The argument for zoos protecting animals is about allowing regular people to see wild animals up close, allowing to humanize/ empathize with them enough to actually care about protecting the ones still in the wild.
Are zoos perfect? No.
In an ideal world, would zoos exist? No.
Are they the only link that most people ever experience to nature, and especially to nature that doesn’t exist within driving distance? Sadly, yes.
And that experience of seeing and empathizing with animals is hugely important to driving funding for conservation movements/ orgs. A water buffalo is just a damp cow in another country for a lot of people, until they actually see one.
Similarly, an analysis of scientific papers published by AZA member institutions from 1993 to 2013 found that only 7 percent were related to biodiversity conservation.
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On the contrary, most people don’t read the educational plaques at zoos, and according to polls of zoo-goers, most go to spend time with friends or family — to enjoy themselves and be entertained, not to learn about animals and their needs. One study found the level of environmental concern reported by attendees before they entered the zoo was similar to those who were polled at the exits.
You fell for the rhetorical trick in the first quote.
Biodiversity is one tiny aspect of conservation, but they hoped you would conflate that with just meaning the rest aren’t about conservation at all. Researching medicine needed to treat animals is conservation, but has nothing to do with biodiversity, as an example.
The article is full of bad-faith interpretations like this.
I didn’t talk about people going for education by reading placards, I talked about people experiencing humanization of the animals by seeing them in person.
One study also showed a link between vaccines and autism. There is a study out there for any claim you want to make: reproducing the outcome (and showing a cause) in future studies makes an actual point.
The study of zoo research output looked at how article were tagged. The conservation tag was biodiversity conservation…
I don’t see much point in continuing this conversation. Further, from other responses it appears you are fairly willing to attack other users in comments for trivial things and I would prefer not to be on the receiving end of that
The argument for zoos protecting animals is about allowing regular people to see wild animals up close, allowing to humanize/ empathize with them enough to actually care about protecting the ones still in the wild.
Are zoos perfect? No.
In an ideal world, would zoos exist? No.
Are they the only link that most people ever experience to nature, and especially to nature that doesn’t exist within driving distance? Sadly, yes.
And that experience of seeing and empathizing with animals is hugely important to driving funding for conservation movements/ orgs. A water buffalo is just a damp cow in another country for a lot of people, until they actually see one.
Here are some other ways zoos assist in animal conservation:
From the original article
[…]
You fell for the rhetorical trick in the first quote. Biodiversity is one tiny aspect of conservation, but they hoped you would conflate that with just meaning the rest aren’t about conservation at all. Researching medicine needed to treat animals is conservation, but has nothing to do with biodiversity, as an example.
The article is full of bad-faith interpretations like this.
I didn’t talk about people going for education by reading placards, I talked about people experiencing humanization of the animals by seeing them in person.
One study also showed a link between vaccines and autism. There is a study out there for any claim you want to make: reproducing the outcome (and showing a cause) in future studies makes an actual point.
The study of zoo research output looked at how article were tagged. The conservation tag was biodiversity conservation…
I don’t see much point in continuing this conversation. Further, from other responses it appears you are fairly willing to attack other users in comments for trivial things and I would prefer not to be on the receiving end of that