5/8/26, 5:48 AM Zoos are prisons for animals – no one needs to see a depressed penguin in the flesh | Romesh
sh | Romesh Ranganathan | The Guardian
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Zoos are prisons for animals – no one needs to
see a depressed penguin in the flesh
Romesh Ranganathan
In an age when David Attenborough can virtually take us inside
an elephant’s bottom, is there any or conservational value to
keeping animals in captivity?
Mon 13 Mar 2017 06.59 GMT
Colombian spider monkeys at the South Lakes Safari Zoo in 2016. The zoo has lost its licence. Photograph:
Alamy Stock Photo
T
hat a zoo in Cumbria is having its licence revoked as a result of
nearly 500 animals dying there over a two-year period comes as no
shock – but it still slightly surprises me that anybody thinks that we
should have zoos at all. The animals always look miserable in
captivity. If you don’t believe me, visit a farm park. It’s as likely as not that
you will see a goat, pleading with its eyes to be euthanised, while a sign on
the enclosure says: “Gerry the goat is quite the character – he often plays a
game in which he looks like he has been crying for many, many hours!”
A lot of zoos play the conservation angle, which is a rationale that has been
reverse engineered. That’s not really why zoos exist. Zoos exist so that we
can wander round with our children and say: “No, don’t bang the glass,
Timothy, he’s getting agitated,” before going home to post on Facebook
about the educational day that we have had.
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5/8/26, 5:48 AM Zoos are prisons for animals – no one needs to see a depressed penguin in the flesh | Romesh Ranganathan | The Guardian
The argument that zoos have educational merit might have once seemed
convincing, but there is less reason to see animals in captivity than ever
before. David Attenborough’s Planet Earth shows you all the animals you
could ask for in their natural habitat, with added drama and narrative arcs.
We are surely only a few series away from filming inside the animals, with
Attenborough using his dulcet tones to give the origin story of an elephant
turd. Why, then, do we need to see them in prison?
On holiday recently, I was persuaded by my family to
visit a marine theme park that bombards you with messages of preserving
marine life. We spent the afternoon seeing seals and penguins that looked to
be in varying stages of depression before taking in the dolphin show, which
meant watching a two-minute video about saving dolphins, and a 10-minute
demonstration of how the park has managed to enslave them and get them
to perform tricks. I wondered about the message behind getting the dolphins
to pull some kids around in a boat almost as much as I wondered why my
own children hadn’t been offered that experience.
When Cecil the lion was killed, the general public were so incensed that the
dentist who shot him became an international hate figure; the perfect
example of the public picking and choosing when to give a shit about
animals. It’s apparently really bad to shoot Cecil despite the fact he has had a
much better life than the huge number of lions that we continue to keep in
captivity. I am not suggesting that it is wrong to care about Cecil, but if we
are in uproar about that, why aren’t we as upset about the animals in tanks
and cages, or the ones that we eat? I wonder if we would have been so upset
if the lion didn’t have a name. Or was called Piers.
There are counter-arguments, of course. After a visit to the Sea Life centre in
Brighton, my eldest son took a passionate interest in marine life that has
stayed with him, and I wouldn’t be surprised if animal conservation went on
to be one of his primary concerns. This is almost certainly as a direct result of
our visit, but it’s also first-world privilege in micro form: “We must have
some animals in cages for little Stephen to look at, otherwise how will he
learn?”
Similarly, the idea that kids only get excited about things they can see in the
flesh is ridiculous. My kids are obsessed with dinosaurs that no longer exist,
and Skylanders, which have never existed. One of our sons watches endless
YouTube videos of Kinder Surprise eggs being opened, so the bar is set pretty
low in terms of what will get him interested. I would, however, be delighted
to hear that the YouTubers responsible for these videos had been put in a
series of cages for our enjoyment.
I have no doubts that the people working in zoos, safari parks and
conservation centres all really care about the animals. But there is a pretty
strong argument that there is a negative effect on conservation awareness,
given that children take away the message that “endangered species” are
probably OK because they have seen them in the zoo. Plus, zoos and
conservation spaces are impossible to effectively regulate. Have a look
online and see the number of cases of animals being killed because of lack of
space, horses being painted to look like zebras, animals in aquariums
showing clear signs of distress.
Still, I was struck by my own hypocrisy when I was looking to get a family
pet. When I found myself Googling: “How long will a puppy cry for its
mother and siblings,” it occurred to me that I probably no longer wanted to
do it. The idea that I don’t want animals to be imprisoned, but that I quite
fancy having a prisoner of my own doesn’t sit comfortably. This might sound
extreme and no doubt cat owners will tell me that their cats are free to go
wherever they want but always return. I live in Crawley, however, and often
when I’m out I immediately want to return straight home. I could never be
sure if the cat coming back was a thumbs-up for the family, or a silent protest
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5/8/26, 5:48 AM Zoos are prisons for animals – no one needs to see a depressed penguin in the flesh | Romesh Ranganathan | The Guardian
against the lack of amenities in town. I’m also starting to consider setting my
children free.
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Guardian Pick Guardian Pick
Certain zoos provide essential conservation Again, thank you for this article. Zoos have a
work - London Zoo in particular. role to play in conservation, just as museums
do, but they do not need live specimens. Many
It's those that exclusively run zoos are
animals like penguins, elephants, antelope,
"attractions" that we should focus our ire on. live adventurous and heroic lives. They have
If it's only about profit, let's get them closed vast territories and complex migration routes
down - not all at once, but over the licensing which would no human, even with equipment,
cycle. Then we can focus the money (and could manage. The bar headed goose is a
l thl t d d f th t l
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