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Zoo conservation programmesOne of London Zoo’s recent advertisements caused me some irritation, sopatently did it distort reality. Headlined “Without zoos you might as well tellthese animals to get stuffed”, it was bordered with illustrations of severalendangered species and went on to extol the myth that without zoos likeLondon Zoo these animals “will almost certainly disappear forever”. Withthe zoo world’s rather mediocre record on conservation, one might beforgiven for being slightly sceptical about such an advertisement.Zoos were originally created as places of entertainment, and their suggestedinvolvement with conservation didn’t seriously arise until about 30 yearsago, when the Zoological Society of London held the first formalinternational meeting on the subject. Eight years later, a series of worldconferences took place, entitled “The Breeding of Endangered Species”, andfrom this point onwards conservation became the zoo community’sbuzzword. This commitment has now been clearh defined in The World ZpoConservation Strategy (WZGS, September 1993), which although animportant and welcome document does seem to be based on an unrealisticoptimism about the nature of the zoo industryThe WZCS estimates that there are about 10,000 zoos in the world, of whicharound 1,000 represent a core of quality collections capable of participatingin co-ordinated conservation programmes. This is probably the document’sfirst failing, as I believe that 10,000 is a serious underestimate of the totalnumber of places masquerading as zoological establishments. Of course it isdifficult to get accurate data but, to put the issue into perspective, I havefound that, in a year of working in Eastern Europe, I discover fresh zoos onalmost a weekly basis.The second flaw in the reasoning of the WZCS document is the naive faith itplaces in its 1,000 core zoos. One would assume that the calibre of theseinstitutions would have been carefully examined, but it appears that the criterionfor inclusion on this select list might merely be that the zoo is a member of azoo federation or association. This might be a good starting point, working onthe premise that members must meet certain standards, but again the facts don’tsupport the theory. The greatly respected American Association of ZoologicalParks and Aquariums (AAZPA) has had extremely dubious members, and inthe UK the Federation of Zoological Gardens of Great Britain and Ireland has occasionally had members that have been roundly censured in the national press.These include Robin Hill Adventure Park on the Isle of Wight, which manyconsidered the most notorious collection of animals in the country. Thisestablishment, which for years was protected by the Isle’s local council (whichviewed it as a tourist amenity), was finally closed down following a damningreport by a veterinary inspector appointed under the terms of the Zoo LicensingAct 1981. As it was always a collection of dubious repute, one is obliged toreflect upon the standards that the Zoo Federation sets when grantingmembership. The situation is even worse in developing countries where littlemoney is available for redevelopment and it is hard to see a way of incorporatingcollections into the overall scheme of the WZCS.Even assuming that the WZCS’s 1,000 core zoos are all of a high standardcomplete with scientific staff and research facilities, trained and dedicatedkeepers, accommodation that permits normal or natural behaviour, and a policyof co-operating fully with one another what might be the potential forconservation? Colin Tudge, author of Last Animals at the Zoo (Oxford UniversityPress, 1992), argues that “if the world”s zoos worked together in co-operativebreeding programmes, then even without further expansion they could savearound 2,000 species of endangered land vertebrates’. This seems an extremelyoptimistic proposition from a man who must be aware of the failings andweaknesses of the zoo industry the man who, when a member of the council ofLondon Zoo, had to persuade the zoo to devote more of its activities toconservation. Moreover, where are the facts to support such optimism?Today approximately 16 species might be said to have been “saved” by captivebreeding programmes, although a number of these can hardly be looked uponas resounding successes. Beyond that, about a further 20 species are beingseriously considered for zoo conservation programmes. Given that theinternational conference at London Zoo was held 30 years ago, this is prettyslow progress, and a long way off Tudge’s target of 2,000.
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