And if that was not enough, the article continues to say, Imagine you are five years old, someone breaks into your home, kills your aunt and possibly your older brother in the process of kidnapping you. Costa Rica has recognised this and in 2013 declared that it would be closing all its zoos and releasing the animals who are able to be rehabilitated to the wild. Digital Student News of Perrysburg High School. A necropsy is being conducted on Gus. Polar bears are just one type of captive animal who display "zoochosis." Thank you! [1][2] He was the subject of a 1995 satirical book, What's Worrying Gus? And again. Stephen Kellert, a leading social ecologist at Yale, argues that zoos encourage the notion that humans are superior to animals, rather than encouraging kinship with nature. It was rough, but surprisingly human-like. Zoochosis is the stereotypical behavior that captive animals display that has no obvious goal or function. The last form of evidence is zoos sometimes kill healthy animals. Test your knowledge of this "hot" topic with this quiz. Many zoos have been caught treating their animals horribly. (LogOut/ This means that animals Are being taken away from there natural habitat just so they can be put in zoos. While this behaviour is indiscernible in animals in the wild, this is not the case with those in zoos. Zoos also routinely trade and relocate animals who they deem to have outlived profitability or who no longer fit into breeding schemes. In the early days of zoo popularity, television was far from an everyday reality for people. Not only do animals die for the entertainment of the people, they often become depressed. The first thing you worry about is whether this reflects some deep-seated physical problem. The major flaw in all of these zoos and sanctuaries and refuges, acknowledges Jon Coe, perhaps the worlds foremost zoo designer, is that animal management is determined by coercion and captivity.. There should not be zoos because they treat animal, First, zoos are harmful to animals because zoos are not giving animals a healthy diet. Bears exhibited behaviors such as head flips, pacing and jumping as the trial length progressed and failure rate . Brutes do not think, the French, A spate of recent studies shows animals are far more like us far more self-aware and socially sophisticated than previously imagined. Weve come to accept this as part of normal society. The New York Times confirmed that Gus had zoochosis. Gus, a polar bear in Central Park Zoo who had only 5,000 square . Additionally, animals are not usually released back into the wild. The World Association of Zoos and Aquariums flagged many different zoos for forcing their animals to perform all kinds of unnatural, unsafe acts for the public to be entertained. These circumstances therefore cause the zoo animals to become depressed which is evident in their behaviour. Amid the general outrage that has followed zoo workers slaying of the gorilla Harambe at the Cincinnati Zoo after a small boy fell into his enclosure, we at Advocacy for Animals would like to highlight the fact that no wild animal belongs in a zoo, though those institutions provide many justifications for the practice. Zoo breeding programs, which are overseen by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums' Animal Exchange Database, move animals around the country when they identify a genetically suitable mate. Nicholas Dodman is an advocate for drugs. Other words sites World Wide Words tries to record at least a part of this shifting wordscape by featuring new words, word histories, words in the news, and the curiosities of native English speech. Photo / Thinkstock, The disruption of family or pack units for the sake of breeding is another stressor in zoos, especially in species that form close-knit groups, such as gorillas and elephants. The truth is that zoos exist primarily for profit. Since the eye-opening documentary Blackfish hit screens, the world has woken up to the cruelty of keeping marine animals, like Tilikum, confined to tanks. Is his appetite off? And chimpanzees will help each other without expecting anything in return. Copyright Michael Quinion, 1996. According to Spanishzoos.org animals hurt each other. Opinions are divided as to whether the boy was in any danger from Harambe before he was killed by zookeepers. Dodmans own career hed focused on anesthesiology up until that point changed course, too. Former zoo director David Hancocks estimates that less than 3% of a zoos budget goes to conservation, while the majority goes towards hi-tech exhibits and marketing efforts to lure visitors. Zoos exist primarily to put animals on show and make money from doing so. Their repetitive attempt at coping is known as zoochosis. 