Animal Prisons or Havens? The Ethical Eligibility of Zoos and Aquariums

As a young kid, I kept myself occupied by playing computer games, not the games where you shoot people and commit hit-and-runs with a car, but the games in which you build virtual zoos. Recently, I got hooked into the newly released Planet Zoo (Frontier Developments 2019), a game strict about captive animal welfare – where one would need to plan their zoo layout or adjust to an animal species’ needs accordingly. The game also presents two human perspectives towards zoos in a story, with one providing sanctuary to wildlife and the other for economic profit. Having encountered these perspectives, it reminded me of real-life issues surrounding zoos, and aquariums. Not to mention that the slightest evidence of poor animal well-being attracts a horde of protesters to roam the zoo. It is without a doubt that most zoos and aquariums are receiving harsh criticism for their manner of housing terrestrial, and or marine species. Places such as SeaWorld, receive the strongest of this critic wave, with animal activist groups campaigning to release the park’s orcas from their clutches. I began to question if animal captivity, in real life zoos and aquariums, can truly be morally justified and beneficial to preserving wildlife. This also encouraged me to dive deep into this topic, which eventually lead to my position in writing this research paper.

My findings concerning animal ethics have resulted in a predicament, in which keeping animals and captivity and the concept of releasing said animals to the wild introduce relatively similar amounts of negative and positive consequences. Justifying animal captivity in zoos and aquariums is hard to determine, as the pros and cons considered add up to two-sided conundrum. In this essay, I will address the ethics behind animal captivity, then refer to past events in which wildlife displayed similar mentalities to humans to help you understand the issue. I shall later discuss the public pressure zoos and aquariums receive from media and activist groups, and the overall validity of said facilities and their claims to practice research, conservation and public education. All these will determine if a positive solution is possible to this wild and ethical dilemma.

Understanding why many people are against animal captivity is easily given, through past observations, the human populous reacts to animal captivity with a hybrid of logos and pathos, or logical and emotional thinking, whereas they believe that animals deserve the same freedom and freewill as humans do. The concept of liberty and autonomy is one of the factors influencing human views on animal captivity and is also discussed by Lori Gruen in “Ethics and Animals: An Introduction”. In the section ‘Dilemmas of captivity”, Gruen suggests that captive animal freedom is often violated by constant pain and suffering. Specifically, Gruen writes:

“The stress, stereotypies, and other psychological harms that [animal] captives experience often are the direct result of their instrumental liberty interests being violated. They are not free to choose when to eat or who to spend time with or where to nest… All of these deprivations cause them to suffer.” (Gruen 144)

In a literal context, the freedom of captive animals is affected or controlled by people involved in zoological firms, often resulting in negative influences on their overall health, both physical and mental. In general, captivity usually results in the sensitive degradation of animal health, and within that sensitivity is an encouraging dispute between zoos and aquariums against the general human public. Humans are given a more liberal lifestyle in which they can eat, sleep and travel wherever they feel like going, for as long as it is beneficial to them. The same can mostly be said for wildlife, a zebra in the African savanna can trot for miles in relatively flat grass plains and it is reasonable to think a captive zebra deserves that same freedom, lest they start to pace anxiously behind the confines of a local zoo. Somewhat related to animal liberty and autonomy is the emotional capacity of wildlife, and time after time, evidence has presented itself thanks to the internet. CBS Chicago posted and summarized a recording by Regine Schlesinger, who recounts the heroics of Binti Jua, a female gorilla who ‘picked up [a] child and carried [them] to safety’ in 1996. Allegedly, reactions referred to the gorilla showcasing ‘maternal instinct’ while zoo staff calling Binti Jua “people-oriented” as the cause for her actions. Such events can be enough to cause humans to relate to animals due to emotional sway and render zoos and aquariums unfit or unjustified to house wild animal species. The public applies human-oriented concepts to wildlife as relatable signals present themselves, and this way they are encouraged to try and free animals from captivity.

The effect of animal captivity on human culture is of big importance as well, with popular media becoming an effective medium to spread mindsets revolving around animal freedom. The marine park chain known as SeaWorld is a constant receiver of public backlash due to its keeping of Orcas. Said reaction was caused by the release of the documentary film, Blackfish (Magnolia Pictures), directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite and placing a large weight on the park chain as a watery prison of mistreatment and lies. The film was created to highlight the life of Tilikum, an infamous, captive, and now dead Orca who was responsible for at least three deaths during his lifetime. Blackfish also covered SeaWorld’s presumably absurd breeding program, in which Tilikum was artificially inseminated, with his genes inherited by the park chain’s cast of Orcas, and the separation of a female Orca and her mother who later displayed signs of grief. The documentary’s decision to show this ordeal encouraged animal protests, eventually leading to the brief end of SeaWorld’s Orca shows until November 30th, 2019, when Kirsten Poletis for Narcity, posted an article announcing SeaWorld Orlando’s return to hosting Orca shows in 2020.

