Zoo Ethics Quotes

“Though Conny Gasser repeated his claim to have lost only two dolphins since 1971, even newspaper reports mention three dolphins dying at Lipperswil in 1973 alone. Also, his statement in 1985 that “I have a dolphin here who’s been with me for 14 years,” seems highly implausible since his first dolphins, imported in 1971, are both dead. Flipper’s longevity for instance actually spans at least three separate individuals — a juggling of identities intended to deceive the public. Indeed, since 1971, Gasser has owned at least 36 dolphins, of which 24 have died or cannot be accounted for. It is known that two dolphins were sold to an amusement park in Holland and another two to a dolphinarium in the Far East, that four dolphins are currently held on long-term loan at Fasano, Italy, and another four at Connyland, but this still leaves unaccounted for, Lady No. 1, 2 and 3, Flipper No. 1 and 2, Didi, an unnamed dolphin which died in Manila, Skipper which apparently managed to survive the 1973 winter in Lipperswil when three others died, Bonnie and Clyde imported from Britain in 1980, and Sonny, Blacky, Poco and Chico who were reported to be ill in the summer of 1974. There is also the uncertain fate of Gasser’s orca whale which was sold to an amusement park in Argentina.

Furthermore, according to the Klinowska Report, Gasser also obtained the following dolphins from the UK: Pebbles and Sonny Boy bought from Franklin and Holloway in 1972 — both of which are reported to have died in Switzerland in 1977 — Cleo purchased from Morecambe in 1977 (perhaps the unnamed dolphin that died in Manila?) and Baby, Speedy (No. 1) and Windy purchased from Don Robinson’s Flamingo Park in 1978. Strangely enough — though anything is possible in the dolphin industry — Klinowska speculates that the already ailing animal that Gasser purchased from Windsor in 1972 with a David Taylor health certificate, and which died a year later in Surabaya, Indonesia as Lady (No. 2), was actually a male dolphin called Flipper! Last, but not least, Klinowska cites two anonymous dolphins purchased from the UK by Gasser early in 1973 which died within two months. These are just some of the dolphins once under Gasser’s care that have simply disappeared, thus earning him the title, even in far away England and America, of “Conveyor Belt Gasser” — the dolphins would be alive at one end and dead at the other.”
― William Johnson, The Rose-Tinted Menagerie

“If you see an animal in a zoo, you are in control. You can come, and you can go. The animal cannot. She is at your mercy, and at the mercy of those like you. The animal is on display for you.
In the wild, the creature is there for her own purposes. She is not under your control. She can come, and she can go. So can you. Neither of you is on display, and both of you can display as much of yourselves to the other as you wish. It is a meeting of equals.”
― Derrick Jensen, Thought to Exist in the Wild: Awakening from the Nightmare of Zoos

“Bears are not toys. They are not symbols or stand-ins for Native American cultures. They are not attractions. They are not tourist destinations. They are not sources of revenue. They are not resources to be managed. They are not pests to be exterminated. They are bears.

No, even that isn’t right. There is this bear, with needs, desires, and preferences all her own. And there is that bear, whose needs, desires, and preferences will certainly overlap with another bear’s but will not be identical, because the bears are not identical. Every bear—every animal, inside or outside of zoos—is an individual. Each one has, believe it or not, a life.”
― Derrick Jensen, Thought to Exist in the Wild: Awakening from the Nightmare of Zoos

“Peter Batten comments on the educational value of zoos: 'Whether anyone derives lasting benefit by seeing wild animals from other countries in enclosures which inhibit their natural behavior must be evaluated without bias. Should one learn that the chimpanzee, for example, is a neurotic humanoid that cadges food from humans, and throws tantrums and excreta should this not materialize? Or that the orangutan, which [who] by nature seldom descends to the soft forest floor, is a pathetic bundle of matted red fur in the corner of a tiled cell? Must the alert, gregarious California sea lion be represented by an animal, half blinded from filthy unsalted water, that [who] spends its life begging for rotten fish?'
All this said, I actually think zoos overwhelmingly succeed at teaching visitors about nonhumans. But the question remains: what are they teaching?”
― Derrick Jensen, Thought to Exist in the Wild: Awakening from the Nightmare of Zoos