Why SHOULDN'T we support zoos and their conservation work?

Somehow politics get involved with this😂

At one point I just got so fed up with the idea of confining animals in enclosed places. I know that being in a small area, pacing around, no matter how much or how good the food is, or the grass they walk on is, will be miserable. It just popped in my head that I never wanna support a zoo ever again, and after watching this video, it blew my mind how much zoos are getting away with. Essentially the argument is; these are animals, don't care about them, we're getting money, and giving a little to other animals

I like zoos

I do not agree with this video
I personally have asked and most of the animals are in zoos are in enough space
Some animal I agree, some should not be in captivity like certain whales and elephants in small enclosures
Most of the pictures in this video we’re over dramatic sized in from a long time ago
The thing about the elephant they were from a wildlife park, which is different from a zoo, but they were only sent to Zoo‘s that had good enclosures for them
I am not trying to be mean and you are entitled to your own opinion, but I do believe that zoos are important
(not all the money is spent on donating to conservation efforts because we have to feed the animals and pay the staff)

Finally someone who understands

Note; this video is only refering to roadside zoos, rather than AZA accredited ones.

Why are you against conservation? Why do you want animals to go extinct?

This is one I feel split on. Here in Australia there have been many species reintroduced by zoos and they have, at least at my local zoo in Adelaide, stopped housing most of the larger species that would be most affected by zoocosis. Most of the savannah animals are housed on large tracts of rural land, while the city zoo focusses on smaller creatures. I think if they stopped housing animals that are the most impacted then zoos have a future as actual conservational refuges. I would need to see solid data to fully be sold on the idea of zoos being solely negative institutions, but as is I do believe reform is definitely in order.

I just was against it on the basis of exploitation. Infringing upon their autonomy by taking them out of the wilderness and displaying them for profit. Its good that Im now better informed but its truely sad to see what happens to animals. Thank you for the information.

People in segregation in prisons and mental hospitals act in much the same way as animals in zoos. When i was in prison, they made me a trustee and sent me to the trustee camp at the Montford Unit in Lubbock, Texas. I was a janitor (or SSI they called it) in the psych ward. Inmates in there were locked up 24/7 and only got to come out occasionally for a shower or maybe an hr of recreation in a cage outside. And thats assuming they weren't too dangerous and violent for all that. Theyd smear poop and blood all over themselves and the walls, theyd bite into their flesh, bang their heads and bust them wide open, all kinds of stuff. I had to clean a cell once and a guy had crapped a whole bunch and he smashed it all together into one giant turd as long as me entire arm. It was disgusting. And they just kept these dudes locked away like this completely shut off and forgotten by society. Some of them no doubt belonged there, but i imagine some of them got worse due to the conditions they were forced to live in.

What have YOU done to help endangered animals? Probably nothing 🫤

You object live animals, you object dead animals. You object all animals..sad for you Ed!

As someone who has been vegan for only a year now, your videos are so incredibly insightful also when it comes to topics beside consuming animal products. I really wasn't sure how I felt about zoos, as I had not really done research on it before. Never would I have thought that the condition these zoo animals live in were this dire; that so many are killed, are on psychiatric drugs and die so much earlier then their wilde life counterparts. Thank you for educating me!

Most modern zoo look after animals a lot better than they did ( in the UK anyway ) Private owners are worse than a well run zoo

I support zoos, vaccines, war and governments.

Feeding meat to them is Classism.

Otherwise I be at the zoo believing that the animals are there for a social experience and adventure time.

At least they won't get shot by the British in the zoo.

If this is what happens to animals in zoos, can you imagine what its like for animal like pigs trapped in cages so small that they cant even turn around? Its literal torture

I keep getting invited to farm shows...the last one i forced myself to brought me to tears.

Havnt been able to go to a zoo in years ether.

I love reptiles, i want to build a huge tank just for geckos but i cant make myself go to a reptile show or pet store to get one cause seeing them in the tiny plastic container just upsets me so much.

Now im the proud parent of many happy roaches, worms, and rollie pollies.

This video makes the huge assumption that people care about these animals. People care about being entertained. I am a fan of your work, despite what I said. Unfortunately, education doesn't close the moral or behavioral gap. We see the same pattern of cognitive dissonance in many realms.

this is sickening

Shocking to know what reality is like in a zoo, the world should see this documentary.
Shocking to see a giraffe being murdered by the zoo keeper and how the animals are treated and discarded like garbage.

Oh wow, I hate how humans inflict pain and suffering to every species, including their own. What an evil existence.

Abolish zoos!!!