In response to pre-determined disputes from activist groups, SeaWorld’s park board, according to Poletis, stated that their shows ‘will be re-imagined as a more educational presentation’ other than being solely for human entertainment (Poletis 2019). The act of zoos and aquariums claiming their facilities to have educational purposes is one attempt to heal the wounds caused by past practices and justify animal captivity, which might seem effective at first glance. However, as written by Stephen Bennett for his academic journal “Are Zoos and Aquariums Justifiable? A Utilitarian Evaluation of Two Prominent Arguments”,

“Zoos and aquariums are considered to be instrumental in educating people on animals, as well as issues facing animals… [People] do, however, have strong reasons to doubt the claim that zoos and aquariums meaningfully educate people… given that there is no real evidence in support of this claim, while the evidence that does exist suggests [they]…do not succeed in significantly educating people.” (Bennett 181)

To summarize, Bennett argues that most zoos and aquariums do not have enough information to claim that animal captivity has a positive impact in terms of educating the public. Some news reporters are visibly supportive of zoos and aquariums, and their efforts in research, conservation and as mentioned, education. They often attempt to back those facilities with their opinions and findings. Both Robin Ganzert’s article for USA Today, “How Zoos and Aquariums Can Help save 1 Million Species from Extinction” and The Guardian’s Celina Ribeiro’s “From cage to conservation: the reinvention of Australian zoos” refer to zoos as pinnacles of conservation, and breeding programs which successfully reintroduced species into the wild. Referring once more to Gruen’s book “Ethics and Animals: An Introduction”, the Gruen herself writes:

“[E]ven if there are environments into which captive animals may be returned, most captives have lost the ability to survive on their own in their native habitats… Most current captives are the products of many generations of captive breeding, and it is unclear that humans would be able successfully to rehabilitate… [animal] captives to free living.” (Gruen 134-135)

This contradicts the opinions of both articles, though it may be dependent on the species, simply attempting to assimilate captive species into the wild is not likely to succeed and in doing so, could harm confined animals further.

Considering what we’ve discussed here, the ethics of animal captivity is well underway to becoming a colossal issue. The topic forces people to pick sides, each with pros and cons that do not stand superior over the other. For one, yes, releasing captive species to the wild liberates them from the smaller and wrongful confines of a typical artificial habitat, but lessens their chance of survival. The human majority currently cannot advocate zoos and aquariums as a paradise for animals and trying to support those facilities can often come full circle. If we are to solve the issue, either we all agree on a single solution or even worse, carry on with the argument, and ride this endless loop.

WORKS CITED

• Gruen, Lori. “Dilemmas of captivity.” Ethics and Animals: An Introduction. Cambridge University Press, 2011, pp. 130-155, 161-162
• Bennett, Stephen. “Are Zoos and Aquariums Justifiable? A Utilitarian Evaluation of Two Prominent Arguments.” Journal of Animal Ethics, vol. 9 no. 2, 2019, p. 177-183, https://muse-jhu-edu.ezproxy.capilanou.ca/article/733441/pdf.
• Ganzert, Robin. “How Zoos and Aquariums Can Help save 1 Million Species from Extinction.” USA Today, 11 May 2019, https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2019/05/11/zoos-aquariums-can-help-save-one-million-species-extinction-column/1152477001/.
• Riberio, Celina. “From cage to conservation: the reinvention of Australian zoos.” The Guardian, 18 Nov 2019, https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/nov/19/from-cage-to-conservation-the-reinvention-of-australian-zoos.
• Blackfish. Directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite, Magnolia Pictures, 2013
• Planet Zoo. Frontier Developments, 2019, https://www.planetzoogame.com/en-GB.
• Poletis, Corraine. “It’s Official, 2020 Will Be A New Era Of Whale Shows For SeaWorld Orlando.” Narcity, 30 Nov. 2019, https://www.narcity.com/news/us/fl/orlando/seaworld-orlando-whale-shows-will-be-revamped-in-2020.