Captive wildlife issues
- Zoo Check provides every captive animal with a voice
Much of the work by Born Free’s Zoo Check Programme requires an in-depth understanding of animal welfare, behaviour and related topics. It is imperative that all of Zoo Check’s campaigns and projects are supported by up-to-date and accurate information, using wherever possible, legislation and guidance.
Below is a variety of supporting information that you might find useful:
Understanding animal welfare PDF 77KB - A guide to the Five Freedoms of animal welfare and their application to wild animals in captivity
Polar Bears and Captivity PDF 62KB - A document summarising why polar bears fair particularly badly in captivity.
The Zoo Debate – Do zoos have a role in the 21st Century? PDF 54KB - A transcript of an article first published in The Ecologist magazine in which Miranda F Stevenson, director of the Federation of Zoos of Great Britain and Ireland debates the need of zoos in the 21st Century with Zoo Check's Daniel Turner
Zoo Status
- Earliest zoos date back to Ancient Egypt
- First UK menagerie, Woodstock (11th Century)
- Tower of London menagerie (13th Century)
- First modern UK zoo, London Zoo (1828)
- First UK tiger*, London Zoo (1829)
- First UK elephant*, Tower of London menagerie. Presented to Henry III in 13th Century.
- First UK chimpanzee*, London Zoo (1835)
- 20th Century - zoos proliferate worldwide, millions of animals exploited
- 1984 – Zoo Check is the first voice speaking up for captive animals
- Following Born Free campaigns there is only one polar bear in a UK zoo, the UK is a dolphinaria-free zone, and there are no more elephants in London Zoo (2007)
- Born Free’s 21st Century vision – an end to all zoos, keep wildlife in the wild!
*London Zoo has never returned these species to the wild.
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