Demand Zoo Breeding Programs to Save Animals

Target: Dennis W Kelly, Chair of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums

Goal: Require that all zoo breeding programs only breed endangered animals.

Breeding programs at zoos have been mostly based on profits and the ability to trade animals among other zoos. There are numerous species on the brink of extinction that could be lost within the year. These are the animals that zoos should be trying to breed, with the goal of releasing a stable population back into the wild.

Thousands of animal populations are in rapid decline thanks to habitat loss and poaching, among other human-related pressures. While some of these animals can be found in zoos, there are others that aren’t. Animals on the brink of extinction need zoos to give a last-ditch effort to save the species. Zoos should create breeding programs that focus on endangered animals with the goal of releasing a stable population back into the wild. In most cases, zoos would focus on the endangered animals in their country. However, in cases of dire urgency, multiple zoos could be involved in the attempt to save the species.

By creating a zoo breeding program that was focused on endangered animals, zoos would be truly fighting for conservation. It would be an opportunity for the zoos to engage in community education and outreach. Visitors to the zoos would have the opportunity to learn how their zoo was helping in the conservation efforts of animals. They would also be able to find out how they could help these efforts.

In order to save these species that we are pushing to the brink, zoos need to focus their efforts on conservation. Please sign this petition to help the creation of a conservation breeding program.

PETITION LETTER:

Dear Mr. Kelly,

Hundreds of animal species are facing extinction, and many will go extinct this year if we don’t do anything. Zoos may be the last hope standing between extinction and the very animals we love. With the implementation of a breeding program for endangered species, zoos could stabilize rapidly declining animal populations.

Endangered species breeding programs would be created in zoos all across the country and in other areas of the world. Zoos would create a network among each other that would allow them to request help when trying to repopulate a specific species. Depending on the urgency of the reproduction of each species, most zoos would handle animals that are found in their own area. International zoos could request the aid of other zoos when it came to reproduction efforts and release efforts.

Creating a breeding program would also be a great way to get the community more involved in conservation. Zoos could post updates on their own breeding program efforts. Volunteers or zoo employees could also educate zoo visitors about conservation and different animal species specific to the breeding programs.

I urge you to create an endangered species conservation breeding program to help save hundreds of species from being lost forever.

Sincerely,

[Your Name Here]

Photo Credit: Greg Hume


12 Comments

  1. Vasil T. says:

    No, no more animals in zoos.

    • I’m with you. Animals are kept in zoos for OUR entertainment, not their protection. It’s a miserable life.

    • Al Latkolik says:

      Couldn’t have put it better myself.

    • Agreed. Since it’s been ZOOS that have exploited, tortured and failed animals for CENTURIES now, and aren’t interested in treating them as sacred, who in their right mind would TRUST them to actually work in ANY capacity on behalf of ANY animal…the very beings zoos believe are “beneath” mankind?!?! NOT signing this one, since ALL zoos should be ABOLISHED! Let’s not forget, zoos have been PART of the entire wild capture and exploitation of all SORTS of animals all along!!!

      Let there instead be public & govt-backed funding directed towards REAL and REPUTABLY-PROVEN sanctuaries, with staff who TRULY understand and could provide proper care for them and who would only breed them by the HIGHEST standards, and OVERSEE their gradual re-introduction…which to date remains non-viable UNTIL their native habitat is (hopefully) able to be restored.

      There was even a LONE, dedicated woman who began rescuing and trying to re-establish the Swift Fox into the prairies, but a city ZOO ruined & forcefully took over her entire effort, wanting to PROFIT by those animals instead of what she had already managed to accomplish all of her own expertise and massive effort, proving you CANNOT trust zoos to do the right things by animals!!!

  2. Simone Duffin says:

    I signed this petition but was reluctant to for I believe that animals shouldnt be breed in zoos. Why bring more animals into a world that is basically a prison for them. I realize that many animals are endangered but breeding them for a lifetime of captivity isnt really a life at all.

  3. Holly Moloney says:

    I won’t sign it. Animals bred in captivity CANNOT be released into the wild and serve no purpose towards conservation. Efforts need to be focused on the elimination of poaching and education as to why animals’ body parts are not necessary to eat, wear, or make into medicines, not on ineffective breeding programs.

    • Al Latkolik says:

      Agree with you completely except for one thing –
      They can be released, it just costs too much and with the added lose of revenue for the Zoo/Seaquarium there is no incentive to.
      Ever wonder why it is that humans can teach other animals how to jump through hoops, dance, splash, wave at ppl (and so on, and so on…) but we can’t teach them to do what they were born to do? A: There’s no money in it so why even try?
      The “Animals bred in captivity CANNOT be released into the wild” is just what they want you to believe.
      Now research how many times they’ve actually tried it, won’t take you long.
      Now look up how much they’ve spent on researching how to release captive animals compared to making the Zoos (etc..) look bigger, better or even compared to their breeding programs, it’s a fraction of what they’ve spent if any at all.
      Not trying to be an a-hole, just trying to point out until they spend as much money and time on releasing animals as they do on everything thing else (SeaWorld – 10 million on a new parking lot, zero on a release program in just one year) no one should ever be saying “CAN NOT”. 🙂

      • Wendy Jenks says:

        It’s always been my understanding that animals raised in captivity simply don’t have the hunting/survival skills and are too acclimated to humans to successfully transition into a wild habitat.

        But I guess you’re right–if rehabbers can raise cubs/pups taken from mothers who’ve been killed and release them, why can’t zoos develop similar programs?

        So “can’t” and “won’t” are definitely two different things here, and money is always a factor.

      • Agreed, they CAN be released properly, but NOT if they’re “on display” and not taught to forage or hunt for themselves (also meaning they need enough LAND and different types of enclosures that allow for this), which will NEVER happen in any prison for animals. That’s NOT how rehab works at ALL. It’s a completely different system, one which zoos (agreed again) would never profit by…and making money is what zoos are ALL about, NOT about rescuing and rehabbing endangered animals.

  4. Al Latkolik says:

    Sorry, can’t do it.
    Zoos, Marineland, SeaWorld…etc, will all tell you the same thing (lies)… that captive animals can not be released into the wild (even the ones taken FROM the wild in the first place!) because somehow they lack the instincts to survive (more like they don’t want to spend the money to teach them or lose the revenue once they are gone) so I can not sign this petition, your heart is in the right place and I commend you for that!! but this would just be twisted into some for profit propaganda that the ‘people’ WANT captive animals and captive breeding.

  5. Shaila Coles says:

    Will not sign this petition.its wrong what you want to do.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

1280 Signatures

  • Kristine Kelch
  • Ulrich Spauschus
  • Flavia Cristina Goncalves
  • Galina Borovikova
  • Mary Dinino
  • BOROVIKOVA galina
  • Alexis Dawson
  • lizzy jacobs
  • Marin Milcic
  • Virginie Baresse
1 of 128123...128
Skip to toolbar