Are zoos evil?

Zoos play a vital role in helping endangered species from going totally extinct. With a 6th mass extinction looming (Leakey and Lewin, 1995) the correct maintenance of zoos may be vital in ensuring the survival of a species which no longer can survive due to their low populations, low genetic diversity etc (Armstrong and Seddon, 2008). Although, zoos are currently ran based on earning a profit with 75% of species in global zoos are not in any danger of extinction and any species that are in danger haven't established a rewilding programme. It is quite evident that the wellbeing and survival of these animals are not a main priority. This blog will examine how these zoos may be an invaluable asset to the world's biodiversity and the issues that will become more frequent if this isn't changed. 

Pheonix zoo's reintroduction of Arabian oryx's back into their natural habitat is an example of how zoo's have been effectively used positively for the wellbeing of the animals within their captivity. They initially bred 9 individuals which would eventually produce 200. Once it reached this region they were divided up and breeding pairs were transported to zoos across the globe which would result in more genetic diversity within the population. Since their reintroduction into Oman in 1982, this population had increased to 2,200 within 2 decades and so was considered a success. Recent records of this population has displayed a decline due to excessive poaching and has no correlation with failure with this rewilding programme.  

Despite the cruelty of trapping a wild animal in a cage which has a genetic restlessness to migrate, hunt etc, zoos are awful from a conservation point of view. This had been displayed  in the Copenhagen zoo where the genetic diversity of a young giraffe named Marius was too similar to all the other giraffes which would enable inbreeding within the population. The zoo keeper (Bengt Holst) had stated it was not possible to transfer this giraffe to another zoo in Europe despite much interest from zoos across Europe. Marius the giraffe had been subject to generations of increasingly less diverse genetics due to a very small gene pool because each zoo typically have a maximum of 10 giraffes in each zoo and so preventing inbreeding is difficult with such a small viable gene pool. This issue will not just go away but will become more and more common until there are no longer any species that will produce healthy offspring. By the time reintroduction is needed the deleterious species will not be capable of survival in wild environments. Entrapment of these animals should only be done for the sole purpose of raising a healthy population suitable for rewilding and will ensure the survival of their species. The success of these rewilding projects are strongly correlated with the size of the population released.