ntil fairly recently, zoos and aquariums were primarily

places to take children for a fun afternoon. Few people

gave ethics much thought as they stood in front of a

cagewatchingatigerpacingbackandforth.Today,

however, the entire enterprise of displaying wild

animals is under intense scrutiny, by both the general

public and the scientific community. We now know a

lotmoreabouthowanimalsfareinzoosand

aquariums (and we therefore understand why that

tiger was pacing), and zoos and aquariums have to

answer tough questions when they claim, for example,

that all of the animals in their collections live long,

happy and healthy lives.

A DIFFERENT LOOK

Notsolongago,thecollectionsofunusualandexotic

creaturesatzoosincludedhumansfromothercultures

aroundtheworld.Asrecentlyastheearly1900s,

people from Africa were displayed as exhibits. One of

themostfamousoftheseindividualswasOtaBenga,a

Congolese man who was captured by slave traders and

taken to the US where he was

Not so long

ago, the

collections

of unusual

creatures

at zoos

included

humans

from other

cultures

OPINION| ZOOS

the changes have little to do with what the various

animals need to thrive and more to do with the

appearance of nature.

In2016,zoosandaquariumsstrugglewiththefact

that people are more informed about the mental and

social complexity of non-human animals and the

psychologicalcharacteristicstheysharewithus.

We’ve seen dolphins recognising themselves in

mirrors, chimpanzees grieving, elephants consoling

oneanother,crowsmakingcomplextools,pigsplaying

video games, and fish enjoying friendships together.

Characteristicslikethesenotonlyallowustosee

ourselves in them; they also make it clearer why many

a nimals fa re so poorly in captivity.

TRAGIC EVENTS

Thelastfewyearshavealsoseenaseriesofeventsthat

have brought to the fore the challenges faced by both

animals and humans in zoo and aquarium settings. The

2010killingoftrainerDawnBrancheaubyorcaTilikum

at SeaWorld Orlando in 2010 and films likeThe Cove

andBlackfishhave propelled the marine park industry

into the spotlight, raising troubling questions about the

ethics of holding dolphins and whales in concrete tanks

and forcing them to perform. Following Brancheau’s

death, the USA’s Occupational Safety and Health

Administration (OSHA) ordered SeaWorld to end

human ‘water work’ with orcas during shows.

Furthermore, a study published in the journalAnimals

in August 2016 found that aggressive behaviour in orcas

increases when they are trained to perform.

Againinresponsetopublicdemand,theUS-based

circus company Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey

Circus put on its last elephant show earlier this year.

Their11elephantshavenowretiredtoafacilityin

Florida. In the UK in the 1990s, rigorous welfare

regulations were introduced regarding captive whales

and dolphins. Existing dolphinaria were incapable of

meeting the new standards. They closed, ending the

UK’s dolphin and whale marine park industry.

More recently, the ongoing news stories about deaths

in zoos around the world – Marius the ‘surplus’ giraffe

in the Copenhagen Zoo, Harambe the gorilla in the

Cincinnati Zoo, and Arturo the polar bear at 2

displayed in the Monkey

House with apes. While Benga

was eventually freed from the

Bronx Zoo, he committed

suicide a few years after

being released.

In the 1960s and 1970s, zoos

and aquariums started to

rebrand themselves as places

of education and conservation.

But in many cases, the change

was largely one of appearance.

Enclosuresandconcretetanks

became ‘habitats’, tricks

became ‘behaviours’, and

elephant displays were painted

with scenes of Africa. And that

is where most zoos and

aquariums still are today.

Small cages with bars may

have been replaced with larger,

more natural-looking areas, but

U