Hi everyone! Welcome to the first official post on my blog (that is not an intro)! I hope you are ready to begin the tour of zoos, and we will start of by looking at some of the amazing contributions that zoos make towards conservation.
According to this blog post by the Wild Welfare, zoos assist conservation in 3 ways: directly influencing the numbers of a species through avenues such as captive breeding; informing the public about related issues to conservation and instilling in them a sense of responsibility to care for these animals; to facilitate research on captive animals to attain a better understanding of them. We will explore each aspect in its own post, and in this post, we shall look at Exhibit A: the breeding efforts of zoos!
So why choose ex situ conservation in zoos? Dr Dave Hone suggests that captive animals are kept in safe and controlled environments, which keeps a portion of the species away from their natural environments. In zoos, factors such as predation, habitat loss and illness will not reduce the animals’ chances of survival, and the species have a shot at recovery.
Source from: Wikimedia commons, by Claudia Feh, licensed under CC BY-SA-4.0. Image is unmodified.
This is especially crucial for endangered species, as it is far more challenging to ensure their survival out in the wild than in zoos. Once the species has recovered enough, they can be reintroduced into their natural habitats. A great example of this is the Przewalski’s wild horse (pronounced shuh-val-skee), which was once extinct in the wild since the 1970s. Breeding efforts by zoos using 12 captive individuals paved the way for the restoration of their numbers, and eventually the reintroduction back into their natural habitats, with some 2000 of them in the wild today.
Source from: Asian Species Action Partnership
Back at home, Wildlife Reserves Singapore (WRS) is actively engaged in conservation efforts. Jurong Bird Park is engaged in efforts to breed the majestic Philippine Eagle, whose wild population is only around 800. The endangered Santa Cruz Ground Dove has also seen its population increase under the care of Jurong Bird Park, with 26 chicks having hatched between August 2018 and December 2019.
Of course, captive breeding is far from a perfect solution to the sixth mass extinction, as it has its own set of challenges, such as the consideration of inbreeding, and projects to reintroduce animal species do not always turn out successful. Besides that, captive breeding does not tackle the main drivers of extinction, such as habitat destruction and climate change, which means that captive breeding is possibly only delaying the inevitable?
Well, I feel that captive breeding efforts (by zoos and other institutions such as breeding facilities) play an important role in conservation, despite its limitations. Even if the root causes are not addressed, captive breeding helps to retain a number of the species, which buys us some time, to address the root causes via other measures so that one day in the future, animals can roam freely in their natural habitats.
That’s all I have for this post! Thank you so much for reading and I hope that you have learnt something today (I know I did). If you have any thoughts, please feel free to share them in the comments. 😀
Cheers!
Jeng Wei
Featured image: “Philippine Eagle: an Endangered Species” by Sinisa Djordje Majetic is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
Anna Low September 12, 2020
Hey Jeng Wei!
This is a really interesting topic! Zoos are actually so controversial (it was even the topic for Paper 2 of GP A Levels for my year :0).
I’m curious as to what you think about the ethics of captive breeding (sorry for a v difficult question ahah)? While I agree human efforts are definetly required to continue endangered species, there are critics against captive breeding. This paper, starting from pg 8 ( https://tinyurl.com/y2usfts4 ) discusses 3 main ethical viewpoints concerning captive breeding if you wanna think more about it!
Looking forward to your future posts!
Anna
Jeng Wei September 12, 2020 — Post Author
Hi Anna!
Thank you for visiting my blog, and that is indeed quite a difficult question you’ve asked haha. To me, captive breeding is in some way unethical. Keeping animals outside of their natural habitats; denying them from leading a natural life, and in some cases poor treatment of the animals, are all elements that are unethical.
In a perfect world, captive breeding (and to some extent even zoos) are unnecessary, and have no place, but we do not live in a perfect world. We are at the brink of a sixth mass extinction that is human-driven, and this means we have the responsibility of reversing it. Captive breeding is a great avenue to ensure the survival of a species, by reducing their exposure to risk factors such as habitat destruction and illnesses. I think zoos can do captive breeding in the most ethical way possible (as far as captive breeding is concerned), by making the enclosure as close to the natural habitat as possible; and making sure the animals are treated properly (living conditions, food and water etc). I think Jurong Bird Park is doing a good job at it with regards to the Philippine Eagle. I remember watching a video about how Jurong Bird Park is keeping the male and female eagle separate from each other first in the enclosure, for them to get used to each other before allowing them to interact with each other.
I hope I’ve answered your question well enough and thank you again for dropping by! Also thanks for the paper!
Cheers!
Jeng Wei
theneglected September 13, 2020
Hi Jeng Wei!
Nice blog on the conservation of animals! I’m curious if there are there any projects to reintroduce animal species by Singapore zoo? I also feel that captive breeding is needed for conservation despite the constraints faced by zoos. However, looking at the poor quality welfare of animals in zoos of
other countries, it makes me rethink my stance. I really look forward to see more of your posts and your opinions on the zoos!