2007: A kangaroo was euthanised after being hit by a train that runs through the Cleveland Zoo. They regard animals not as commodities, but as they really are: living beings who are frequently victims of an industry that cares more about the happiness of the human spectators and the success of the franchise than the well-being of the animal who has been forced, unfortunately, into a captive life. Vulnerable creatures are being abused daily and few seem to care about this issue. The AZA released a study in 2007 on the educational impact of zoos, arguing just this point. $dS[2*H|J+HH;$A@d&FF R- endstream endobj startxref 0 %%EOF 531 0 obj <>stream The reasons why this is bad is because they are forced to go through unnatural things for animals. Surplus management strategies are one of the best-kept secrets of modern zoos. Animals are taking Xanax, Klonopin, Zoloft, Buspar, Ativan, and Paxil, too. Onegreenplanet.org states that a polar bear named Gus was forced into a zoo enclosure that was .00009 percent of the size that his natural habitat would be, and was alone. Trichotillomania (repetitive hair plucking) and regurgitation and reingestation (the practice of repetitively vomiting and eating the vomit) are also common in captivity. Causes of Zoochosis And there is real magic in exposing generations of children to them. While a strong argument can be made for the practice of moving animals for breeding purposes in the case of endangered species, animals are also moved because a zoo has too many of one species. But what about the rest of the animals that are not endangered? Some may argue, saying that zoos provide many different jobs for people of all ages. Which gases play an important role in climate change? This weeks Take Action Thursday reports on the disappointing passage of an ag-gag bill in North Carolina over the governors veto. Five Things We Must Stop Telling Ourselves About Zoos. And a couple of years ago, the Sedgwick County Zoo in Wichita, Kansas, opened a 5-acre elephant habitat accessible by boat. Youre likely to find this word used by animal rights activists in reference to what they see as the degrading effect of zoos on the animals they contain. Categories . According to Google, Zoochosis is defined as term used to describe the stereotypical behaviour of animals in captivity. Zoo . Is his behavior toward the ladies hes living with declining?. The first piece of how zoos give their animals a good life is they treat them good. The first generation of conservation involved fencing in national parks, Coe says. Was he having a nervous breakdown? Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. That was one of the kind of signature experiences here at the zoo, so its really sad that hes not around.. hb```g``Ja`e`e`@ &(LeC/fH}uUV[c\JPoU@ X!`3 -` 0K0d*grecraeZyg`rGM>eX#-pJV}3pnh@$ And in China, he developed a master plan for a wildlife park never built that would have used food grown by local farmers to lure a remarkable mountain goat-like creature called the takin into a valley where tourists could watch them from buses. 474 0 obj <> endobj 502 0 obj <>/Filter/FlateDecode/ID[<0082DBA9C2B623A447360B8FB0BDEC4E><968ACFB23D71435C99C3AA31E380646D>]/Index[474 58]/Info 473 0 R/Length 123/Prev 635569/Root 475 0 R/Size 532/Type/XRef/W[1 2 1]>>stream The word, a blend of zoo and psychosis, seems to date from the early 1990s, but is still fairly specialist and hasnt so far as I know yet made it to any dictionary. Zoos and sea-parks should be banned and. [9], In 1994 zoo officials began noting Gus's unusual behavior in his habitat. In fact, when he was first moved to the zoo, he would entertain himself by stalking small children. [11] Gus was also the first zoo animal in history to be treated with Prozac. Gus, a famously troubled polar bear, naps at New York's Central Park Zoo in 2002. 419- 874-3181, Culture Cast #7 India (Sashmika Kanumilli), OPINION: Legislators should be worried about acts of violence, not acts of expression, Maddie and Hibas Journeys (Episode 8 April Fools! Photo / Thinkstock. Zoos exist to serve the human gaze. A bear starved to death at the Toledo Zoo after zoo officials lock her up to hibernate without food or water (Baker). When kept in captivity, animals are deprived of the ability to express their natural desires and the effect this can often have on their mental and emotional health is tragically clear in the form of zoochosis. Linehan has seen some of the stereotypic behavior that worries researchers and advocates one of the gorillas hes worked with for years, Little Joe, is a hair