Hello everyone! We have now officially come to the end of the tour of zoos! I hope that you have enjoyed this tour, and that you have learnt more about the role of zoos in conservation; as well as their shortcomings, through my blog.
Personally, even after this blogging journey, my opinion hasn’t changed much. I still believe that zoos play an important role in conservation, especially so given the uncertain world that we live in. Despite that, I now better appreciate and understand the complexities surrounding zoos, especially in terms of animal rights and animal welfare, and can definitely understand why some might be against zoos.
It is certainly sad that we may have to compromise on animal rights and potentially their welfare, just to save them from extinction. Yet, I believe that causing their extinction is a greater crime than violating animal rights, and hence why zoos are justified.
Of course, there are good zoos and bad zoos, and only good ones deserve our support and patronage, while animals in bad ones should be rescued and transferred to other facilities that take good care of them. I think accreditations from institutions like WAZA and ZAA are important in sieving out good zoos, despite their limitations, but more stringent requirements to be accredited might help to make accreditations more effective and reliable.
Moving forward, some things that zoos can work towards is to only house animals that they can maintain a high standard of living for, to ensure that animal welfare is not compromised. Furthermore, a shift in focus from charismatic species to more obscure, but perhaps more ecologically important ones such as amphibians and insects may yield more benefits to conservation, alongside the better integration of educational elements as part of the zoo experience. Working towards these goals will allow zoos to contribute more to conservation, and perhaps even change the negative perceptions that currently exist.
Of course, zoos should not be the only tools that we rely on for conservation, or getting in touch with nature. We all have means of helping to tackle the environmental crisis (which inadvertently threatens wildlife), such as reducing our consumption or making some adjustments to our diets. We were also exposed to the concept of biophilia in class, which refers to humankind’s inherent love and connection with nature, so please visit your nearby parks or nature reserves to immerse yourself within nature!
“Love ?” by Jannes Pockele, licensed under CC BY 2.0
These are just some of my final reflections of my blogging journey, and I am really glad to have been able to share my journey with you. I hope you’ve enjoyed it, and I wish everyone all the best for the upcoming exams, and please stay safe!
Cheers!
Jeng Wei 😀
Featured image is an icon made by DinosoftLabs, obtained from Flaticon