This video is pretty one-sided. It highlights the very real problems that are present in zoos, but it minimizes or completely ignores the conservation achievements of these organizations. A large number of species (California condors, black-footed ferrets, Lord Howe Island stick insects, etc.) only exist because of zoos. The lengths the San Diego Zoo went to to save the Californian condor are remarkable. There are also dozens of amphibian species that can only survive in the highly sterilized environments of zoos due to the invasion of chytrid fungus. Additionally, a lot of important information on the behavior of certain cryptic species has been learned by observing animals in captivity. Furthermore, many, many zoos, like the Wildlife Conservation Society, engage in ex-situ conservation projects. Funding for these projects is largely derived from zoo admissions. Ed mentions that only a small percentage of the money earned by zoos is used for ex-situ conservation, but neglects to mention the extremely high overhead required to run a zoo. Yes, there are problems in zoos, but getting rid of them is like throwing the baby out with the bathwater. We likely shouldn't be keeping large mammals, like cetaceans, elephants, big cats, great apes, and some ungulates, as they do poorly in captive settings. However, these are the big draws. We as a society need to learn to appreciate the smaller, "uglier" species, many of which likely do well in captivity (although this may require more research to verify if this is actually the case).

It's sad that humans have done this to themselves. But yeah, I can't support captivity except in conservation efforts

After studying animal behaviour for Animal Care I never looked at zoos the same way again. Happy to say I didn't go for a career with animals .

I’m not vegan or vegetarian but I would never support a zoo. It’s not natural at all.

I, like many others here, love animals. I also enjoyed zoos until recently when i learned about mental illness in captivity and how it relates to human mental illness in industrialized societies making it more relatable. But it's somewhat difficult to want to send certain animals back to their native homes because the people in the animals' native lands don't care about them. Many african animals are endangered critically because of poaching and africans just killing animals for no reason. There's a documentary from the 70's i think, which name i forget. That shows life in kenya under british occupation and the british colonists started a wildlife refuge. Once the british left many kenyans surrounded the refuge and shot every animal they saw, all on camera btw. Thousands of hippos, elephants, birds, big cats and other african animals were killed by kenyans for no reason. That's why we have to preserve them. Because the primitive people can't and won't.

I hate zoos. You can just look at the animals and see they are unhappy. My son cant stand it either, and my daughter is almost at the age to understand how bad zoos are for animals

Im a bi-racial former foster child from 7-mile Detroit.

In one of my foster homes I was locked in a closet for 3 days and fed through the slit in the door.

When I first went to a zoo and I saw a Lion and immediately knew it was wrong.

I've always known this.

I firmly believe and know in my heart that we as a species have no idea how intellegent and sentient animals are.

Our arrogance regarding the treatment of these intellgent beings will be our greatest sin.

One day we will find out exactly how much these beings are aware of their existence and the emotions and thoughts these being have.

And then we will have to deal with that abhorrent reality.

How could we? I'm so sorry.

There was a polar bear at the Denver zoo that was pacing and such like what you were saying. They put a sign up saying they knew about that only they didn't know why that was happening

Ideally, zoos wouldn't need to exist if we as a species can learn to stop exterminating habitats and coexist with the wildlife in our areas. Unfortunately we don't live in an ideal society and zoos themselves problematic though some do good things to help wildlife

It's so important for these places to have big open spaces and alot for the animal to do.

There's alot of places animals can be happy, But it's very upsetting to see it when they are not..

I saw the pacing from side to side and moving head erratically against the iron bars when I was a little kid.. I saw that, and the enclosure wasn't very big.. big enough to house lions but not big enough for them to enjoy things naturally..

I found it quite upsetting to see this.

but these animals are not lost or hopeless. there is still hope for them, as I saw with one elephant that I believe was trapped by themselves in Pakistan, and eventually flown into Cambodia where they could live a better life.

the elephant was very depressed but then someone who loved animals alot took care of the elephant for a month, which made the elephant start loving their life, and then they put it on a plane and flew it over to Cambodia where it could be free with other elephants.

It was really quite a story!

The last time I visited a zoo the happiest animal was a free squirrel doing parkour around a bird feeder right outside the zoo fence.
The zoos in my country have many displays that look nicer than the ones shown here but it's still depressing to see them being too small for a short run or longer swim while containing three or more animals.

This is why conservation and restoration of their environments (or, Yknow, the earth as a whole…)
is so important

omg at the zoo near where I live, there's this bear that paces and just looks so depressed and not okay. It makes me want to cry and like break it out of there!

I hate to be that person, but.... I see that most of these examples are in the UK and other european countries and i agree they need to stop. What about north american zoos? I see alot about the size and detail of american zoo exibits and the effort put into their enrichment and training and the outcrossing programs to prevent inbreeding. What about those? Id like to see more detail, the darker facts, about american and canadian zoos as well.

No animals belong in a cage, not even dogs or cats!

My only question is, why aren't zoos government funded organizations? I fully believe that zoos are intended for animal conservation and I fully believe that a lot of zoos, specifically in America where I live, aid in that conservation. However, let's not forget that because zoos are not profited by the government they have to generate money for themselves and that can be difficult. After all, most zoos require thousands if not millions of dollars each month to keep their lights on, to feed and house the animals - of course some zoos are going to adapt this heartless business mentality, how else are they going to continue doing what they're doing?
I think zoos are fundamental for conservation and education. When I went to my first zoo, I was awestruck by the animals, how beautiful and captivating they were, I never wanted to hurt them after such an experience. Zoos can aid us by seeing animals as magnificent creatures worthy of protecting, not as walking dollar bills fit for plundering. I personally think that zoos should be partially if not fully funded by the state.

