Reading between the lines
September 4th, 2008 by admin
Recent stories about zoos in Florida have revealed more than was intended about the unnatural life of animals held in captivity in the name of “conservation.”
Last week, the Jacksonville Zoo issued a press release about the arrival of a bonobo. “Mabruki” is a 26-year-old male who was born at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center in Atlanta. When Mabruki was nine years old, he was shipped off to the Fort Worth Zoo. His father and mother (”Lorel”) ended-up at the Jacksonville Zoo. According to the press release, “On their first day next to each other in the night house, Mabruki and Lorel spent a significant amount of time grooming one another, which the Zoo employees feel may have been a sign that the two recognized each other.” Bonobos are a close relative of the chimpanzee (and of humans). In bonobo society, the bond between son and mother often remains strong throughout life.
The zoo intended for the story to be about the happy family reunion, but it also highlighted a common practice at zoos: breaking up families and swapping individual animals between zoos as if they were trading cards. At the Jacksonville Zoo, Mabruki “will be allowed to breed with two females.” If that doesn’t work out, or after he’s produced offspring, he or his children will likely be shipped somewhere else.
Also last week, the bad news continued for Safari Wild, an animal park under development near Lakeland. So far, there have been animal escapes, building permit violations, and evidence that employees of the taxpayer-supported Lowry Park Zoo have been working in support of a for-profit business (Safari Wild).
One interesting item from the recent stories (read here, here and here) was that Lex Salisbury, a man who wears two hats as Safari Wild co-owner and Lowry Park Zoo president, had imagined Safari Wild as a place where animals from the Zoo could be sent to “get a break from life in a small exhibit,” and “where animals could roam free and be ‘refreshed’ before returning to the zoo.” The obvious question is why do the animals at Lowry Park Zoo need a retreat, a place “to recover from being on display”?