plucker. Fluoxetine, the generic form of Prozac, now comes in dozens of pet-friendly flavors, including peanut butter, apple and molasses, double grape, double liver, double beef, double fish, and for the especially carnivorous depressive triple fish. Why was he doing this? What is more, they serve as a reminder of success in animal conservation and encourage people to continue working on it (Borrell 9). Frequently animals become mentally disturbed, frustrated, Zoos are an unsuitable environment for wild animals and should be abolished. (The others would be cared for in sanctuaries or live out their lives in nature parks.) The exhibit spaces are larger and more naturalistic, and the staff is far more professional. Even at the end it happened sometimes, Mr. Breheny said. For example, the Magnetic Hill Zoo in Moncton has lions, monkeys and other exotic species that are used to a warm desert or tropical climate, which is definitely not present in New Brunswick, therefore the animals would have to attempt to adapt to a new climate as well as a new home and they would be suffering in the cold during the winter, even if the zoo takes extra precautions to keep their animals warm and safe in the winter, the warmest and safest place for them would be in their natural habitat. Learn about the causes and effects of water scarcity at a global level, and about its strategies and solutions. But zoo officials became increasingly worried. But this sort of repetitive conduct is not as disturbing as critics make it out to be, he says. ` B endstream endobj 475 0 obj <> endobj 476 0 obj <> endobj 477 0 obj <>stream In 1994, notice was drawn to his peculiar swimming protocol. To combat zoochosis, many zoos have enrichment programs in which animals are given distracting toys or puzzles to play with, food that takes longer to eat, or more complex additions to their enclosures. One of the leading theories of how trauma is generated is that when restraint is imposed (either physically, psychologically or culturally) it takes away both active escape and active defense. At a cost of $25,000, an animal behaviorist was hired to treat Gus. in 2006, a zoo imported 33 monkeys who had been illegally trafficked by poachers in Africa (Smith). Hed dive into his pool, slither across the bottom, surge to the surface, and backstroke to the other side. There are not a huge number of ways to become famous as a polar bear. In essence, the conclusion was that Gus was bored. Follow him on Twitter @dscharfGlobe, #ada-button-frame { hkO8?hT4Br&BC-=!d7nlRB' -NhiTXRRTBB)m0BoIy, R[BwUza)I %4B;Khw0(1$1$ kA8+! Zoos have always been something that families love and kids look forward to going to. Gus, a polar bear at New York's Central Park Zoo, spent so much of his time swimming figure eights in his pool that he had to be put on antidepressants. If zoos had the best interests of animals at heart, would they keep them in captivity at all? Gus's neuroticism earned him the nickname "the bipolar bear," a dose of Prozac, and $25,000 worth of behavioural therapy. This weeks Take Action Thursday urges action on state bills to facilitate the adoption of dogs and cats used for laboratory research and testing. Join Our Newsletter Receive the latest in global news and designs . Gus began compulsively swimming figure eights in his pool for up to 12 hours per day. I met one gingerly handling a tenrec (a hedgehog-like creature native to Madagascar) who knew the answer to every question I peppered him with about the animals in the exhibit. Gus, a polar bear at the Central Park Zoo, swam ceaselessly. This proves to be significant because although some say zoos are educational they prove of no worth to the amount of information we as humans obtain. "Zoos as institutions are deeply problematic," Braitman told me. Gus, for example, was forced to live in an enclosure that is 0.00009 percent of the size his range would have been in his natural habitat. Zoochosis makes them go crazy and do weird behavior because of abuse or horrible living spaces. After reading Animal Madness, I visited the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington, D.C. Laboratory rats, He was enthralled by the science by the curative powers of the medications. Ninety-nine percent of the animals in his zoos are happy, Linehan says. "It's impossible to replicate even a slim fraction of the kind of life polar bears have in the wild," Braitman writes. Zoochosis is displayed through behavioral disorders such as circling, pacing, bar biting, excessive grooming, addiction, and self-harm. At the new zoo, he was abused by the other gorillas and lost a third of his body weight. [3], According to zoo officials, Gus had exhibited signs of depression since the death of his last partner, Ida, in 2011. Written, directed and edited by Patrick Scott (https://twitter.com/zoochosiscom) A Zoochosis Production (. In the wild, polar bears may travel thousands of kilometres per year, walking and swimming large distances in the hunt for foodJohnia/Flickr. An example of zoochosis is a polar bear named Gus in Central Park Zoo. October 20, 2021. Expensive therapy was ordered. 