I personally do not agree with this statement. As someone who has volunteered at my local zoo, zoos are beneficial for a lot of reasons. I cannot speak for every zoo but the people at my local zoo try their best to provide the best care for the animals that they have. Almost all the animals there are animals that were rescued or born in captivity and cannot be released. The three elephants they have at my zoo where rescues from the circus and are not fit to go back into the wild. At my zoo they provide the best possible care that they can for the animals. Despite the lack of funding, all the animals are happy, healthy, well-fed and they each have their own individual dietitians. Zoos are also very beneficial for breeding and reintroducing animals into the wild. For example, back to my local zoo, the eastern colored lizard, which is native to my state, has virtually gone extinct in my state due to habitat loss but my local zoo has been breeding and reintroducing eastern color lizards and just this year they have released 130 individuals back into the wild which is a win for the animal population in my state because it got down to 60 known individuals. There are other zoos around the world that conserve, breed, release, and introduce animals back into the wild. Not all zoos are perfect, but the ones that really do care are important to keep around and we should not make this assumption about all zoos. My local zoo is not government-funded either. It is funded by the people that visit so if everybody had the mindset that zoos are bad and they stopped visiting all the animals would not be able to receive proper care. My local zoo does have its flaws such as the higher ups, not caring about anything other than money but all the keepers try their best and really do care about what's best for the animals under their care. I will say my zoo does not do any shows with the animals. They mostly just let them live their life and they only shows you can go see or animal feedings which happen daily and while the keeper feeds the animals they talk about the diet they give them and you just get to watch them. Eat and learn a little bit about the animal themselves. (Also one of the elephants at my local zoo just turned 63 yesterday so they threw her a birthday party)

I don’t know, Ed, how you do the research for these videos. I feel sick just listening to it and I’m sure you come across more disgusting things when you’re writing the script.

This seems like a problem in European and North American zoos. I can't say anything for Australian and New Zealand zoos but from what I do know, we only get new animals from other facilities housing them, and have made it illegal to capture animals from the wild, unless they were orphaned or were to injured to fend for themselves in the wild, which only seem to be Australian and New Zealand species. Any international animal that was brought into the country were rescued from black markets or 3rd world countries where they capture them for different delicacies as babies.

If an animal gets too old to breed, we let them live the rest of their life out, as it's seen illegal to do cull them for not being able to breed. Same can be said for surplus animals. It's illegal to kill them for there being too many. They end up being sold to facilities that are interested in introducing that species to that zoo or they get sold to zoos across the world. And zoos work together to overcome inbreeding by using different computer programs that track the hereditary of an animal, to prevent inbreeding by selling them to other facilities.

All zoos in Australia and New Zealand are legally required to register with the ZAA (Zoos and Aquariums Association) of Australia and New Zealand in order to operate and they do regular checks on the animal's enclosures and welfare - whether or not they are being used for profit by taking them from enclosures for photos etc.

It seems like every European and North American government body that helps protect animals need to look at what is working here in Australia and New Zealand and introduce those laws. That way we don't see issues of excess killing, human pharmaceuticals introduced into their diet and registering with their government body

I couldn't agree more! They are no different than human prisons except...these animals didn't break any laws! Seeing the big cats and elephants pacing... rips my heart out!
There was a time where a zoo would be the only way people could see these animals...but that time is long gone. We have are in the media age and have multiple ways for people around the world to experience these animals.
Now, sanctuaries and rehab facilities.... where the intention is to get animals back to the wild or those who can't be released... sure. They have a purpose. Research can continue in these facilities. But... animals in cages so people can look at them...by Chinese made crap from the gift shop and buy junk food. Nope. Zoos time has come. I'd rather see technology used to replicate a zoo.... kids would likely be more interstate anyway.

The percentage of animals on anti-depressants is much lower than the percentage within the public that goes to see them.

Thank you!!!❤

WHAT ZOOS THERE ARE NOW MUST TRANSFORM INTO SANCTUARIES. GIVE THE ANIMALS
AND PRIMATES MUCH MORE SPACE WITH TREES - GIVE THEM MORE NATURAL PLACE TO
LIVE. STOP BUILDING HOMES FOR PEOPLE. THERE ARE ENOUGH PEOPLE IN THE WORLD
WE DON'T NEED ANY MORE. WE NEED LARGE AREAS FOR THE INTERESTING AND WONDERFUL ANIMALS THAT ARE SUPPOSED TO SHARE THIS WORLD WITH HUMANS. SO
SICK OF SO MANY HUMANS AND THEIR STUPID FALSEHOODS. WE NEED HAPPY ANIMALS
AND PRIMATES IN OUR WORLD. THIS WILL HELP HUMANS TO BE MORE HAPPIER AND GET
OFF THEIR MEDICATIOS.