Across their 5,500-year history, and regardless of improvements through the ages, the central problem of zoos has remained the same: zoos cannot accommodate the psychological and physical needs of the animals they keep captive. Claims that captivity somehow benefits animals at-risk in the wild ring equally hollow.A recent by Antonia Russo makes this point powerfully. Despite improvements to the deplorable conditions of mid-twentieth century zoos, harmful practices still abound, even at today’s most respected facilities. Mounting research shows that holding intelligent, social animals in captivity is an inexcusable cruelty. Despite this, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently approved an application to import 18 wild-caught elephants to three U.S.
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The slaughter of elephants through hunting and poaching is a problem that is more than a century old, but the latest spike — 100,000 elephants killed over three years ending in 2014 — left.
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Zoos—a move that In Defense of Animals and other conservation experts have unsafe and unethical.Growing awareness and new technology give hope for a future free of animal captivity. A new kind of wild animal experience is in Japan. These “virtual zoos” keep no captive animals; instead, they use sensory stimuli, cutting edge technology, and magnificently filmed nature content to simulate the experience of being in the wild. Not only is this experience better for wild animals, it has the power to provide a superior educational experience, since it allows for animals to be seen in their natural habitats.The confinement of wild animals for human amusement dates back to ancient times. The first menagerie is thought to have existed circa 3500 B.C. In ancient Egypt.
Modern zoos came of age in urban centers in the 19th century; they began to make conservation intent only as recently as the 1970s, in tandem with the rise of the environmental and animal liberation movements.It may be taking humanity thousands of years to evolve beyond live animal capture and lifelong zoo incarceration, but with creative alternatives emerging, we can be active participants to help build a more humane future for our wild kin.Read Russo’s column, Putting Zoos Into Perspective,.Read more about Japan’s virtual zoos.
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'Poaching just escalated literally overnight,' said Ginette Hemley, senior vice president of wildlife conservation at the World Wildlife Fund and one of four experts testifying at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing.Just one sobering statistic: More than 1,200 rhinos will be poached in South Africa this year, Hemley told NBC News, compared to the 13 that were illegally killed in 2007.So why should Washington and Americans care?Elephants, which are poached for ivory, and rhinos, which are poached for horns, are often at the forefront of conservation campaigns. But other animals are poached, too, including tigers for their skins and sharks for their fins. Fewer than 3,500 tigers are left in the wild, said Kelly Aylward, the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Washington office director.The steady march to extinction faced by species around the world will expand outward, Aylward said, as endangered animals often play key roles in their ecosystems. For example, elephants eat brush, preventing it from overgrowing, and their excrement fertilizes the soil.The rise of poaching “doesn't bode well for the future — how those interactive ecosystems will work without key species,” Aylward said. And sellers often falsely market illegally imported ivory as antique.
If Americans stop buying ivory, other countries — including China, which has the biggest market — will follow suit, Aylward said.“Being a consumer in the U.S. Is actually a very powerful position to be in,” she said. “In this global world, what Americans think about (ivory) could reflect on other cultures and likewise.”Related:Elephant tusks — the ivory from which is often used in musical instruments or jewelry and carved into trinkets — may have once been a symbol of “prestige and honor,” but that perception needs to change, Aylward said.
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March 2023
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