Zoo Webcams?

One of the easiest things the zoo can do to show that the elephants there are well taken care of, is by setting up a webcam. It’s easy, cheap and brings free publicity. Elephant sanctuaries like TES and ERNA have been doing this since their inception. Other zoos such as Smithsonian, San Diego, Houston, St. Louis, and several others have also started doing it. Why is Oregon Zoo behind? When we approached Metro Council (who manage the zoo) with this common-sense idea, we were dismissed.

After all, the zoo has blamed their limited parking space as the reason for their low attendance, and any way they get to serve more visitors should be welcome and aligned with their stated mission.

Recently, they also got a $380 million blank check from us to “increase accessibility for visitors of all abilities“, which includes taxpayers who are unable to visit.

Furthermore, webcams are so cheap to install and maintain, one would think it’s a no-brainer and free publicity.

The real reason is that Oregon Zoo doesn’t want the extra transparency. The zoo management only wants us to see what we’re meant to see.

A few years back, a lion’s tail got cut when the hydraulic door prematurely closed in his exhibit. If a visitor hadn’t captured it in video, the news wouldn’t have gotten out.

Several years ago, Rose-Tu (the mother of the newborn Tula-Tu) was sodomized by her keeper Fred Marion when she was too young to understand his commands. They found 176 wounds as a result of his barbarity. Two visitors happened to see this and alert the other staff. Rose-Tu would have suffered a worse fate if not for their actions.

The zoo wouldn’t want such transparency, so they retreat into curated clips to go viral on social media, saving the ugly treatment for after the last visitor leaves.