Why Are Zoos Murdering Healthy Animals?

[ToraToraTora]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-26356099
Ok they say it's due to "genetic" reasons W_T_F does that mean? can someone with knowledge of this explain to me why it is necessary? We are always being told tigers are endangered yet one zoo put down 3 cubs! I just don't get it. I have googled but all I can find is stats/non stats no actual explanation. thanks

[LazyGun]

Most Zoos around the globe have signed up to conservation programmes, in part to justify their continued existence. The thinking behind this is that zoos would act as a repository for those species that might be endangered in the wild, with the prospect of re-seeding the particular species if necessary.

So part of that will be attempting to ensure that the genetic profile does not move too far away from the "norm", as represented by the species in the wild. Since Zoos generally cannot hold large numbers of animals, particularly larger species, like Giraffes, or Hippos ,or Zebras, or the big cats etc, and often such groups are family groups, there is the prospect of significant in-breeding, leading to declining reproductive success and lifespan of the creatures in question. So they need to ensure genetic biodiversity.

Mostly they do this by swapping out animals from one zoo to another, but sometimes such a swap is not possible, so an animal in captivity will be put down rather than allowed to breed.

[Fitzer]

It's fairly simple, the purported reason for breeding programmes in zoos is to maintain the species for the future, presumably to be able to re-introduce them in the wild if extinction takes place. Since the captive population is fairly small in relation to what would it would be in the wild there is a limited pool of genes to breed from, as interbreeding of close relations is a very bad idea genetically (look at the royal houses of Europe in the 19th century and some breeds of dog!). Zoos therefore try to swap animals between them to broaden the gene pool, this is all well and good in the earlier generations but causes problems when you have the second generation offspring as there are limited numbers of places which have others of the same species to breed with and chances are they will already have animals related to the one you're trying to place. This is especially true of males since in most mammals one male in a group breeds with the females to male offspring are more likely to already share a lot of genetic makeup with with all of the available breeding females (this is why, for instance, male elephants don't stay with a herd but move from one to another). I believe the tiger cubs were slightly different as they weren't pure bred to one species but a hybrid and zoos only want to breed pure species otherwise they aren't preserving the 'natural' state. Animals are expensive to keep and don't take well to contraception, well males mainly except for castration and that essentially screws up all of the male/female dynamics so they are often put down (not murdered)

[LazyGun]

Heh, NfN "Normal for Norfolk". Lost track of the number of times I have seen that on diagnostic medical notes :)

[ToraToraTora]

Ok thanks, so why not just steralise the ones they don't want to breed?

[LazyGun]

Economics I would imagine, 3T. Costs money to feed and care for an animal that is deemed superfluous to the breeding programme, and a giraffe can offer a good meal to the pride of lions 2-3 enclosures down.

[ToraToraTora]

Yes I get it, but in many cases including the Giraffe, it was offered several places in other zoos over Europe, steralise it and move it, It just seemed as though they were determined to put it down.

[Fitzer]

In general they do often sterilise females but males are more problematic as castration causes a lot of other behavioural changes which can cause other problems within a group. The whole point of multiple males in a group with only one breeding is for the others to attempt to become the breeder, a castrated male wouldn't compete and thus would have no status and could very well die from rejection. When talking about animals which don't live in a group dynamic then chances are that finance is the ultimate driver in deciding what to do.

[Old_Geezer]

Abattoirs murder healthy animals too by the same logic.

But I agree it is deplorable that animals breed for show and conservation should be considered so disposable. I guess it's considered the easy way to manage stock.

[LazyGun]

I am not a fan of Zoos. I have no answer for you, 3T - several institutions offered to take Marius, all of which and all the Director of Copenhagen Zoo can say is that Marius was surplus to the genetic breeding requirements of the european herd.

I have no way of knowing just how genuine those offers of re-homing were, or how good the institutions are, but I am very cynical about zoos.

They make big claims about their conservation work, but the reticulated giraffe is not an endangered species. The reason they have such an animal is because such creatures draw a crowd, especially when young.

This is Denmark Zoos official pronouncements on the whole issue;
http://zoo.dk/BesogZoo/Nyhedsarkiv/2014/Februar/Why%20Copenhagen%20Zoo%20euthanized%20a%20giraffe.aspx

And this is a good article, questioning some of the claims that Zoos make;
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/02/140212-giraffe-death-denmark-copenhagen-zoo-breeding-europe/

[Old_Geezer]

If the females were given oral contraception and only taken off it when being matched to mate, then surely the issue isn't there any more ?

[youngmafbog]

Well they can't feed the lions unhealthy animals and they have to be fed something!

[ToraToraTora]

Plenty of socialists out there YMB!

[emmie]

i honestly don't know, but if they are why don't they stop.

[emmie]

i don't like zoos, and only been to London zoo once, that was enough.