Do we need zoos today?
Each year 25 million of us visit a UK zoo, enjoying the thrill of getting close to exotic creatures. But is there more to zoos than public amusement?
Since the days of the first menageries, when wild animals were caged for human pleasure, zoos and public opinion on zoos have been mixed. Today, they not only entertain us on a family day out, zoos also engage in research, conservation and education.
But when nature documentaries teach us so much about animal behaviour in the wild, is there still value in keeping animals captive in a zoo?
How did zoos come about?
Zoos have operated in one form or another since the Middle Ages, when the Tower of London hosted a menagerie of exotic creatures from lions to camels…
How did zoos come about?
Narrated by Helen Skelton
Kings and emperors and the very wealthy have kept wild animals for thousands of years to symbolise their power.
In 43 AD the Roman Emperor Augustus brought elephants with him when he invaded Britain.
After the Norman Conquest in 1066, William the Conqueror set up his own collection of wild animals in Woodstock.
This royal menagerie including lions and camels moved to the Tower of London in 1210. This was a private menagerie, only open for the pleasure of king and court.
Sadly the animals were not treated well by today’s standards. In the 1600s, James I and his courtiers would watch lions and bears fight to the death.
By the 1800s, the public could visit the animals for a shilling. Another public menagerie was opened in London at the Exeter Change on the Strand.
Travelling animal shows gave people their first glimpse of lions and other exotic creatures at British fairs. Even Queen Victoria saw them at a fair in Windsor.
Keeping wild animals was risky. In 1850 Lion Queen, trainer Ellen Bright, was mauled to death by tigers during a show.
A Victorian fascination with natural history saw the opening of the first scientific zoos. London Zoo was only open to of the Zoological Society. These included Charles Darwin, who saw his first orangutan Jenny. While most scientific zoos closed due to lack of funds, London Zoo survived by opening to the public in 1847. Zoos were expensive to run so they began exhibiting crowd-pulling animals such as the hippopotamus Obayshe at London Zoo.
At the start of the 20th century, most zoos in Britain served simply to display animals as a form of entertainment. But things were set to change.
In 1907 a German merchant called Carl Hagenback set up a zoo in Hamburg that tried to mimic the animals’ surroundings in the wild. And this idea was on its way to Britain.
The creation of the modern zoo
The 20th Century saw huge changes for British zoos.
Removing the bars
Edinburgh was the first British zoo to be inspired by the idea of displaying animals without bars, opening in 1913. Zoological parks opened at Chester and Whipsnade in 1931. These were the first non-urban zoos with larger enclosures.
Creating safari environments
In 1966 a revolutionary idea arrived in Britain – the first drive-through safari park opened at Longleat, Wiltshire. Wild animals could be observed roaming across acres and interacting more freely, to the delight of visitors and the fear of locals.
Change in public attitudes
By the 1980s the British public was questioning the morality of keeping animals captive. Nature documentaries had revealed how these animals lived in the wild. The Zoo Licensing Act 1981 required zoos to educate the public, and they stopped capturing most of their animals from the wild and turned to breeding programmes.
Focus on conservation
In 1959 Gerald Durrell opened a zoo in Jersey – the first to put conservation above all else. But it wasn’t until the 1990s that other zoos took on the mission to save the most threatened species in the world.
June Williams recalls her father's mission to build a zoo without bars at Chester. [Interview courtesy of BBC Inside Out North West]
Saving animals from extinction
With potentially thousands of species going extinct every year, zoos have taken on a role in preserving the very animals they hold in captivity.
Select the images to find out more.
Specialist animal care
Animal care is central to the work of zoos like Chester, which continually strive to improve their knowledge and practices…