’s muse? Check that.  When I visited Thailand, I went to a Tiger temple. The name is misleading as there was nothing holy like a temple or fiery like a tiger. We were made to change into light coloured pants and went to look at the tigers. The tigers were chained and appeared to be drugged with some substance that made them drowsy and heavy. The only job of the tamers was to take pictures for tourists. Tourists could pet them and even feed tiger cubs with feeding bottles meant for humans. So they were no longer tigers but domicile cats found on the street corner. My stay in Thailand included a lot of elephant riding where they were beaten with sticks, feeding elephants with bananas and snakes performing with men. But wait the story is not over yet. How can I forget our very own beautiful and scenic Vandalur zoo? At the zoo, we went on a Tourister bus and saw the lions. But the catch here was that one lion was kept alone in an enclosure. When asked why, the driver replied that it had fought with the other lions and thus kept alone. Sounds like ‘rest and isolation’ that Raja endured in the circus. Mental and physical torture? Check Check Check! So centuries ago we considered other human beings as lesser living things but now we consider all sorts of animals as lesser living beings and treat them in the most unimaginable way possible. We cannot claim superiority because we are on the top of the food chain. Pull out any person living in the city and leave them unprotected in the forest and you can see for yourselves who is really on top of the food chain.

The primary arguments supporting zoos are a) they educate people about our ecosystem and its inhabitants and b) they sometimes serve as conservation centres for breeding animals endangered in the wild. Let’s look at the first argument “they educate people”. How many people actually take time to read descriptions about every single animal on exhibits? When I went to Vandalur it seemed like mating season because most of the couples who visited, huddled behind trees and benches. “They serve as conservation centres”. Fair enough. But think about another thing, the ‘Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ in the USA found among all the animals in the 228 zoos (now 233) which it has accredited, only 30 species are for conservation. Most of these species cannot be let out in the wild again. So they will live but not like how they used to.

When there are so many activists condemning elephants held in temples then why is nobody talking about zoos? The real distinction here is between a good zoo and a bad zoo. But the line is so thin that people consider it normal for an animal to be kept in an enclosure which has nothing but an entrance for food and a tree. So what can we do about this? Unfortunately, I am not qualified enough to suggest an alternative because I cannot think of a good one. My aim with this post was to teleport this thought from my brain to yours. So if you have received that thought then do something with it: Think about it.