Interview w/Zoocheck Canada Director

[Barry Kent MacKay]

Interview with Rob Laidlaw, Director of Zoocheck Thursday, 18 September 2008
GreenMuze Staff

Polar bears lying on a concrete floor in an Indonesian zoo

Polar bears in an Indonesian zoo. Photo: Rob Laidlaw

With a hot new book geared towards helping young readers learn more about
zoos – Wild Animals in Captivity – we caught up with Zoocheck founder and
Executive Director Rob Laidlaw to ask a few questions about zoos, what life
in captivity means for the animals and where do wild animals fit in with the
environmental movement.
How did you get involved with captive animal welfare?

I have been extremely interested in nature since my early childhood. I
remember reading everything I possibly could about animals, conservation and
the environment and watching every television documentary about wildlife. At
a very early age, I realized that when animal interests came up against
human interests, the animals nearly always lost out, even when human
interests were trivial. That seemed wrong to me, so I decided to do whatever
I could to ensure that animals were given fair treatment.

While there is certainly a great deal of discussion about wildlife, and
particularly endangered species, the welfare of individual wild animals is
still an idea that is struggling for legitimacy in environmental discourse.
—Rob Laidlaw

How long have you worked with Zoocheck?

I started Zoocheck in 1984 after visiting a small roadside zoo in rural
Ontario. I was shocked at the animal housing and husbandry conditions I
encountered, such as ramshackle homemade cages and filthy conditions, so I
began to investigate what laws there were to protect captive wild animals. I
soon found out that wild animal keeping was essentially unregulated and that
no one really knew very much about the plight of captive wild animals. I
decided it was an issue that someone needed to take on, so I did and that
eventually resulted in the creation of Zoocheck.
[Rob Laidlaw, Director of Zoocheck]

Rob Laidlaw, Director of Zoocheck
What does Zoocheck do?

Zoocheck Canada is a wildlife protection charity established to promote and
protect the interests and well-being of wild animals. Its goals are achieved
through research and investigation, public education and awareness programs,
legislative campaigns, capacity building initiatives and litigation. While
most of our work over the years has involved captive wild animals in Canada,
we have also been involved in a number of international initiatives, as well
as campaigns to protect wildlife in the wild.
Where do animals – captive or wild – fit into the current climate of
environmental discourse?

While there is certainly a great deal of discussion about wildlife, and
particularly endangered species, the welfare of individual wild animals is
still an idea that is struggling for legitimacy in environmental discourse.
I’m sure that will change with time. I think many people are starting to
view the welfare of the individual living components of our environment as
worthy of consideration, so I have little doubt that welfare concepts will
become increasingly prominent in future environmental discussion.
Why do captive animals need a voice?

Captive animals need a voice because a majority of people today believe that
zoos and other captive wildlife display facilities are benign or even
beneficial and that they have the best interests of the animals in mind. Of
course, after nearly three decades examining zoos, I believe nothing could
be further from the truth. In fact, I know most zoos still incarcerate
animals in conditions that fail to satisfy their biological and behavioural
needs; they continue to remove significant numbers of animals from the wild;
they produce an annual predictable surplus of common animals with nowhere to
go; and they make only a negligible contribution to the conservation of wild
animals in their natural habitats. Since animals are unable to defend
themselves, I think it is incumbent upon those of us who care to ask
questions and to challenge animal use wherever and whenever it occurs.

While zoo visitors love to see baby animals, many of them end up being
shunted to substandard zoos, sold to animal dealers, dumped into the pet
trade or sent off to even less desirable circumstances once their appeal has
subsided.
—Rob Laidlaw

Are all zoos created equally?

No, there are a variety of zoos and zoo-type facilities and they range in
quality. The best captive facilities are the ones who place the needs of the
animals as their highest priority. The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee in
one such facility. As a refuge for abused and discarded elephants from zoos
and circuses, they recognize the need to provide elephants with space,
complexity and a rich social environment. By providing hundreds of acres of
field and forest for their elephants to roam, the sanctuary allows elephants
to behave like elephants. While it still not the wild, the facility is
larger and more complex than any zoo I have encountered anywhere in the
world. It puts to shame the bland, meager spaces provided to elephants in
typical zoo environments.
An alligator in a concrete enclosure

A gharial in a barren cage. Photo: Rob Laidlaw

Other examples of facilities that are head and shoulders above even the
best-known zoos include the Performing Animal Welfare Society ARK 2000
sanctuary, Wisconsin Black Bear Education Center, China Bear Rescue Center
and the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. While none are typical zoos, they
provide a useful, productive model that future captive facilities may want
to emulate.
What are the ‘hidden’ sides of zoos?