Jeng Wei September 13, 2020 — Post Author
Hi Rachel!
Thanks for stopping by! Also, maybe you could leave your name at the end of the comment, because I had to search up the email to see who commented HAHA. For your question, I’m not exactly sure what projects are ongoing, but back in 2018, Straits Times did feature an article that mentioned some of the successful breeding of endangered species by WRS across its 4 institutions, so maybe you can check it out! Besides that, WRS’s website does mention some of the conservation projects that it supports.
With regards to the second part of your comment, I will be covering some parts of animal welfare in future posts, where I look at some of the criticisms of zoos, so look forward to that! For now though, I believe that there are good zoos and bad zoos, and most of the benefits of zoos are only fully reaped when it is well managed. Bad zoos have no place AT ALL, and should either be forced to attain and maintain a certain level of standards, or be forced to shut down (after which the animals should be properly handled and relocated). Hopefully I’ve answered your question, and thanks again for commenting!
Cheers!
Jeng Wei
ENV3102 September 15, 2020
Hi The Neglected, could you please ID yourself ? As in, which Rachel is this ?
Thanks !
Sarah-Ann Tham September 13, 2020
Hi Jeng Wei, what an interesting read! I didn’t know that zoos were so controversial until I read your blog. If captive breeding turns out to be unsuccessful for some species, how else do you think zoos can play a part in conserving those species?
Jeng Wei September 13, 2020 — Post Author
Hey Sarah!
Thanks for dropping by, and I’m glad you enjoyed the post! Indeed, zoos are quite controversial, but I still take the stance that they are important avenues for conservation, given the current state of the world. As mentioned by this website (even though it is from 2014), captive breeding and reintroduction programs do not always turn out successful, with only 16 such projects truly succeeding out of 145. I’ll actually be covering other ways that zoos can contribute to conservation, namely research and public education/outreach, in the next few posts so do check them out!
For my own thoughts, however, I believe that giving people the opportunity to appreciate animals (considering the urbanized life we lead grants us little to no interaction with wildlife in our daily lives) is something worthwhile. For me, watching documentaries have always made me excited and in awe of animals, and going to the zoo is a rare opportunity to see these animals in the flesh; and this appreciation and awe of animals is what spurred me to do more for the environment in the first place! If zoos can do something similar for visitors, then that has a value in itself. Thank you again for your comment, and stay tuned for future posts!
Cheers!
Jeng Wei
envempathy September 14, 2020
Oh my Jeng Wei you have a flood of comments. But I must ask do you think that if a species is already endangered and is suffering from inbreeding in the wild. Do you think with captive breeding and many captive specimens, we may have a better change of maintaining gene diversity? Additionally, do you think that by doing reintroduction we humans are artificially influencing the natural extinction rate? (Yet of course it is more likely that the rate in which we are causing extinctions is far greater☹)
Jeng Wei September 14, 2020 — Post Author
Hey Li Zhe!
Seems like many people are interested in zoos haha but thanks for the questions! With regards to captive breeding programs, the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums have some general information on conservation breeding programs here, but for a more detailed outline, you can check out the Species Survival Plan (SSP). The SSP one mentions how each program is a collaboration between various AZA institutions, with experts recommending breeding pairs based on the current genetic status of the population, to ensure gene diversity is maintained. I believe that well-managed breeding programs anchored in science will certainly help maintain gene diversity at a healthy level.
As I’ve mentioned in my reply to Anna’s comment, in a perfect world, captive breeding and reintroduction programs are unnecessary. At the brink of a human-driven sixth mass extinction, however, we have a responsibility to undo the damage that we’ve done to animal species. I wouldn’t really say that reintroduction programs artificially influence natural extinction rate, as the ongoing extinction isn’t natural to say the least. Instead, reintroduction is one way which we attempt to reverse the current extinction pathway that humans have set the Earth on. I hope this answers your question, and thanks again for visiting!
Cheers!
Jeng Wei
Divina Vicknesh September 15, 2020
Hi Jeng Wei! I must say that this post made me reflect quite a bit on my own personal views. I have actually stopped visiting the zoo for quite some time now (although it used to be one of my favorite places as a kid) due to the issue I saw with captive breeding. However, what you said about how zoos play a crucial role in educating the public did really resonate with me as I started to reflect about how it was actually zoos that made me passionate about wildlife as a kid. Indeed, this is a really contentious issue and I am looking forward to learning more about it through your blog!
Jeng Wei September 16, 2020 — Post Author
Hi Divina!
Thank you for your comment! Zoos are indeed controversial, and rightfully so. While there are potential benefits to be yielded, there are also potential issues such as low standard of care. I will be covering both sides in this blog, and I hope that I can present a holistic view of zoos so that readers can come to their own well-informed conclusions on zoos. As I’ve mentioned in other comments, I do feel that zoos are good and can make very significant contributions to conservation, BUT only if they are well managed. Thank you again for visiting and for sharing your personal thoughts, and look out for future posts!
Cheers!
Jeng Wei