Anti-Zoo News Articles

Edition 1 - Volume 1

When the San Diego Zoo opened a new $5 million polar bear exhibit in June 1996, it expected the new attraction to draw large crowds during the busy summer season. To the chagrin of zoo officials, several of the polar bears developed a habit of pacing back and forth in the exhibit, a behavior many visitors found disturbing.

Bonnie, a 30 year-old bear, paced for years in the old polar bear exhibit, which officials admitted was too small and offered few ways for the intelligent animals to occupy their time. She resumed the behavior in the new exhibit, along with Shakari, a 19 month-old cub, and her twin Chinook, who would bob her head up and down as she traced and retraced her footsteps.

One visitor was visibly upset at the sight of the two cubs pacing, and left the exhibit saying it was the "most depressing thing I've ever seen." Another visitor reported watching a cub doing a backward move similar to "moon walking," and said the behavior reminded him of seeing a videotape played over and over again.

The zoo stationed employees from its education department at the exhibit to answer visitors' questions about the bear's pacing habit. Educator Elizabeth O'Hara repeatedly told guests that Chinook was pacing "because it's relaxing her."

"I don't know that it's bad," said Gary Priest, the zoo's chief animal behaviorist at the time. "It may be that it's just part of their natural behavior and we just don't fully understand that yet."

Animal behaviorists have many theories why the bears are pacing. Some believe certain animals may be genetically predisposed to pace, while other have suggested that polar bears in the wild go into state of "walking hibernation" while traveling long distances, which could explain the urge to pace in the cage.

Zoo officials also acknowledged that the cubs could be pacing "because they feel unsettled after undergoing several moves since they were rescued from the wild." The zoo hopes to break the animals from their pacing habit by rewarding behavior like swimming with food treats, and moving logs around to discourage the bears from developing favorite places to pace.

(SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE: 8/18/1996)

Woman Says Pacing Cubs are the "most depressing thing I have ever seen"

Utah Zoo Worker Attacked By Chimp

A worker at the Salt Lake City Zoo recently lost a finger and part of his nose when an escaped chimpanzee attacked him and another employee. A former primate worker who quit a day before the attack said she had warned zoo officials that the chimps disliked the injured worker and behaved violently around him for unknown reasons.

Male chimps Chip and Happy and female Tammy escaped from their cage and ran into a service area where Chip attacked zoo worker Jamie Bradley. Kim Tropea, the zoo's new primate supervisor, threw herself on Bradley, but not before he lost one finger, part of another and part of his nose.

Zoo employees fired shotguns at both Chip and Harry, who charged at another worker during the attack. Both animals were euthanized.

Craig Dinsmore, executive director of the Salt Lake City Zoo, said the zoo had not ignored warnings about the chimps' behavior around Bradley, and noted that Bradley "was not near the chimps. He couldn't be seen by the chimps until they got out."

(AP: 3/1/99)

Chimps Known to Behave Violently Around Injured Worker

Herpes Virus Proves Lethal for Young Elephants in Zoos

Scientists at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, MD and the National Zoo is Washington, D.C. recently isolated and identified a lethal form of the herpes virus that has killed at least 10 elephants living in U.S. zoos. The researchers said the herpes virus strikes young Asian elephants who are bred in zoos and have close contact with African elephants, who act as carriers.

The virus is not deadly for African elephants, causing at most a few minor skin irritations. However, using DNA analysis, the scientists determined that Asian elephants are carriers of a different type of herpes virus that kills young African elephants.

Th study found that seven of the 34 elephants born in U.S. and Canadian zoos between 1983 and 1996 died from the virus. Although researchers have not pinpointed the exact method of the viral transmissions, they said contact between African and Asian elephants housed together appears to be the key link.

In the wild, African and Asian elephants don't have contact, and coexist thousands of miles apart. The researchers said the deadly effects of the virus went undetected until both species began to intermingle in such places as zoos.

Many zoos with limited facilities are forced to keep both species together, which allows the virus to jump between species and become much more powerful. Researchers said they plan to combat the virus by utilizing the same antiviral drugs used to treat herpes in humans.

"Fortuitously, it seems to work in the elephants that have this herpes virus," said Laura Richman, a pathologist at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. "If we're not able to sustain younger generations because of illnesses such as this, we're not going to have a population of elephants somewhere down the road for breeding purposes."

(WASHINGTON POST, AP, LOS ANGELES TIMES, WASHINGTON TIMES: 2/19-3/4/99)

Close Contact Between Species in Captivity Strengthens Virus

Two Lynxes Starve to Death in Colorado Reintroduction Program

Earlier this year, five lynxes were released in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado's high country as part of a $1.4 million program to help revive the species. By the beginning of March, two of the Canadian lynxes were found dead after apparently starving to death. Even though snowshoe hare, the lynx's main prey, are abundant in the area, neither cat was able to kill one.

"We know from our survey work last year and from tracks we're seeing in the area that there is an adequate snowshoe hare population," said Colorado Division of Wildlife biologist Gene Byrne. "We also know that there will be mortality, as there is in any reintroduction effort."

The only other lynx reintroduction program ever attempted took place in New York, and eventually failed when most of the animals were killed crossing roads and highways. The lynxes reintroduced in Colorado, however, were released deep in the wilderness. Nonetheless, nearly half are expected to die.

"When the project began, we knew we could lose up to 50 percent or more of the lynx," said Byrne. A wildlife monitoring team reported that a young male lynx released in Colorado tried unsuccessfully to kill a snowshoe hare and a pine squirrel before he died.

Program officials acknowledge that reintroductions are complex and often controversial. An effort to restore Mexican wolves to New Mexico and Arizona was stopped last year after four of the 11 wolves released were shot and a fifth was reported missing. However, reintroduction proponents cite various successes, including the American bald eagle, red wolves in North Carolina, and gray wolves in Yellowstone National Park.

"A lot of people think it's very cool and wonderful to have lynx out there," said Marc Bekoff, an animal behavior researcher and biology professor at the University of Colorado. "I do, too. But it's not fair to put them out there when they're just going to die. I'm not against reintroductions, but when you're dealing with carnivores like wolves and lynx...those efforts mostly have failed."

Colorado wildlife officials said the next lynxes to be reintroduced will stay in holding pens longer, and will be well fed before being released later this year.

(CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, AP, DENVER POST: 3/4/199-3/11/1999)