Whipsnade and Woburn - The Reality of Zoos

Sad Eyes and Empty Lives

(photo courtesy of CAPS)

Zoos portray themselves as centres of conservation for endangered species and for the education of the public, but they are little more than tourist attractions holding animals captive for our entertainment.

Disturbed behaviour

A tiger paces the same path repeatedly.  A gorilla vomits and eats it over and over.  an elephant stands and weaves her body for no apparent reason.  Obsessive and repetitive behaviours (even self-mutilation) are common amongst animals in zoos as a result of frustration and boredom.  Some animals suffer such serious behavioural problems in zoos that they are given anti-depressants, tranquillisers and anti-psychotic drugs to control their behaviours.

Zoos - putting the con into conservation

Despite zoos’ claims about their role in conservation, 95% of animals in British zoos are not endangered and 25% of zoos do not even keep any species classed as threatened.  Instead, they often display animals they think the public will pay to see rather than those in most need of help.

The very nature of most zoos means that any potential conservation efforts will be doomed to failure.  Life for animals in zoos bears little resemblance to their natural lives.

Animals in British zoos and safari parks are kept in enclosures, on average, 100 times smaller than their minimum home range in the wild.  Some species may have 10,000 times  or more less space.  Habitat destruction is the biggest threat to animals in the wild.  Protection of their natural habitat is the only real way of saving endangered species and also benefits all the other fauna and flora that share their ecosystem.

In the wild, species build an immunity to naturally occurring disease, something a zoo-bred animal may not do.  Viruses can mutate or be transferred and devastate wildlife.  In 1991, a lethal virus was identified in a zoo-bred tamarind just three days before the animal was to be release into an area where the virus was unknown.  There are numerous other diseases that zoo-reared animals can release into the wild, with catastrophic results.

Unwanted animals

The sad truth is that in many cases, zoo animals are bred simply to attract visitors and publicity.

Some zoos have admitted ‘culling’ ’surplus’ monkeys and supplying animals for experimentation.  Ostriches and bison have even been sold by some zoos to farms to be reared for their meat.  Others sell animals to the public as pets.

A distorted, unnatural world

What education can there be in zoos where animals are not able to display normal behaviours due to unnatural conditions?  Animals often cannot escape public view or hide their faces.  Birds are virtually stripped of their most precious gift - flight, often able to do little more than flutter their wings.  Animals who would roam for tens of miles a day instead tread the same few paces daily.

For chimpanzees, our closest relatives in the animal kingdom, the infinite possibilities of the forest are exchanged for little more than playground climbing frames.  In order to cover up the bareness of the animals’ enclosure, zoos may paint jungle scenes or ice-flows on the wall, but this will make no difference to the empty lives of the animals.

Health risks

Zoos can also pose a threat to visitors’ health.  Diseases can spread form animals to people, including E-coli, herpes, salmonella and many others.  The ‘petting’ or children’s corner of zoos present a great potential for disease transmission.

Many zoos have been found to have inadequate or non-existent stand-off barriers, designed to prevent contact between animals and people in order to reduce the risk of injury or disease transmission.

(above text courtesy of CAPS)

Bedfordshire is home to two major zoos, Whipsnade Zoo and Woburn Safari Park, both in the south of the county, and both have been the subject of controversy in  recent years.

Whipsnade Zoo

• In the past animals at Whipsnade Zoo, despite its claims of helping conserve wild animals, have been used for experimentation.  The zoo was found to be supplying prairie dogs to St Thomas’ Hospital in London for research.  This is far from an isolated incident as many other zoos in the country, including Woburn Safari Park, have also been exposed as providing animals for research.

• Whipsnade Zoo is also one of several that use their animals to perform tricks for the entertainment of the paying public.  At a time when the use of wild animals in circuses was already being frowned upon by many members of the public, elephants at Whipsnade Zoo were filmed performing little more than circus tricks, and the zoo continues to hold animal ‘demonstrations’ to this day.  Again this practice is not confined to Whipsnade Zoo; other zoos were filmed, including Woburn Safari Park.

• In 1998 staff from Whipsnade Zoo attended an elephant training seminar by American trainer Scott Riddle held at Blackpool Zoo.  Techniques used by Scott Riddle include the use of ropes, hooks and electric prods to coerce the elephants into doing tricks.  Representatives from Woburn Safari Park also attended this seminar. Two years later, due to pressure from the public and local councillors, Scott Riddle was banned from working with Blackpool Zoo.

• More recently Whipsnade Zoo has been criticised for shooting dead an escaped chimp. Find out more details and how you can help…

Woburn Safari Park 

• In 1992 the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (BUAV) found out that Woburn was supplying primates to Shamrock GB Limited, a major supplier of primates to the vivisection industry.  Shamrock has since close down following a public campaign.

• In 1999 Woburn planned to kill two adult lions which were surplus to requirements.  The lions were only saved when a home was found for them following coverage in the national media.

• Woburn hit the news again in 2000 when it shot dead 215 rhesus monkeys after finding out that some were infected with the simian herpes virus, which did not affect the monkeys themselves but could pose a threat to humans.  Experts at the Public Health Laboratory Service were quoted as saying the risk at the safari park is likely to be negligible. The monkeys could have been kept in an off show enclosure, away from the public, using contraception to control the numbers, where they could have lived the rest of their lives in peace.  Woburn had previously admitted that its monkey population was regularly controlled by ‘culling’ or ‘euthanasia as a management tool’  as it is called in the zoo world.

• In 2002 four young male wolves were killed when Woburn failed to find them suitable alternative homes.  It was deemed that they were not safe to stay at the zoo as this would unbalance the existing pack with too many males.

If you care about animals think before you visit the zoo…

How you can help…

• Don’t visit zoos and safari parks - your money keeps them in business

• Question the credentials of establishments claiming to be ’sanctuaries’

• Write to your local newspaper highlighting what is wrong with zoos

Further information on zoos and aquaria and captive animals in general can be found on CAPS website at www.captiveanimals.org.