2000: An 18 year old sloth bear named Medusa died of dehydration when Toledo Zoo officials locked her in a den to hibernate, not knowing that her species does not hibernate. In his 1872 treatise On the Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals, Darwin made an explicit link between the emotional experiences of both calling the similarities further proof that we shared common ancestors. His father, Nanook, was sent to the Toledo Zoo from his home in the Bronx Zoo for the purposes of breeding. Polar bears are among the most beloved animals, but Gus was something else. Guss compulsive behavior, a growing pile of research suggests, is distressingly common among captive animals. Was it something physical? He got a redesigned habitat and a bunch of new playthings, The New York Times reported, including traffic cones and rubber garbage cans. They also bang on cages because they dont want to be in there. Colin Bairone one of Tilikums old trainers said, I think everyone has a better understanding of the natural world and the intelligence and social infrastructure of these amazing animals and that concrete pools are not a place for them to be, (Baker n.p). A zoo cannot provide the perfect environment for every type of animal. Owls are typically solitary animals who prefer to hunt and explore at night. when they are in confinement together. gus, the polar bear zoochosis. These actions only worsen their conditions and thus the animals suffer to a greater, To begin with, the first reason of why zoos are ethical is because they give the animals a good life. However, an examination of the study by researchers at Emory University found the results exaggerated, noting that "there is no compelling or even particularly suggestive evidence for the claim that zoos and aquariums promote attitude change, education, and interest in conservation in their visitors." The trick, she says, is to anthropomorphize well, rejecting self-centered projection, even as we recognize bits and pieces of our human selves in other animals and vice versa., A spate of recent studies shows animals are far more like us far more self-aware and socially sophisticated than previously imagined. : The True Story of a Big-City Bear,[13] which publishers described as a "timeless tale of the quintessential outsider coping with the harsh reality of New York in the '90s". Do you know about the threats facing nonhuman life on Earth? He was compelled to forage for some of his food mackerel frozen in ice, chicken wrapped in rawhide to keep his mind and body more active. And zoos with smaller footprints may have to relinquish animals, like elephants, in need of more space. To illustrate, they are forced to go through temperatures that humans are good with. If you take a big cat, and you put it in an exhibit, and it starts to express a compulsive order that. Many animals cope with unstimulating or small environments through stereotypic behaviour, which, in zoological parlance, is a repetitive behaviour that serves no obvious purpose, such as pacing, bar biting, and Gus' figure-eight swimming. [8] Gus was seen by an estimated 20 million visitors in his lifetime. Captivity can be good for an animals physical health, since it means higher-caloric meals and, often, longer life spans. He was enthralled by the science by the curative powers of the medications. [10] The zoo hired an animal behavioral therapist at a cost of $25,000 to determine the reason for Gus's obsessive swimming. just like the awesome humans in this video did, Action Alert from the National Anti-Vivisection Society. Watching this polar bear pacing back and forth in front of a door was disturbing knowing that an adult female recently rejected all her triplets by trying to. The mystery drew widespread news media attention. The relevant zoo standards in Australia would allow a similar judgement to be made about surplus animals here, but these management decisions are rarely made public. And again. His parents, Nanook and Snowball, died in 1996. Zoochosis can include rocking, swaying, excessively pacing back and forth, circling, twisting of the neck, self-mutilation, excessive grooming, biting, vomiting and copraphagia (consuming excrement).