This bear has gone mad, reaching out with his paws and gnawing at the bars. Most of us have visited zoos in our lives. We just went around,watched the animals and had a good day out. “Yes, we know that animals are better off in the wild. But where else do we get to see these amazing creatures at such close proximity ? Our kids would want to see the different animals , that they have only seen in their books. Besides they seem well looked after. Looks like they have food and water and a place to live. Now, isn’t that enough ? They have probably gotten used to being in an enclosure . No harm in us having a look at them in zoos". Havent we all thought this way, while visiting a zoo.Sometimes to our naked eye things may seem fine in some of the bigger zoos, when in reality they are not. That is because we are no animal experts , we don’t have the knowledge about the animal behavioural psychology, animal biological sciences or ethology to know whats wrong and the sad thing is ,neither do the zoo keepers.
So its time to get our facts straight about zoos in India .
No budgets :
They run on tight budgets, leading to food-shortage for animals.Not having enough money to operate, results in atrocious conditions and numerous deaths. Some cases:
- Nandankanan Zoo, Bhubaneshwar: In 1998, because the zoo failed to make payments on the electricity bill, the power was shut off. The situation became critical for the animals, whose only source of water in the extreme heat was electric pumps.
- Prince of Wales Zoological Garden, Lucknow: Within five months (from December 1999 to April 2000), 23 animals died. The zoo director blamed several factors, including a financial crunch.
- The Padmaja Naidu Zoo: In 2000, five tigers, six snow leopards, 16 Himalayan wolves and 10 leopards nearly starved to death because, according to the food supplier, the zoo was three months behind on payments.
Unnatural and Miserable Lives
Zoos restrict natural behaviours of the animals, such as flying, swimming, running, hunting, climbing, scavenging, foraging, exploring, and partner selection. Research carried out by scientists show that animals are psychologically affected by the lack of space and the constant intrusion of people. The miserable living conditions and the lack of privacy often lead to animals indulging in abnormal behaviour known as 'zoochosis'. They bang their heads against the wall, bite cage bars and even bite their own limbs! Some animals like the big cats simply go insane from boredom. The physically and mentally frustrated animals spend much of their time pacing, walking in tight circles, swaying or rolling their heads, pulling out their hair and feathers and self-mutilation
- In 1999, Lalita, a lion being kept at the Heera Golden Zoo, resorted to licking herself all day long out of sheer boredom. After she was seized from the zoo, a veterinarian extracted two huge balls of hair that had led to a 5-foot block in her intestines.
Imagine what confinement in a cage could do to a magnificent beast like the cheetah, which runs at 114 km per hour and roams an average area of 37 sq. km in the wild!
Education? No!
Although zoos claim to educate people and preserve species, they do neither. Instead they are teaching the wrong lesson—that it is acceptable to tear animals away from their
families and homes and put them on display for our amusement.Most zoo visitors usually spend only a few minutes or seconds at each display, seeking entertainment rather than education.. Most zoo enclosures are quite small, and labels provide little information .
Insensitive Visitors
Every zoo has a sign board about rules for visitors among which one prominent rule is not to tease or feed the animals.The zoo visiting public,who are not educated about the significance of these rules and they pay little heed to them. In many sad cases people deliberately antagonize a zoo animal to get it to “do something, throwing objects at the animals or poking them, often resulting in their deaths.
- At the Alipore Zoo in Calcutta some years ago, three endangered giant Al Debra tortoises were killed after visitors repeatedly pelted them with stones
- Few years ago, a hippopotamus had died after swallowing a shoe thrown at him at the Alipore Zoo
- Delhi Zoo, New Dehli: A bird died after his eye was poked out by an umbrella tip. Several other animals died after eating food containing razor blades that was tossed to them by visitors.
- In 1999, a hogdeer became the third animal to die from ingesting plastic bags discarded by zoo visitors.
Zoo Staff Shortage, Incompetence and Negligence
There are few or no security personnel to enforce the rules in the zoos .The zoo keepers are ignorant and unqualified . Zoos in India echo with examples of animal deaths caused due to sheer callousness. Consider this:
- At the Darjeeling Zoo, a snow leopard, an extremely endangered species hailing from the Himalayas, was made to stay out in heavy downpour . It contracted pneumonia and died.
- Jaipur Zoo: During a three-month period in 2000, 125 animals died.
- Chhatbir Zoo: Asia’s largest zoo has never had a veterinary hospital, not even one on-site veterinarian.
- Lucknow Zoo: In 1999, 53 animals died.
- Nandankanan Zoo, Bhubaneshwar: In 2000, in just two months, 13 tigers, three deer, a mongoose and one crocodile died.
- Delhi Zoological Park, New Delhi: There is only one veterinarian responsible for the health of more than 1,200 animals.
These people do not have even the basic training in taking care of animals ... but they are there taking vital decisions.’ –Ashok Kumar, former vice president, Wildlife Protection Society of India, on managers of Indian zoos.
Zoos serve the people rather than the animals
"The cardinal principle of any modern zoo is to serve the needs of the creatures it exhibits. But zoos in India do just the opposite; they serve the needs of the visitors. While the lawns are manicured, the paths pebbled and the waiting areas equipped , the animals are housed in cramped, dingy enclosures" says Vijay Jung Thapa in his article in the Hindu.
Some Statistics
- Since July 2005, PETA investigators have visited over 30 zoos throughout India and found appalling neglect, decrepit facilities and animal suffering on a massive scale.
- The Indian Zoo Yearbook lists 230 recognised zoos with an estimated 65,000 animals belonging to at least 643 different species. Of these, only 15 are big zoos with some semblance of order. The others have been classified as medium and mini zoos, most running on paltry funds and in appalling conditions!!
What can we do
- Lets boycott zoos and other attractions that exploit animals and instead lets support the groups and the people labouring for these voiceless animals.
- Lets teach our children to respect all of Gods creation. Lets not give them the wrong message that its ok for the most powerful species (man) to do as he pleases the less powerful ones .
- Children can surely learn a lot more about our magnificient animal kingdom by watching the educational wildlife programmes on Channels like animal planet and the discovery than by looking at animals behind bars in zoos.
Sites to visit:
PETA Literature on zoos: http://petaliterature.com/prodinfo.asp?number=ENT120
PETA India : http://www.petaindia.com/zoos.html
PETA Kids : http://www.petaindiakids.com/wycd.html
