Bens Zoo

[Dan Salter]

Ooops....the stress of pre christmas uni assignments had me forgetting all about this one?...hope i havent missed too many...what nights is it on again?

[StuartDH]

Saw it for the first time tonight and looked like they're doing a good job for all of the right reaons. The locals seemed to speak very highly of the transformation from a rundown zoo to a place where the animals now appear much happier. Ben seems like a really good bloke and must have a lot of courage to take on such a project. Hats off to him.

[Blackbrook Eye]

Why is it necessary to keep so called wild animals locked up in a totally alien environment in the first place, would it not be better to spend the time, money and effort in keeping their natural habitat safe and free from poaching and exploitation, I have watched the programme from the beginning and I am certain that people with the determination of Ben could be put to much better use in making sure that the legislation in place for the protection of animals in their natural environment is upheld would be of more benefit to wildlife than keeping them caged up in a place where they were never intended to be. The excuse that a captive breeding programme is necessary to ensure that a particular species doesn't become extinct holds very little water, as if the environment is gone there will be nowhere for them to live anyway, apart from zoos.

[Gill Catton]

Originally Posted by Blackbrook Eye

Why is it necessary to keep so called wild animals locked up in a totally alien environment in the first place, would it not be better to spend the time, money and effort in keeping their natural habitat safe and free from poaching and exploitation, I have watched the programme from the beginning and I am certain that people with the determination of Ben could be put to much better use in making sure that the legislation in place for the protection of animals in their natural environment is upheld would be of more benefit to wildlife than keeping them caged up in a place where they were never intended to be. The excuse that a captive breeding programme is necessary to ensure that a particular species doesn't become extinct holds very little water, as if the environment is gone there will be nowhere for them to live anyway, apart from zoos.

I don't like zoos really mainly down to the lack of space for the animals - and I don't particualrly like to see so many big predators - but I understand that this is what gets people through the gate. However, I do think the presence of these animals in Britain is important - people tend to care about things a lot more if they can actually see them in the flesh and then relate to the problems in the natural habitats. Also the experince of a kiddie seeing his first tiger could set him on a path that ends up with him being a fantastic worker in the world of conservation.

I also don't really buy the captive breeding for conservation element as few if any animals make it back into the wild (though mainly due to lack of suitable habitat as much as cost) except in the fact that zoos will then supply themselves and there would be fewer wild caught animals in zoos or safari parks which sems like a good thing to me

[Blackbrook Eye]

Yes Gill, It seems that we are heading down the same path here with the exception of the bit about kiddies seeing animals in captivity, I think that this could possibly give them the wrong message regarding animal welfare by infering that this practice is acceptable, the animals in the zoo are real, not museum exibits and should not be expected to suffer in the vain hope that one day in the distant future, what is now a four year old child, may at the age of thirty plus, be able to tell the rest of the world where it went wrong, and why the animals in question exist no more. Educating tomorrows people to solve todays problems may well be too late, surely the time to make a difference is now, if anything is worth fighting for it is the environment that we all need for our very existance, and that of the children who are being shown wild animals as zoo exibits. So far as the programme on TV is concerned I have the greatest admiration for the original staff who stayed on after the closure, to ensure the welfare of the captives, presumably not knowing whether they would still be employed or not, medals all round !!

[Feather]

Well said Blackbrook Eye.
Ahh, Ben the Andy Pipkin of zoos, points to a giraffe 'I want one.' Zoo expert 'They grow very tall and eat tons of leaves' Andy (sorry Ben) 'Yeah, I know'.

[Jamie_W]

All very interesting to see this show from the point of view of a student studying zoos. Apparently the animals couldn't be re-homed, many are genetically worthless, in-breeding was allowed to take place and so other zoos don't want them. Ben is doing his best and should be commended, the poor state of the zoo is a legacy of its past owner and now unfortunatley it has Bens name on it. I've been there and I was shocked by it, but having seen the show, I appreciated the situation.

As for zoos as a whole, we need them. Conservation can't rely on efforts in the natural habitats alone, for a start, they don't always work - rhinos are still shot by poachers in protected zones, even if de-horned. Disease is an issue - see the fungal infections currently threatening a vast proportion of the worlds amphibians. Farmers in Africa are going to shoot cheetahs if they get too close. We can't do much about mass deforestation either. The fact is, too much damage has been done already and there are too many humans, things will get worse before they get better.

Zoos will help instill a respect and change common social attitudes, reducing the pressure on wild populations. An actual encounter is worth far more than reading about an animal in a book. You must also remember that the majority of captive animals these days were born in captivity, only the older animals like elephants have been taken from the wild. People don't go out to Africa in khaki with cages anymore!

Reintroduction isn't perfect, but it does work sometimes... Golden Lion Tamarin, Arabian Oryx...etc, reintroduced to the wild after captive populations were used to sustain wild poupulations virtually extinct. The natural environment is helped too, the money generated by the bigger zoos does get put back into in-situ projects, ZSL alone puts millions of pounds every year into these areas.

It could be talked about for an eternity, but those are just a few of my thoughts on the subject...