Trip to Chester Zoo- with "behind the scenes" ethical review session

On Thursday 30th of January, we went to Chester Zoo as part of our Animal Ethics and Welfare module. The aim of the trip to such a prestigious zoo was not just to see the animals, as you would expect for a trip aimed at Zoology students; but to show us the other side of zoos: all the role they play in animal conservation projects, education, research, and, of course, entertainment. 

We arrived at the zoo by 11 AM. Until 1:30 PM we were allowed to roam around the zoo and see all the animals we wanted to–at least as many as we could, since Chester Zoo is considerably big!

The first animals you can see when you enter the zoo are the Asian elephants. They are right at the entrance, in a big shelter. We were lucky to see two elephant babies playing together.

One of the Asian elephants.

Then we headed the butterfly house, enjoying the view of some other exotic animals on the way. It was really humid inside, so my camera lenses, however, I managed to take some pictures with my phone. The butterflies were incredibly varied in colours and shapes, likely original from tropical places. Some of them even perched on us!

Butterfly

Afterwards, we went to the lions, sleeping. I managed to take some good photos of them.

Lions sleeping.

Bat house.

We could see many more animals, such as red pandas, dik-diks, malayan bears, binturongs, white rhinoceros, chimpancees, painted wolves, babirusas, jaguars, the tiger, a handful of monkeys and a spectrum of different bird species... I specially enjoyed the bat house, where you get to enter the building where the bats live and see them closely. Of course, it's very dark in there.

 

At 1:30 PM, we all regrouped and assisted to the talk given by two members of the zoo staff. The first bit of the talk was dedicated to teach us the role of modern zoos: they split their aims in conservation, education, research and entertainment. The guy who gave the talk insisted that the entertainment bit was really important since zoos need to earn money somehow. Zoos are regulated and supported by associations such as WAZA (World Association of Zoos and Aquariums). Some of the topics they deal with are the human-wildlife conflict, sustainable development, visitor and community engagement, wildlife wealth and welfare... They also perform biodiversity surveys and conservation breeding. Some ethical questions were debated about animals in captivity and similar issues.

The second bit of the talk was given by a member of the zoo staff whose role at the zoo was involved in animal welfare. Here we learned about the different laws that regulate zoos and aquariums and how these don't allow animals living in inappropriate places.

The visit, overall, was very instructive and entertaining. It was a great opportunity to visit such a great zoo which I hadn't visited before and to learn different viewpoints regarding the ethics of modern zoos from a zoo staff's perspective.

For more information about Chester Zoo: https://www.chesterzoo.org/