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Animal Welfare or Farewell

Animal Welfare or Farewell

 There are approximately 10,000 zoos located around the world today. This statistic is truly alarming given how many animals in captivity are neglected and mentally unstable. Zoologists studying the behavior of animals in their artificial habitats often have their findings ignored by the public at large. Animal cruelty in zoos also is overlooked by many top zoological organizations, which contributes to the public’s ignorance of the tragic events that occur in zoos and why captive animals may act in the way that they do. Captivated animals lose all sense of cognitive abilities, which, in the long run, hurt their natural development. There are many factors in particular that affect an animal’s development in captivity, including: lack of exploration, lack of consistent feeding patterns and irregular reproduction patterns. Animals in their natural habitat, however, would be able to experience all of these. Zoos will always exist, but there needs to be complex systems put into place to simulate these animals in a way that more closely resembles their natural habitat.

Although it can be argued that the preservation of animals in captivity can help rebuild and preserve endangered species, these animals may not experience a healthy lifetime and the positives of raising animals in captivity may be outweighed by the negative impact on their mental wellbeing. While zoos provide a common form of entertainment for the public, people do not take into account that these animals may suffer from a series of behavioral abnormalities that overtime may develop into psychosis. This results in these animals losing the ability to function naturally and having their emotions and actions become detached from reality.

Animals in a zoo environment tend to lose their ability to function in a mentally stable way. According to zoologists specializing in this particular field, natural development and proper adaptation is very unclear to these animals since there is not much room to express their actions to their full abilities. Animals begin to experience early onset stages of psychosis and depression, which are both serious forms of mental illness that impair their thoughts and emotions, as well as severely impact their natural development. Chris Tromborg states in his article Sources of Stress in Captivity, “such behaviors to be those that an animal must perform, regardless of environment conditions and preventing animals form performing such behaviors is thought to be detrimental to their well being” Reinforcing Psychosis or “Zoochosis,” there are countless symptoms that harm the animal both physically and emotionally at an alarming rate. The apparent symptoms include: irregular pacing, self-inflicted pain, biting, excessive grooming, neck swaying, etc. In terms of the behavior stereotypes faced by these animals, zoo staff is beginning to find new ways to deal with the animals’ psychosis unnaturally. In the article Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop: is Stereotypy a Reliable Animal welfare Indicator, written by GJ Mason and NR Latham, they both state,  “Other approaches target the animals phenotype. For example, anti-depressants have been used to treat a variety of behavioral problems in domesticated and zoo animals”. The idea that zoos have to give animals a variety of drugs to help battle their negative behavioral symptoms is very troubling. Instead, zoos should be naturally accommodating the animals’ needs rather than sedating their emotions.

In the article Zoos: An Idea Whose Time has Come and Gone, written by the organization PETA, the organization gives multiple examples of how different species of animals are affected as their needs that would be natural to them in the wild are not being fulfilled in a captive setting. PETA states, “Given that the average tiger enclosure is about 18,000 times smaller than the animals’ natural roaming range, it is simply impossible for these animals to express instinctive behavior such as staking out territory in dense forests, choosing mates, running, climbing, and hunting.” These traits are vital for the survival and development of a healthy wild animal and by depriving these animals of their natural abilities will result in emotional and behavioral issues. There have been countless events where these types of animals have lashed out on visitors and zoo staff just from their high stress levels alone.

 Social interactions among animals of the same and even different species are vital to emerging into a healthy sane animal. Outside communication is taken away from them and they are forced to live by new and unfamiliar environments, which may result in increased stress levels. For example, chimpanzees pride themselves on communication and parental guidance for a portion of their lives; very similar to that of humans. However, depriving these animals from such basic needs and having them trained by humans tends to stunt their quality of life and natural development. Jason Watters states in his article Searching for Behavioral Indicators of Welfare in Zoos: Uncovering Anticipatory Behavior, “animals with infrequent or incomplete reward opportunities or that live in un-enriched environments will begin to act as if they are depressed” (Jason Watters 3). 

The preservation of animals in zoos is efficient in terms of gradually reducing the number of endangered species. However, the reproduction methods to maintain this population may not be conducted in the way that it properly should. Animals generally do not have much control over their lives in captivity, and mating is one area that is most definitely out of their control. These animals do not have the option to choose their mate or to compete over a mate, which is natural to their environment in the wild. Artificially inseminating animals and then putting them in an exhibit where there may not be much interaction with their parents could be a traumatic experience, which directly the animals upbringing. In the article Effects of Environmental Enrichment on Reproduction, written by Kathy Carlstead and David Shepherdson, the authors go into depth about the reproduction sequence for animals in captivity. “For an animal to reproduce under captive conditions, it needs to be responsive to social, physical, and psychological stimuli in its surrounding that are appropriate for courtship, copulation, incubation, parturition, parental, and other reproductive behaviors.” There are clear standards for an animal to develop into a species-typical animal. However, if the breeding tendency is to artificially rebuild the dwindling numbers of some animals in captivity, the mindset of these animals will never be that of a naturally bred animal.

There is countless research done on animals and how they act in an unnatural habitat. There are certainly ways to accommodate this problem and try to meet the animals’ needs, although it is often a hard task to accomplish. While it is understandable that space may be limited for these animals to live and develop more aligned with their natural habitats, there nevertheless should be more of a movement to address their needs. Tasks as simple as making the exhibits themselves more compliant with their natural surrounding to enable the animals to express themselves in a healthier environment needs to be further explored. For example, keeping an elephant in an exhibit with predominantly cement instead of grass may seem like a small concession but that may actually make a huge difference in how they view their living conditions and whether it is proper or not. Another option would be to open up more animal sanctuaries to foster animal welfare. According to the article, Zoochosis and the Many Ways We Have Failed Zoo Animals, written by Ariel Garlow, Garlow states, “The main purpose of many animal sanctuaries is rehabilitation from physical and mental illness brought about by the institution that profited from their suffering”. She explains that the introduction of more sanctuaries can nurse these mentally unstable animals back to normal and keeping them in more ideal living situations. It is unfortunate that too many zoos are only for the entertainment and revenue brought in by visitors. The promotion of animal safety and creating a healthy environment to develop needs to be stronger.

