As Byculla zoo gets set to follow up its acquisition of Humboldt penguins and Asian tigers with Asiatic lions and anacondas, a petition asks, do we need zoos at all?
The sambhal deer enclosure at the Byculla zoo cordons off visitors with a soundproof glass so that the animals are not disturbed by human activity
We have had senior citizens coming in, viewing the penguin exhibit and saying that they are grateful. Had it not been for the zoo, they say, they would not have ever been able to see penguins,” says a senior official from Byculla’s Virmata Jijabai Udyan. The zoo, which in 2016, acquired seven Humboldt penguins from South Korea, to much controversy, is now in talks with the Central Zoo Authority to acquire a pair of anacondas. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is also slated to spend Rs 82 lakh to buy two pairs of zebras, which will be given to Sakkarbaug Zoo at Junagadh in Gujarat and Kamala Nehru Zoo at Indore in Madhya Pradesh, in exchange of two pairs of Asiatic lions and one pair each of Indian bears and hyenas.
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But a lawyer and activist is asking, why do we need zoos at all? Ambika Hiranandani filed a petition late last year against having zoos in India, and received 40,000 signatures in support.
Tigress Karishma in the holding area of her enclosure on a Wednesday, when her enclosure was being cleaned. The enclosure is made to resemble the environment at the Ranthambore National Park. Pics/Ashish Raje
Leading us past the penguin enclosure, a senior zoo official, takes us to the enclosure where the sambhal deer are kept. With soundproof glass acting as a barrier between human visitors and the wildlife, the official says the enclosure is as close to a natural environment as possible. The water body inside has fresh water that is regularly filtered. They have corners they can rest in. The tigers—Karishma and Shakti—even have a bamboo grove, where they can go and hide, away from prying human eyes. Their food is measured, they get their vaccination shots, and animals in captivity, that are well taken care of, live longer than animals in the wild, where they are under threat from both diseases and predators and have to defend their territories.
“A zoo today,” says the official, “performs two important functions. We have conservation programmes wherein endangered species are bred in captivity and then when there are enough numbers, released into the wild. Over the last 50 years, 10 nearly-extinct species have been bred in zoos and later released into their natural environments. The second function is that of awareness. Not just do humans get to see wild animals when they come in, but boards outside the enclosure and other programmes aim to take the conversation to the subject of preserving their habitats,” says the official, adding that post the modernisation of the zoo and bringing in of the penguins, footfall at the Byculla facility—which is spread over 60 acres and boasts of an impressive 4,500 trees—increased to 8,000 per day, and went up to 12,000 and 15,000 on weekends and holidays. Over 40 per cent of this, would be children in the three to 12 age group.
Melbourne's Phillip Island Nature Parks live streamed its Penguin Parade every evening starting August 25, 2020, to a total of 25 million viewers globally
An impressive number for sure, but is there another way of viewing animals, perhaps in their natural environment?
Among the many blessings-in-disguise during the COVID-19 pandemic and its subsequent lockdown on human movement, was the turn that many zoos and nature parks took to live streaming their animals’ movements.
Children at the petting farm at Japaloupe, Talegaon
Among these was Melbourne’s Phillip Island Nature Parks which live streamed its Penguin Parade every evening starting August 25, 2020. Says Huzan Fraser Motivala, India representative of Phillip Island Nature Parks, “We decided that ‘if the people can’t come to the penguins, we’ll bring the penguins to the people’, and thus Live Penguin TV was born.”
Revealing numbers, Motivala says in 2018-19, 7.24 lakh people visited the Penguin Parade in person. On the first day of the live streaming, they had 7.70 lakh viewers and, over the course of the next 14 weeks, over 25 million viewers watched the nightly return of the penguins, with a large number of viewers watching on a regular basis. “The multiple camera angles and the engaging ranger commentary during the live streams not only fill the gap of experiencing this natural event remotely, but also inspire many people to come and see for themselves,” she adds.
Ambika Hiranandani
What if we re-defined the role that zoos play by looking at the world from this perspective. “We have National Geographic and Discovery from where we can watch and understand the natural world. And, instead of going to the zoo why can’t we go for a trek into a national park? It has been established that animals have sentience. How is keeping them confined educative? In nature, animals walk a lot, and explore a lot of ground in one day. They live in communities and choose their friends. A male will approach a female and she may reject him to be with another male. Here, we have decided their life for them and one enclosure is their entire life,” she says.
Instead, she offers, why not convert zoos into wildlife rescue centres where Indian breeds can be taken care of. Imagine, she says, an injured kite is treated at a zoo and children go there for a day and learn how to be a part of the process. “When that child later comes across an injured kite, the kid will know whom to call for help, and will be a part of the bird’s rehabilitation and release-into-the-wild process. This will create a generation of empaths. What do you get from watching a penguin in captivity?”
Tigress Machli's daughter Sundari in Ranthambhore
Gaurav Athalye, director of Jungle Lore, a wildlife tourism firm, points out that national parks are not an affordable option for all. At Ranthambore, for instance, while a premium safari experience may cost more than Rs 60,000 a day, even the lowest seat of R900 per day per individual on a 20-seater bus may not be an experience that all can afford. Often, the local population that lives right outside the national park, isn’t able to afford to go in.
“I don’t advocate going to zoos, nor have been to one in decades. However, it’s a complex problem. Perhaps the government could have more protected areas for tourism. If a zoo is maintained well, perhaps it’s okay, but it certainly should not house animals that are not from the region or climate, like penguins or polar bears,” he says, adding that even if a tiger is given a large enclosure in a zoo, it compares little to the area of its natural territory in a forest, which is over 10 sq km. Jungle Lore’s own educational programmes with children have them engage with the community around the forest and understanding how wildlife research is conducted etc.
Gaurav Athalye of Jungle Lore points out that a tiger’s territory extends to a minimum of 10 sq km
Research has proven that children need animals in their life. Interacting with them helps them work on their social skills and also build empathy. But, do we need zoos for that? Rohan More, who runs Japaloupe Equestrian Centre in Talegaon, says it’s great watching kids come to his farm and interact with their farm animals. “Kids know and love these popular characters Peppa and George and when they come to the farm, they are amazed to see what the real piglets look like. A lot of parents bring their kids to the farm to enjoy. We give them a bucket of goodies—leaves for goats, carrots for the rabbits. We tell them to be gentle with the guinea pigs. This teaches you to accept a new life form around you, be relaxed, show empathy and get over the fear of animals.”
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