Env Sci Podcast

The Palm Beach Zoo is closed after a zookeeper was killed by a tiger. There have been other incidents of animals harming people at zoos. Zoos claim to do important conservation work, but there are allegations of mistreatment and cruelty towards animals. Animals in captivity suffer from stress and inadequate living conditions. Zoos may not accurately represent biodiversity and natural habitats. Some zoos have programs to help endangered species, but their effectiveness is questionable. Zoos also have a high carbon footprint, but some are working towards becoming carbon neutral. The Palm Beach Zoo is now closed after a zookeeper was mauled to death yesterday by a tiger the keeper had been working. The zoo under fire for shooting and killing an endangered gorilla instead of tranquilizing him. After the animal tragedy at the Pittsburgh Zoo on Sunday, a two-year-old boy was killed when he fell into an exhibit of endangered African dogs. It shows two zookeepers trapped in a gorilla enclosure, as you can see here, as reporter Janelle Forte eventually discovered the actual incident happened. It's going to be less about, hey, come look at these animals and consume them visually and more about helping people understand about where these animals fit in the world and where we fit in the world with them. Did you know that good zoos, zoos that are accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, are collectively doing some of the world's most impactful work to protect wildlife? Have these stories sparked reflection on the impacts that zoos have on animals, visitors, and the environment? Hopefully in the next 10 minutes, you'll gain insight on various aspects of zoos via news reports and scientists, which will allow you to form your own opinion on zoos and spread awareness on the impacts of zoos. I'm Brianna, Todd, Andy, Ashley, and we're glad that you tuned in to today's episode of We Built a Zoo. Alert of Virginia Zoo. Facing some serious allegations tonight, 27 dead animals were removed from the National Bridge Zoo. This is right outside of Roanoke amid an animal cruelty investigation. Now the Virginia Attorney General's Office and Virginia State Police executed two search warrants last week at that zoo. Authorities say that they seized 95 animals that were alive and more than two dozen that were dead when they were removed. This isn't the first time the zoo's been in trouble. Back in 2015, this zoo faced several violations, including failure to provide adequate care to animals, resulting in the zoo's temporary closure. As a visitor at the zoo, individuals of all ages are given just a glimpse into the life that these animals live on a daily basis. They leave the zoo with positive impressions of the food, care, and living situations that these animals are in and how much they are valued by the staff. But have you ever wanted to know what's going on behind the scenes or during the after hours of the zoo, moving past the performative and superficial side of things? According to the article of Post Zoo Future, at best, 3% of these are striving to meet ethical needs. However, zoos would never want or allow guests to see or know this, as this would negatively impact their business profits and economic benefits, potentially putting an end to zoos. Oftentimes, these animals are not provided with adequate amounts of food and water and even veterinary care. The designated spaces for animals to live in at the zoo are incomparable to their natural habitats. These animals are forced to live in artificial, boring, and stressful conditions. The animals are forced to live in small, dirty spaces and restrictive environments, which contributes to their deprivation of both mental and physical stimulation. This mistreatment of animals is a result of inadequate worker training and monitoring of the treatment of the animals. As a result of this suffering, animals do not only experience physical harm through self-harm and health issues, but they experience severe psychological harm. This is evident through their chronic stress levels, hyperaggressive and stereotypic behaviors, as well as through maternal neglect. These stressors increase the risk of animals dying prematurely and even the possibility of hurting people as a way to cope with the stress and unethical lifestyle that they've been forced to live in. It is no surprise that the zoo does a great job of hiding this information, as this allows them to continue to profit from mistreating captive animals. Knowing this now, do you want to attend zoos in the future and support the mistreatment of animals for your sake of entertainment? When an animal first starts performing stereotypic behavior, it's quite difficult to know precisely what is causing that, simply because it's not ethical, really, to make an animal stereotypic in order to see what started that animal performing that behavior. So in the same way, it's difficult to know. Animals in captivity are highly affected mentally and physically by the stress being in an enclosure brings. Human-aided relocation of threatened species causes chronic stress on animals. In other words, transporting an animal from their native habitat into a space that is so much smaller than what they're used to causes intensive stress to those animals. Captivity affects the psychology behind mammals as well. Larger animals, such as elephants, can usually travel up to 200 kilometers