Think Your Half-Term Visit to the Zoo will Support Threatened Species? Think Again... Do Zoos put the Con in Conservation? By Chris Lewis, Captivity Research Officer, Born Free Foundation
New research published by leading wildlife charity BORN FREE shows majority of species kept in charitable UK zoos aren’t threatened with extinction.
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nly a quarter (26.6%) of species housed in Consortium of Charitable Zoos (CCZ) member organisations are threatened with extinction
• Over half (52.4%) of species housed by CCZ members are categorised as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, including the two brown bears shot at Whipsnade last week • Only a third of species (35.4%) born at these zoos are classified as threatened • CCZ members house more domesticated animals (360) than animals from species which are categorised as Extinct in the Wild (64) • CCZ members have fewer species in European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA) breeding programmes than they did 15 years ago (212 vs 218) 116
LANCASHIRE & NORTH WEST MAGAZINE
28th May 2021. Shocking new report published today by Born Free highlights that the majority of species found in the UK’s Consortium of Charitable Zoos (CCZ) are not classified as threatened species, and it appears that these zoos have made little effort to adjust this imbalance since it was first identified by Born Free 15 years ago. Will Travers OBE, stated: “The truth about zoos is hard to expose, as layers of self-justification wrap themselves around these institutions. Just how many species have been bred successfully in zoos and returned to the wild? And while an elephant enclosure containing a tiny number of often un-related individuals costs many millions, field conservationists are crying out for even a fraction of those resources to protect wild elephants and their habitats. Bluntly, the multi-billion-pound zoo world promises much but delivers very, very little.” The British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums (BIAZA) has stated that without government action “organisations [BIAZA members] could close for good” due to the pandemic, and headlines have warned that “species could face extinction”. But would they? Born www.lancmag.com
