________________
50: Śramana, Vol 64, No. III, July-Sept. 2013
[the individuals or species held captive] to be held captive by us." This imprisons "us and our children into a mentality of domination that, in the end, is detrimental, creating terrible harms for the animals that we use for entertainment, profit and education." This meta-message in zoos was first revealed in 1906 when the New York Zoological Society, now the Wildlife Conservation Society, displayed the pygmy Ota Benga in a cage alongside chimpanzees and orangutans, with an overhanging sign claiming him as Darwin's "Missing Link."3 points out:
The mere fact of Ota Benga's captivity è conveyed, unsurprisingly, the message that Ota Benga's freedom wasn't as important as that of the visiting humans who were 'educated' by putting this human on exhibition. And there surely was the risk that a similar message was, and still is, conveyed by the fact that bonobos, chimpanzees, orangutans, and gorillas are still held captive and displayed in a way that overrides these individuals' interests.
In his forward to Ethics on the Ark: Zoos, Animal Welfare and Wildlife Conservation, David Ehrenfeld noted similar problems, writing "In many ways, the zoo has come to typify the themes of the Age of Control: exploration, domination, machismo, exhibitionism, assertion of superiority, manipulation."
According to the Acărăñga Sutra, "He who harms animals has not understood or renounced deeds of sin... Those whose minds are at peace and who are free from passions do not desire to live at the expense of others." Rather than teaching this, it seems zoos teach quite the opposite.
In Situ Conservation
Perhaps more than any other zoological organization, the Wildlife Conservation Society prides themselves upon their contributions to conservation and surely this bravado is not all talk. Under the leadership of William Conway, the Wildlife Conservation Society became a powerhouse for in situ conservation efforts or conservation efforts in the wild. In recent years, the WCS has worked in Afghanistan helping the country establish its first National Park, "conducting wildlife surveys, delineating the park's boundaries, helping the government develop Band-eAmir's management plan, hire and train its rangers, and design new laws for the national park's creation." They have also been instrumental in encouraging ecotourism in Cambodia and in forming in situ community-based conservation efforts in Zambia, Bolivia, Eastern Mongolia and Tanzania and the list does not stop here." The Wildlife Conservation Society's in situ conservation work is surely impressive, but that is not what is at question here. Excellence in in situ conservation exists apart from zoos, with organizations like Conservation International and the World Wide Fund for Nature accomplishing as much, if not more, without imprisoning a single animal.
The Ark: Breeding for Conservation
One of the most powerful justifications for the establishment of zoos comes from another form of conservation effort: the breeding of endangered species. Remarkably, even zoo abolitionist Mark Rowlands has admitted "Zoo breeding programmes have had important successes; without them the Pere David Deer, the European Bison and the Mongolian Wild Horse would all now be extinct."36 David Hancocks also adds the Arabian oryx, the Hawaiian goose and the golden lion
