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Captive Wildlife Crisis
By Eliza Bicknell of Lotus Petal Yoga
For centuries man has captured wild animals for the purposes of display in zoos or zoo like settings. In the mid 1900’s, as zoos became populated and stable, the need to capture animals from the wild was reduced. However, the number of animals in captivity continued to rise as a result of management practices. Some zoos believed that a prolific breeding program demonstrated their success in captive wildlife management while others knew that baby animals bring in more people and therefore more revenue. In either case, captive animal populations grew to be unsustainable due to size and budget constraints. Continual births of certain species left zoos with little choice but to euthanize or ‘sell off' extra animals that could no longer fit into the system. Surplus animals, with no regard to their future well being, left the zoos and ended up in the hands of animal traders and private residences. This has created our current captive wildlife crisis. Commercialization, abuse, neglect and rampant breeding of these animals is the result. Today these animals can be found everywhere, from exotic Las Vegas shows, to your truck stop tiger in a cage, from shopping malls to roadside attractions to your neighbors very own back yard. For example, currently there are more tigers, in the hands of private individuals being kept as pets in the state of Texas than there are left in the wild. There are estimates as high as 30,000 captive Great Cats, Bears and Wolves living in substandard conditions throughout the United States alone. In fact, after illegal drugs and weapons, the exotic animal trade is the third largest source of illicit profits in America…and in the world…today! Law enforcement agencies are continually forced to confiscate animals from unlicensed people who attempt to keep them as pets. Many exist in licensed facilities but that does not mean they are free of abuse and neglect. Because licensing regulations differ from country to country and state to state, it is difficult to regulate humane treatment. Like many other social dilemmas, little was known about this until recently when animals have escaped, died or injured someone. Rescuing all of the unwanted animals will not solve the problem though it will make a difference in the lives of those animals. Education and awareness is where we need to start and the social pressure that an educated public can provide what we need to make changes in how we manage captive wild animals. I first learned of this crisis when visiting the Wild Animal Sanctuary this past November. The Wild Animal Sanctuary, located in eastern Colorado, is one of only 15 sanctuaries that rescues captive large carnivores who have been abused, exploited, abandoned or kept illegally. Their goal is to make the life of the animals that have been rescued as close to how it would be if they could choose it, with dignity and respect. They also work to educate the population about the captive wildlife crisis we are currently facing. The multi species habitats at the sanctuary range from 5 to 25 acres and are quite impressive. From a raised catwalk above the central hub of the center you can look out over all of the enclosures and watch the animals. At the sanctuary you can read each individual animals story, about how they came to be there from a lifetime of captivity and abuse. These stories are truly heart wrenching and I would encourage you to visit the site at – www.WildAnimalSanctuary.org – and read the stories for yourself. Also learn more about this crisis and how we can begin to make a difference and put an end to it.
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Animal Abuse Is Not Entertainment
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Keep up the good work
Thanks, Eliza for bringing this up. It sounds like these sanctuaries go a long way toward raising our collective conscience level (if I spelled that right).
Excellent article. I blame the media. They show footage of some jerk playing with, say, a tiger cub, and the uninformed go "Awwwwww!" or "Cooool!" and next thing you know every idiot with a bit of money in the bank is adding a wild animal to the list of props he is needs to impress the world.
 |  | nick Feb 8, 2010 12:12 | |
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