 Works Cited

          Carlstead, Kathy, and David Shepherdson. “Effects of Environmental Enrichment on Reproduction.” Zoo Biology, Wiley-Blackwell, 29 Apr. 2005, onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/zoo.1430130507/abstract.

          Watters, Jason V. “Searching for Behavioral Indicators of Welfare in Zoos: Uncovering Anticipatory Behavior.” Wiley Online Library, DOI, 10 July 2014, onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/zoo.21144.

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The Truth Behind Feedlots

 The Truth Behind Feedlots

Do people really consider what is physically mixed into their meat products they are eating, or ask themselves “is this meat really pure?” Well, not entirely. Feedlots are considered a crucial part for mass-producing meat products.  However, not enough people are educated or even aware of what substances are being used in animal feed or what harmful effects those substances may have on consumers or an animal’s bodily functions. Scientists are currently trying to pinpoint and bring to light what goes on behind the scenes in the meatpacking industry. Animal feed used for livestock in processing plants has been an issue for quite some time and concerns have centered around harmful risks to consumers, the idea of mass producing meats, how unsanitary the processing factories may be, and the utilization of antibiotics and other additives to the feed to cause certain animals to grow at an alarming rate.

 Animal feed used to prepare animals for processing raises many concerns for scientists aware of this issue as well as for unaware consumers who do not know exactly what they are ingesting. According to You Are What They Eat, published by Consumer Reports, this article explains how alarming and susceptible soiled animal feed is to posing health issues for consumers. David Bossman, an FDA food expert from Consumer Reports states, “Feed can be become contaminated, for instance simply by being stored in the wrong bin. People make honest mistakes.” There is ample opportunity for uncooked meat to become dirty, and, unfortunately, consumers may not know until it is too late.

  Food scientists also have made it known that there needs to be a strict examination of what is fed to animals being raised using conventional farming techniques. Marion Nestle in Resisting Food Safety sheds light to animal feed in her argument, “Producers feed cattle soy and corn to fatten them up before slaughter; these foods are low in fiber, reducing the acidity of digestive solutions and promote the growth of unfriendly bacteria.” Humans consume hundreds of pounds of animal products a year with little knowledge of the actual process that goes into putting these packaged products on supermarket shelves.

 The feed supplied to animals in food processing plants not only pollutes the animals themselves, but the conditions in which the animals are forced to live in. The processing plants become toxic wastelands and are considered unlivable. Yet the owners and operators of these plants are reluctant to disclose this information to food agencies. According to the article, How Safe is Your Ground Beef, by Andrea Rock of Consumer Reports, food scientists go into extreme detail as to how these animals are being processed and handled. Andrea Rock states, “Cattle feed can also contain parts of slaughtered hogs and chickens that are not used in food production, and dried manure and litter from chicken barns”. The fact that these animals are fed food that contains these dangerous ingredients, when combined with their horrible and dirty living conditions, should be extremely alarming to food agencies and to consumers.

 Robert Kenner, the director of the documentary Food Inc. indicates in his film that, “There’s feces everywhere. This isn’t farming. This is mass production.” The living conditions for these animals are truly unacceptable, and the amount of waste in the actual food processing facilities is overwhelming. There is evidence that these conditions directly correlat as to how the feed conflicts with the animal’s digestive system.

In addition, chickens and other birds in this day and age have never grown at a quicker rate. However, it is not because food processing plants are doing something right, in fact it is the complete opposite. Even though chicken breasts today have more meat on them than in the past, people should consider being more cautious when eating chicken breasts. In the article ‘Big Chicken’ Connects Poultry Farming to Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria, written by Terry Gross, Terry discussed how the inorganic raising of chickens by giving them antibiotics as a source of feed is dangerous. Maryn Mckenna, cited health journalists claims, “Many large poultry farms feed antibiotics to their chickens in an effort to prevent disease. But Mckenna goes on to say that humans who eat those chickens are at risk of developing not only antibiotic-resistant gastrointestinal infections, but also urinary tract infections as well.” These antibiotic additives, viewed by most as steroids, grow chickens way faster than they naturally would and it is terrifying to know why.

 Food Inc, explains in detail why it is done, Robert Kenner of Food Inc. claims “They’ve been growing chickens for many years, it’s all science they got it figured out. If you can grow a chicken in 49 days, why would you want one you gotta grow in three months? More money in your pocket.” Mass food producers apparently do not care about the chicken’s well-being or the well-being of consumers of those chickens so as long as the chickens are ready to be processed at a quicker rate which will lead to higher profits; all at the expense of the consumer.

  People who are unaware of the topic of feedlots need to educate themselves as to how much harm the additives can actually do to a consumer as well as to the animal. Food experts would consider feed given to animals as a form of abuse as the livestock are not naturally supposed to be consuming these substances: corn, antibiotics, dried manure, etc. Given the harmful effects that these food processes are having on consumers (as well as on the animals themselves), food agencies really need to implement much stricter controls over food processing plants, including as to the living conditions of the animals and the food that they are fed. Perhaps this will occur once consumers become more aware of these issues.