in the wild, but are only able to pace around their enclosures in zoos. Another example is that dolphins live in containment around 200,000 times smaller than their natural habitat. The stress of living in captivity without any sort of control over their environment negatively affects the hippocampus, the part of the brain that handles memory functions, and the amygdala, the part that processes emotions. Being in captivity causes the animal to start behaving in a repetitive manner. This is called stereotypic behavior. They are usually highly repetitive, functionless behavior with no obvious goals. Some examples are repetitive chewing, tail chasing, pacing, self-biting, swimming, bird plucking, and etc. These actions can be caused by the internal states induced by the captive environment. They can also be caused by frustration-induced stress from trying to escape their enclosure. We are having school at the zoo week. We are here from 10 to 2.30 every day. We have learned about adaptation, ecosystems, and we have learned about different animals. It's pretty apparent that zoos are great places for children to learn about animals from all over the world. From the giant pandas in central China to the native red salamanders here in Tennessee. However, are zoos accurately depicting the biodiversity of organisms throughout the world and the organisms' natural habitats and behaviors? A study at Berkeley was conducted throughout the majority of American zoos to determine if zoos reflected diversity within the animal kingdom. They discovered that the average American zoo contains 53 well-known mammals. That means for every 31 mammal species in the world, one mammal is represented in the average American zoo. However, this number decreases for birds, reptiles, amphibians, and invertebrates. Many zoos justify this proportion by claiming that zoos' visitors expect and want to see mammals more than any other animal. While this may be true, we should all consider why we go to zoos. Do we want to learn, help conservation efforts, or simply go to see our favorite animals? Programs in the zoo, things like captive breeding and various kinds of, well, I have programs with frogs to try and breed the endangered ones in captivity while they learn more about why they're becoming extinct in the wild. And then they are increasingly... Just like we heard Jane Goodall, the world expert on chimpanzees, say, many zoos play an important role in helping endangered species. Many zoos have captive breeding programs and funding to help endangered species, as well as educational programs to encourage zoo visitors to think about their own conservation efforts. A study in 2015 tested how effective these efforts are. At Forest Views in different countries, there was a large zoo sawfish exhibit with similar signage and activities to teach people about the endangered fish. The experimental group went through the entire zoo while the control group skipped the exhibit. At the end of their visit, each group took a test. The experimental group ended up remembering more random facts about the sawfish, but the survey showed they did not have any more desire to help the fish. This data seems strange. You would think that the group that actually saw the sawfish would have more of an emotional connection with them, but they didn't. Do zoos help people have emotional connections with animals, or is it better to spend time in nature engaging with local animals? And now, all throughout this summer, we've been experiencing the effects of climate change in real time. Heat waves are longer and more intense. Extreme rains have caused deadly flash flooding across the country, and that's now forcing some Americans to pack up in search of a home, safe from the impacts of climate change. NBC News Chief Environmental Affairs Correspondent... So, as we just heard in that clip, climate change is at the forefront of our minds in discussing modern global issues. But surprisingly, it's also relevant when discussing zoos. As WAZA, the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums, explains, despite being known for their conservation efforts, the energy costs associated with building, caring for animals, and maintaining zoo facilities has led many zoos to have a high carbon footprint. This is exacerbated by the destruction of native flora when building these places, as if there are no trees, then they can't help remove carbon from the atmosphere, raising overall emissions. However, carbon neutrality can be achieved, as the Marvel Zoo of the UK has proven. By using solar energy, building energy-conservative architecture, and starting a tree-planting initiative, they have been able to completely remove their carbon footprint. This isn't the only zoo planning to do this, either. Here in America, some of our largest zoos, such as the San Diego Zoo, Zoo Atlanta, and the Cincinnati Zoo, RIT Harambee, have all joined the pledge to work to become carbon neutral in the next 10 years, an incredibly important step in the conservation of global ecosystems. Thank you for tuning in for today's episode. Hopefully now you are able to further develop your opinion on zoos, as you have learned more aspects about the behind-the-scenes treatment of animals, animal behavior, and psychology, educational and conservation efforts zoos provide, and how zoos relate to environmental science. We'll catch you next time on We Built a Zoo.