25 August 2025
The Truth about Killing at Zoos
Zoos have been in the news recently for killing healthy animals. Some zoo people focus on typical prey animals, but want to expand this to all animals in their care, including great apes and dolphins. In this essay, I explain that this fits within the context of zoos struggling to establish viable breeding programs. They want to keep too many species, often not endangered, and face serious breeding problems. One solution is to kill unwanted animals; another would be to keep fewer species. I also outline the risks of this approach for companion animals and animals living in the wild. It turns the clock back decades, if not centuries. At the very least, zoos should keep fewer species in larger enclosures. Even better would be to transform zoos into sanctuaries—places that truly respect animals as individuals and do their utmost for each one. Besides the animals themselves, this issue clearly creates tensions between conservationists and other animal advocates.