News from the Natural World: A new law will force all zoos to only display native animals.
The UN has introduced the new law to stop the brutality of the worldwide zoo trade. The law will stop the capture, transportation, breeding, trade and showing non-native wild animals. This brutal and exploitative trade has led to the continued destruction of endangered animals. It has also led to a collective numbing of human consciousness on the perception of wild animals. Humanity has been inoculated to the reality that wild animals do not belong in cages.
The law means that each country may only exhibit and display animals which are native to that country. They cannot ship as well as transport other animals from outside their own. Furthermore they must only take part in native conservation projects and invest money in saving local species.
Only native animals in Zoos
However, some countries complained and said that they don’t have any “interesting” animals. In addition no one will come and visit unless they have “big and cool” animals. London Zoo said that no one would come and visit if all they could show were pigeons, grey squirrels and foxes! The UN replied;
“well you shouldn’t have killed all your larger native animals. The UK used to have wolves, lynx, bear, beavers and even Walrus”.
The UN continued by saying that the new law would force countries to reconsider their own conservation approaches. They would be allowed to exhibit animals that had previously gone extinct in their county if they then supported the reintroduction of that animal into the wild.
Following the news, London Zoo will now only feature native animals. The Tiger Territory enclosure is being converted to the “Burrows of the Badger” and the Lion Kingdom is being changed into the “Weasel Kingdom”. Skansen Zoo in Stockholm has been praised for only featuring native animals. Skansen is home to wild Nordic animals such as wolves, moose, lynxes, wolverines, seals and otters. Cooperation with various conservation bodies also aims to ensure an exchange of knowledge and information that helps with conservation and creates opportunities to reintroduce animals into the wild.