Debunking Zoo Claims — a Fact Check

Oregon Zoo and Metro are pushing through a $380 million boondoggle on the Metro area taxpayer. To pitch this bond measure, the zoo is making several misleading claims with various media. Let’s debunk these with objective facts (we’re happy to provide more details on any of these, just contact us):

AZA standards

Oregon zoo touts its AZA accreditation as a badge of honor. AZA (Association of Zoos & Aquariums) is a zoo industry lobby which also facilitates exchange of species between member zoos. It sets minimum standards so that road-side & private zoos (like in the documentary Tiger King) don’t end up giving the whole zoo industry a bad name.

That doesn’t mean its standards are high. For example, Wildlife Safari in Southern Oregon was giving elephant car washes for several years without losing their AZA-accreditation. It doesn’t take an expert to see that having wild animals give car washes to visitors reflects a poor standard of care. And yet, AZA couldn’t do anything about it because Wildlife Safari is successful at breeding cheetahs — and cheetah cubs make for valuable exhibits at other zoos.

Improving habitats

With the amounts raised in 2008 bond measure, the zoo spent 70% of it on exotic animals’ habitats and only 1.5% on native wildlife. The 2024 measure is expected to be used to improve habitats for penguins, sea otters and giraffes. The zoo highlights conservation stories with native wildlife such as California condors and sea otters, but spends most of their budget on exotic animals such as rhinos, giraffes, elephants and polar bears.

And this spending is not even effective: over $57 million was spent on “Elephant Lands” but since its construction, three elephants were euthanized, a six-year old died of herpes, and there has also been an entirely avoidable miscarriage. Due to lack of space, the elephants do not get along either — recently, Shine’s tail got amputated by Samson biting it off; and Chendra’s face got a severe injury due to Shine shoving her into a metal feeder. The sand substrate at Elephant Lands was chosen to be easy on the elephants’ feet, but medical records show that all elephants have foot disease to varying degrees and three of them are severe enough to require constant care.

Conservation

Contrary to claims, the zoo doesn’t engage in conservation for all species. Non-native species are kept as exhibits and none of the zoo-borns are ever let out into the wild. In the name of conservation, the zoo breeds exotic animals that are then traded with other zoos (for other species), or sold to circuses and private buyers. Out of the 28 elephants born in this zoo, 5 were shipped to other zoos, 5 were sold to circuses and 4 were sold to private buyers.

Animal well-being

The zoo uses Instagram pictures and Facebook posts to paint a rosy picture, but medical records reveal the real conditions. Elephants, ill-suited to the confines of a zoo, are particularly affected. Take Chendra for example: she was specifically loaned to the zoo for breeding, but given her age now, would be unable to have a successful pregnancy. She has a long list of medical conditions and even went through an unnatural pregnancy, tuberculosis treatment and a miscarriage. As the lone Borneo elephant, she’s also bullied by the others. A sanctuary offered to take her at no cost to the zoo, but this proposal was rejected, indicating that the zoo cares more about their reputation than their animals’ well-being.

A century-old institution

Not all old institutions are worth preserving, especially those that do not adapt to the evolving ethics of our times. Circuses have been getting rid of animal acts, since the public recognizes them as inherently cruel. Zoos are a nineteenth-century institution, focused on keeping exotic animals from far-flung areas captive for the viewing pleasure of locals, and back then that was the only way to see non-native wildlife for most, if not all people.  Zoos in the current day & age are needing to compete for our attention from various quarters such as social media and superlative wildlife documentaries as well as easier travel to previously-remote locations. This is leading to attendance either plateauing or dropping in many zoos all over the country. And Metro is having to fill Oregon zoo’s increasing budget deficit ($25 million in 2023). Unless zoos adapt themselves to preserving local wildlife rather than holding exotic animals captive, they do not deserve to be propped up with public tax money.

Visitor experience

One can learn much more from watching nature documentaries filmed in wild animals’ native habitats, than looking at sick & bored animals confined in a foreign environment. Zoo funded research attempting to argue the contrary has been thoroughly debunked. Forward thinking zoos are recognizing the futility of keeping intelligent animals captive and sending them to sanctuaries. Some are experimenting with technologies such as virtual reality, animatronics and holograms to convey the sense of wonder one gets from watching wildlife up close, without violating the ethics of wildlife captivity. In stark contrast, Oregon Zoo is just looking to invest a large amount on improving visitor facilities such as signage, with no indication that they’re willing to think outside the box. The easiest way to urge the zoo to take progressive steps is to vote NO on this bond measure.

For all these reasons, please vote NO on this measure and encourage your friends to do the same.