Zoos Breed and Kill Animals for "Enrichment"

At a bear park in Bern, Switzerland, two European brown bear cubs may be killed if no other zoo will take them in. They're being evicted in 18 months because, at the age of two, their mom will reject them. That's normally when they'd wander off to find their own territory, but being captive-bred, new territory just means another enclosure or cage where people will buy tickets to gawk at them. But if none of those are available, they'll be put down.

Mark Rissi, president of the Foundation for Bears and member of Swiss Animal Protection, defended the zoo, saying they were doing the best that they can. "In the wild, they would be killed by predators. Here they will just live on. Man is responsible for these animals and he also is responsible for deciding if they have to be killed, and for killing them at a moment that is logical."

I think logic went out the window a long time ago. To recap: the bears were bred, even though the bear park couldn't keep the offspring and there's a "surplus" of brown bears in captivity in Europe thanks to "successful" breeding programs. So, after doing their duty as "ambassadors" for the zoo (i.e. ticket-selling attractions), the cubs may be killed if no one else can take them. Apparently these "breed and cull" programs happen at zoos throughout Europe and, apparently people like Rissi, who are supposed to be animal advocates, think it's okay.

Man is so "responsible" that the cubs' parents may mate again, repeating the cycle of insanity. The curator of the Bern zoo said, "We believe that animals in a zoo should have babies as a form of behavioral enrichment. Being a zoo animal tends to be boring, so it's good for the animals if they can mate and raise young."

Doesn't sound like a very enriching experience for the young animals who are killed in their adolescence. If breeding programs aren't being used to prepare animals for release to bolster wild populations, then there's little point to them. I don't see how zoos can justify bringing these animals into the world to temporarily amuse their captive parents or add to overcrowded zoos.

Humans playing with life and death isn't being "responsible." We're not talking about animals who are suffering and need to be euthanized, these are healthy animals who are being brought into the unnatural world of zoos as a form of "enrichment" for other captive animals, and then discarded when no longer needed. Can you imagine if humans did this? Imagine high school Home Economics, if teens were given real babies instead of eggs or sacks of flour to take care of, and then the babies were just dumped or "put down" when the lesson was over. It's absurd.

This raises the question — again — of what's the point of zoos? With ongoing behavioral problems among zoo animals and breeding programs that just lead to death, the arguments for education and conservation have followed logic out the window.

Photo credit: Property#1