While many of the problems faced by captive wild animals, such as small
spaces and artificial conditions, are obvious to zoo visitors, a whole range
of questionable zoo practices remain relatively unknown. For example, the
practice of segregating animals into small off-exhibit areas during
non-visitor hours is common in zoos around the world. In fact, I encountered
this recently at a zoo in Japan. Lions housed in a very large enclosure were
put into small, kennel-like spaces at 4 pm where they would remain until 9
am the following morning when they would be let out into their display
space. I expect most visitors assume the lions live in their big enclosure
all the time and that if they knew that the lions actually spent 17 hours
each day in their off-exhibit areas, they would be shocked.

Breeding is often portrayed as a positive aspect to zoos, but most breeding
is problematic because surplus animals are typically difficult, if not
impossible, to find homes for. Even many endangered species breeding
programs regularly produce unwanted surplus animals that are hard to place.
While zoo visitors love to see baby animals, many of them end up being
shunted to substandard zoos, sold to animal dealers, dumped into the pet
trade or sent off to even less desirable circumstances once their appeal has
subsided. This is something the average zoo visitor probably doesn’t
realize.

I believe the entire zoo concept needs to be reexamined. It is time for zoos
to evolve into facilities that are more humane, conservation-oriented and
productive.

Should we have zoos?

I believe the entire zoo concept needs to be reexamined. The outdated,
menagerie-style zoo model, the current format of most zoos today, emerged in
the 19th century and has outlived its usefulness. It is time for zoos to
evolve into facilities that are more humane, conservation-oriented and
productive. If that happens, there may still be some zoos, but they will be
far different from the zoos that most people are familiar with today.
What makes a ‘good’ zoo?

The best captive facilities are the ones who place the needs of the animals
as their highest priority. They recognize that all animals need space,
complexity, stimulation and an ability to exercise control over their own
lives. They recognize that their facilities need to be self-sustaining, but
they do not focus on commercial objectives, such as perpetually trying to
raise visitor numbers or generate revenue, actions that often occur at the
expense of the animals.

Some of the best captive facilities are small and focused, devoting their
efforts and resources on particular species, becoming specialists in
particular functions, such as animal rescue, or driving legitimate field
conservation initiatives. Unfortunately, those kinds of facilities are the
exception, rather than the rule.
[A silverback living in a concrete world. Photo: Rob Laidlaw]

A silverback living in a concrete world. Photo: Rob Laidlaw Is it possible
for animals to have a decent life in a zoo?

Given what I have personally encountered in zoos around the world, I believe
that most times the answer is no. I say this because most of the zoos I’ve
visited keep animals in completely artificial conditions that are thousands,
or in some cases, millions of times smaller than the spaces they would
inhabit in the wild. Their ability to act naturally by expressing normal
movements and behaviours is severely restricted or eliminated. Having said
that, I believe there are certain circumstances in which it is acceptable or
beneficial to keep at least some animals in captivity, such as in
sanctuaries and retirement centers, rescue centers, specialist facilities,
conservation breeding centers and, perhaps, in a small number of
“progressive” zoos.
Why did you write Wild Animals in Captivity?

For a very long time, I have read zoo marketing materials, the majority of
them aimed at children that provide a sanitized and inaccurate view of zoos
and what they do. I have also been contacted regularly by both children and
parents who are concerned about the keeping of wildlife in captivity, and,
in many cases, about school visits to zoos. I felt it was time for someone
to formulate a children-oriented response to counter the propaganda
disseminated by the zoo industry.
Any more books in the works?

I am currently working on a children’s book about wild animals in
entertainment. It will cover wild animals in circuses, film and television,
beach primates in Spain, dancing bears in eastern Europe and Asia, Temple
elephants and snake charming in India, alligator wrestling in the United
States and the exploitation of animals in educational programs. I don’t
believe most of these topics have been discussed in a children’s book
before, even though they tend to be aimed at the entertainment of children.
I also have an adult book about zoos in the works and essays for two photo
books about human-animal relationships.
Closing remarks?

There have certainly been many highs over the years, such as new laws being
passed, changes in policies, zoo closures and animal relocations, to name
just a few. Of course, there have also been many low points as well. The
most satisfying part of this entire process however has been facilitating
the development of new activists. As someone who is completely aware of his
own limitations, as well as the limitations of this relatively new modern
movement to protect animals, I understand the need for more people to get
involved and become active. The movement has progressed tremendously since I
first started and I am very pleased to have played a small role in making
that happen.

For more information about Zoocheck visit: http://www.zoocheck.com

http://www.greenmuze.com/news/recent-news/395-interview-with-rob-laidlaw-dir
ector-of-zoocheck.html
____________________________

Barry Kent MacKay
Senior Programme Associate
Born Free USA United with Animal Protection Institute

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