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The Rhino-A face a mother can love

Tigers, Rhinos, and Elephants—Oh my!

It had been months since I was last at the zoo, but though the day was cool, it was fair, and I decide to take a walk there this week. The animals were alert rather than asleep as they usually were when I visited during the summer, which made watching them more interesting. My first stop was observing a tiger walk around his compound rather than sleeping under a covering near the back. He spent his time walking in circles coming toward and away from me. He was beautiful and looked to be well cared for.  He put a smile on my face as he pulled at my heartstrings.

Tigers are among the favorite animals visitors seek out when visiting zoos. But seeing them in captivity always makes me wonder if it is fair to keep them in a compound. Most animals in a zoo don't need as much space as tigers who like to explore. I wondered what this powerful beast thought about while penned in instead of running wild in nature. It wouldn't be about catching his next prey for his food was provided.

About 5,000 tigers are in U.S. zoos, private backyards, and private breeding facilities. Only 3,500 remain in the wild. In East and Southeast Asia, nearly 8,000 live in tiger farms where they're raised for their skins and body parts.

Should they live as captives or be left alone to survive as they can. Unguarded, they are losing ground to poachers and loss of habitat. In zoos, there are breeding programs to preserve the species. WildAid, a conservation group to preserve threatened animals, thinks zoos are valuable."Zoos play a positive role in sensitizing people to conservation…the actual experience of seeing a physical animal is nothing like seeing one on a TV screen."

Born Free USA, believes otherwise. They write that "the tiger is a perfect example of the way that zoos are missing the point about conservation. Money spent on zoo tigers should be redirected to protecting habitat for aid tigers if we want the real thing to survive and not just a shell of the beast we call the tiger."

The question, of course, is where is there enough habitat to let them roam freely? The only place they are doing well is in Eastern Siberia, an area sparsely inhabited by human beings.

Until we find space for them to roam, zoos will have to do. As good caretakers, we must ensure their happiness and well-being. Tigers need larger enclosures with greenery and things to play with. At the Minnesota Zoo, tigers are given fake carcasses-fake moose they have to wrestle with in order to get the meat inside. They love it.

Further on in my stroll, I observed another first by seeing a rhinoceros run. The guide said they can run thirty-five to fifty miles an hour, as fast as a horse. This particular rhino was pacing anxiously for his mate to be brought to his pen. But his caretakers were hesitant, wanting to make sure the resulting calf arrives in warm weather sixteen months later Poor Daddy Rhino has no free will when it comes to sex in captivity.

Rhinoceros in cave paintings show there was a time when they roamed through Europe, Asia, and Africa. At the start of the 20th century, there were 500,000 rhinos, a number that dwindled to 27,000 today. Few survive outside of national parks and reserves. Three species are critically endangered. Prized for their horns in Asian countries, they are prey to hunters for their supposed medicinal powers and status symbols of wealth. Those using rhino horn to cure ailments really believe it works. Tens of thousands of people worldwide have died because of their mistaken beliefs according to Save the RHINO, a non-profit organization. Zoos are praised for bringing back the white rhino after it was considered extinct.

As my stroll continued, I didn't want to miss my favorite—the elephant. Fifteen years ago, I spent time at a Kenyan wildlife preserve researching elephants in the wild.  It was exciting to see young elephants climb over one another at play and watch their mothers scold them if they ran off. They spent a great deal of time around pools hydrating themselves and would then roam as much as 50 miles in a day, Female elephants sleep in a circle with their babies in the middle. After 45 minutes to two hours, the matriarch starts them on their next trek. They need to walk for the soles of their feet act as pumps circulating blood to the heart.

Do they belong in Zoos? Critics say they are never given enough space to be housed properly, but proponents believe they are better off in captivity than in the wild where they are decimated by disease, drought, habitat loss, poaching, and conflicts with people. The debate is a complicated tug of war. In 1971, 1.3 million wild African elephants were alive, while today there are fewer than 500,000. In the wild, they travel in kinship groups while in zoos, babies are often separated from their mothers and sent to other facilities. Advocates say funds would be better spent by supporting wildlife preserves in their native lands rather than building costly outdoor and heated indoor facilities with concrete floors that foster foot infection.

My thought is that zoos are wonderful assets to a community if the prime concern is the well-being of the animals and not those who come to gawk.  The animals may be more difficult to see if they are given adequate space but that will help people feel like they are on a safari. As guests, they begin to understand what it takes to be a caregiver and why their natural habitats should be preserved. 

References:

World Wildlife Fund website.  5 things Tiger King Doesn’t Explain about Captive Tigers. retrieved from https://www.worldwildlife.org/stories/5-things-tiger-king-doesn-t-explain-about-captive-tigers

  McCarathy,S. (2008) Tigers don’t belong in Zoos, But where can they go? Salon. retrieved from https://www.salon.com/2008/01/05/tigers/

  Save the RHINO website. https://www.savetherhino.org/rhino-info/threats/poaching-rhino-horn/#:~:text=Rhino%20poaching%20is%20being%20driven,to%20display%20success%20and%20wealth.

  Shaw, E.(2017)How fast Does a rhino run? Sciencing. retrieved from https://sciencing.com/how-fast-does-rhino-run-4586507.html

  Cohn, JP (2006) Do elephants Belong in Zoos. Oxford Academic.retrieved from https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article/56/9/714/262884.

  Adminisrators (2020) Let Sleeping Elephants Lie—How Elephants Sleep! HERD. retrieved from https://herd.org.za/let-sleeping-elephants-lie-how-elephants-sleep/

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Please share your thoughts about zoos. Should animals be kept in captivity or not? Comment on my blog site at www.eichingerfineart.com/blog.

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The Rhino is a 30” by 20” acrylic painting on canvas, $495.