Watched 1st ep of Animal Planet's "The Zoo" last night.

[Coventina]

I loved it!

I'm in!!!

I know, zoos are controversial, but sadly, they are needed in today's world.

This show gives you so much great information about what goes on behind the scenes of reputable zoos like the one featured: The Bronx.

I laughed. I cried. My heart was warmed way down to the sub-cockles.

[femmocrat]

1. Thanks... I forgot it was going to be on.

I'll have to remember to set it up to record. I just looked it up and there are repeats!

[Coventina]

2. If you love animals, you will love this show.

It had a good mix of stories about what zoos do.

One was based on conservation (trying to get some really rare & endangered birds to breed).

One was based on medical treatment (adult, male gorilla has first documented case of glaucoma in the species).

And, one based on developmental health (two abandoned baby tigers have to be weaned from human care and learn to be tigers - lots of squee moments in that one!).

Fascinating and very educational.

Looking very forward to episode two!

[femmocrat]

3. Sounds good!

I am hooked on a show on PBS...."Spy in the Wild" on Nature. Have you seen it?

[Coventina]

4. Arg! That's one I keep forgetting to record!!

It looks really good.

I'll check and see if previous episodes are available from PBS....

Thanks for the reminder!!

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

9. Those tiger cubs are so catlike!

(Yeah, I know.) But, squee!

[Citrus]

5. Zoos aren't needed

That "we're needed" thing put out by zoos is just propaganda. Zoos are businesses. Most captive breeding programs (to "save" the wild animals from alleged extinction) are so successful that they sell or kill the excess animals. The ones sold go to places that slaughter and serve "game animals" for food, roadside-type attractions, even worse "zoos", and even private collectors. All too often, it's only attractive animals who get saved by zoos and others languish in captivity as the only ones of their kind left. What sanctuaries and rehabilitation facilities do is more effective and not for profit.

It doesn't take more than a moment to do just a modicum of research on zoos to discover the ugly truth. If you don't like one source, there are plenty of other sources.

Nonhumans do not belong to us. They are their own beings for their own purposes. It's not about "loving" them...it's about respecting them as distinct and separate from our need to "enjoy" (exploit) them. The captive animals aren't entertainment. And taking a money-making TV show as gospel is willful ignorance. We shouldn't take anything at face value and should always dig deeper, look further.

If we want to save them, all we need to do is protect habitat. It's as simple as that.

[Coventina]

6. Yes, and protecting habitat is just that simple.

Even in protected habitat, poaching is widespread.

If you think only "attractive" animals are at zoos, then you haven't been to one in a long while.

I totally agree with you that nonhumans don't belong to us. But, as the dominant species we have to take responsibility for the species that have been and are being crowded out.

Don't call me willfully ignorant you don't know me.

[Citrus]

7. You misread my post

I didn't say that only attractive animals are at zoos. Re-read what I actually wrote.

Poaching is a different issue, although significant. The fact is that there isn't enough desire or money to actually protect the habitats and therefore its inhabitants. Given the actual desire to protect the other beings on this planet, the money would be available. It's sort of a cascade effect. Most people pay lip service to caring about elephants, for example. But they don't donate to reputable organizations or pressure our own country to assist with funds. This is understandable! We face a host of horrible and horrifying issues every day, many (or most) of which affect us directly. This doesn't change the bottom line, it just makes all the lines above it a bit more understandable.

I stand by my comment that believing everything one sees on a TV show is willful ignorance. If you think I'm directing that comment to you directly, then I can only assume that you accept everything on that show as complete truth. And in that case, I would still stand by my comment. Anyone who accepts the self-serving "information" from a TV show without doing some serious fact-checking is being willfully ignorant. Ignoring the truth doesn't make it go away.

You're right that I haven't visited a zoo in a long while. I choose not to participate in cruelty. I learned the truth long ago and do not support the abominable suffering that goes on in every zoo. Because we don't see it doesn't mean it's not happening. Captive animals go mad. Drugs are used to keep them calm so humans can ooh and ahh over the captives. There's so much more, but as I've said more than once now, it's not that hard to do some digging and discover the truth about zoos.

Captivity isn't the answer, protection is.

[Coventina]

10. I think it is you who is willfully ignorant. The Bronx Zoo is run by the Wildlife Conservation

Society:
https://www.wcs.org

Their primary mission is to preserve wildlife in their own habitats.

The Bronx Zoo does many different things, including rescuing animals who would otherwise be euthanized such as:

A sea lion who was taking too many salmon from an endangered salmon run.

A rattlesnake confiscated from the pet trade.

But I guess they are just monsters in your eyes.

[Citrus]

11. Interesting response...

Sorry for the delay. I've had pneumonia.

I'm not going to argue ad infinitum. No zoo is as charmingly wonderful as they would have the public believe. Do they do any good things?...Yes. But because they (or any organization) manage to do 10 good things while there are dozens of bad things going on does not compute on a simple logic scale. It's sort of the reverse of two wrongs not making a right: two rights do not absolve the wrongdoers or their wrongs. And then there's the organization that does, say, 10 wonderful things, but then there's that one thing that is so horrific that it cancels out the good.

But here's something to consider...

That sea lion's behavior might've had ecological implications beyond the limited views of the humans' conclusions. Nature really does take quite good care of itself. Animals in the wild increase their populations when under threat, for example. Even plants and trees grow healthier and stronger after a wildfire. We humans sit in judgment of things we really don't understand, although we like to think we know it all and know best. We are too reluctant to see things differently, particularly when it conflicts with previously-held opinions.

The rattler could and should have been returned to the wild.

And no, they're not monsters, just misguided as the result of a false sense of human superiority.

[Coventina]

12. It sure would be swell if your imaginary perfect world existed. But it doesn't.

The sea lion was going to be euthanized, fairly or unfairly due to his danger to salmon, it was going to happen, if he hadn't been given a different home.

In your black-and-white thinking, it seems you would rather see him dead.

And, return a pet born in captivity to the wild? Yeah, that's a GREAT idea.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

8. I'm watching it on line!

https://www.animalplanetgo.com/the-zoo/higher-purpose/ Thanks for the info about this series. It's really fascinating how they replicate the animals' natural habitat, and the keepers obviously love those animals. Most animals in zoos are born there, and zoos do a lot of work breeding and conserving endangered species.