School zoo visit? What you can do

(c) J McArthur

It’s fantastic that teachers want to provide as many exciting, positive and equitable opportunities as possible for their pupils. But, what can you do if the next trip your child’s class has planned is to the zoo and, like us, you don’t believe that wild animals should be held captive in this way? 

There are some simple actions you can take to politely explain your feelings to the school, and help them consider alternative trips in the future. Our Senior Education Officer Charlie Smith reports. 

Charlie Smith, Senior Education Officer

Now the summer holidays have ended in the UK, the start of the new school term brings excitement for children (and their parents and caregivers!), as well as an often much-needed return to routine.  

Back at school, our young ones can catch-up with friends and engage with exciting topics in their new class. Teachers, naturally wanting the best for their pupils, will have spent the final weeks of summer busily planning the most engaging sessions for their classes. Trips and experiences can help ‘bring subjects to life’, so if your child is learning about animals, their habitats or lifecycles this term, it’s possible a trip to the zoo or aquarium is on the cards. 

Yet, rather than being educational, these trips contribute to the suffering of the many thousands of wild animals being held in captivity. Born Free is opposed to the keeping of wild animals in zoos, aquariums, safari parks, and any other captive facility that exploits animals for our entertainment.  

Life in a zoo is stressful for animals 

Whilst captive facilities offer the opportunity for wild animals to be observed up close, which children may find exciting, these animals are held in artificial enclosures, that do not resemble their natural habitat. Often, there is little opportunity for wild animals to hide from public view and even the largest of enclosures are thousands of times smaller than their natural range.  

Lack of space, unnatural environments and constant noise from visitors can cause captive wild animals to suffer both physically and mentally. Many animals display unnatural behaviours such as pacing, swaying and bar-biting. People who visit the zoo are therefore likely to learn little more than how an animal behaves in captivity. This leads to misunderstandings and misconceptions around animals and their natural habitats, as well as their behaviour in the wild.   

Why do schools visit zoos? 

Despite this, zoos often use education to justify their existence. In fact, under the Zoo Licensing Act 1981, zoos are legally required to provide public education around the conservation of biodiversity. This is either formally (through school visits and the provision of education resources and materials), or informally (through informative signage).  

As you can imagine, it’s therefore within zoos’ interests to encourage school visits, to meet this legal obligation. As a result, zoos are also excellent at marketing themselves as the ‘perfect’ educational venues.  

Zoos can offer on-site education teams and curriculum-linked workshops, as well as safe, easy-to-navigate grounds with accessible bathrooms, ready-to-go risk assessments and free entry for accompanying adults (and that’s without mentioning the captive wild animals themselves). It’s little wonder, therefore, that zoos and aquariums are popular trip destinations for schools.  

In addition, trips during the quieter autumn term are often incentivised, with zoos offering cut-price tickets to school groups. So, what can you do if you receive a letter confirming that your child’s class is going on a trip to the zoo, aquarium or safari park? 

How to speak out about a school zoo visit 

© J McArthur, BFF

If you have concerns about a zoo visit, politely raise these with your child’s teacher. Teachers are professionals who want the best for their class, and they will have undertaken due diligence before booking a trip. But, as zoos are excellent at marketing themselves as the ‘perfect’ conservation and educational venues, teachers may simply not be aware of the issues, and questions around the ethics of the trip may not be raised or even considered.  

In fact, you may be the first person to approach them with concerns of this kind, so remember to be understanding, polite and sympathetic to their position. After all, they’re trying to do their best to give your child an exciting and joyous education.  

You never know, your words could have more of an impact than you realise. You may well encourage them to think twice about booking such trips in the future.  

Our template letter is here to help 

We have created a template letter or email to help you broach this potentially tricky subject in a thoughtful and considerate way.  

It’s good to remember that you often can’t change people’s plans, or views, overnight. It may be frustrating, but zoos, aquariums and safari parks remain popular across a huge cross-section of society. So, despite raising your concerns, the planned trip may still go ahead.  

Try not to be discouraged by the situation and instead encourage the teacher or school to use the trip to ignite conversations around wild animal welfare. This would enable children to critically evaluate their own thoughts and feeling towards these kinds of facilities. We have some ideas and resources you can share with your child’s teacher below. 

Talk to your child 

It may be that if you decide to withdraw your child from a trip that all their friends are going on, you could leave them feeling left out. Instead, have an open, age-appropriate discussion with your child about the upcoming trip. You could help them understand your concerns and the issues surrounding keeping wild animals in captivity.  

You may find they independently choose not to participate. But, even if they choose to go, their new knowledge could mean they become advocates for animals whilst they are there. They could for example point out inadequate small enclosures, or  examples of ‘zoochosis’ – repetitive unnatural behaviour such as pacing, to their classmates as they go. This would further help raise awareness of the issues amongst their peers.