Zoo conrvation programmes
One of London Zoo’s recent advertiments caud me some irritation, so
patently did it distort reality. Headlined “Without zoos you might as well tell
the animals to get stuffed”, it was bordered with illustrations of veral
endangered species and went on to extol the myth that without zoos like
London Zoo the animals “will almost certainly disappear forever”. With
the zoo world’s rather mediocre record on conrvation, one might be
forgiven for being slightly sceptical about such an advertiment.
Zoos were originally created as places of entertainment, and their suggested
involvement with conrvation didn’t riously ari until about 30 years
ago, when the Zoological Society of London held the first formal
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international meeting on the subject. Eight years later, a ries of world
conferences took place, entitled “The Breeding of Endangered Species”, and
from this point onwards conrvation became the zoo community’s
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buzzword. This commitment has now been clearh defined in The World Zpo
Conrvation Strategy (WZGS, September 1993), which although an
important and welcome document does em to be bad on an unrealistic
optimism about the nature of the zoo industry
临沂北城小学The WZCS estimates that there are about 10,000 zoos in the world, of which
around 1,000 reprent a core of quality collections capable of participating
in co-ordinated conrvation programmes. This is probably the document’s
first failing, as I believe that 10,000 is a rious underestimate of the total
number of places masquerading as zoological establishments. Of cour it is
difficult to get accurate data but, to put the issue into perspective, I have
found that, in a year of working in Eastern Europe, I discover fresh zoos on心潮起伏的意思
敦煌古筝almost a weekly basis.
The cond flaw in the reasoning of the WZCS document is the naive faith it
places in its 1,000 core zoos. One would assume that the calibre of the
institutions would have been carefully examined, but it appears that the criterion
for inclusion on this lect list might merely be that the zoo is a member of a
zoo federation or association. This might be a good starting point, working on
the premi that members must meet certain standards, but again the facts don’t
support the theory. The greatly respected American Association of Zoological
Parks and Aquariums (AAZPA) has had extremely dubious members, and in
the UK the Federation of Zoological Gardens of Great Britain and Ireland has
Reading
occasionally had members that have been roundly censured in the national press.
The include Robin Hill Adventure Park on the Isle of Wight, which many
considered the most notorious collection of animals in the country. This
establishment, which for years was protected by the Isle’s local council (which
viewed it as a tourist amenity), was finally clod down following a damning
report by a veterinary inspector appointed under the terms of the Zoo Licensing
Act 1981. As it was always a collection of dubious repute, one is obliged to
reflect upon the standards that the Zoo Federation ts when granting
membership. The situation is even wor in developing countries where little
512考试教育网money is available for redevelopment and it is hard to e a way of incorporating
collections into the overall scheme of the WZCS.
Even assuming that the WZCS’s 1,000 core zoos are all of a high standard
complete with scientific staff and rearch facilities, trained and dedicated
参考论文keepers, accommodation that permits normal or natural behaviour, and a policy
of co-operating fully with one another what might be the potential for
conrvation? Colin Tudge, author of Last Animals at the Zoo (Oxford University
Press, 1992), argues that “if the world”s zoos worked together in co-operative
breeding programmes, then even without further expansion they could save
around 2,000 species of endangered land vertebrates’. This ems an extremely
佛山南海影视城
optimistic proposition from a man who must be aware of the failings and
weakness of the zoo industry the man who, when a member of the council of
London Zoo, had to persuade the zoo to devote more of its activities to
conrvation. Moreover, where are the facts to support such optimism?
