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Authors: Jeremy Dertien (Clemson University), Courtney Larson (University of Wyoming), and Sarah Reed (Colorado State University) Millions of Americans are traveling this summer as pandemic restrictions wind down. Rental bookings and crowds in national parks show that many people are headed for the great outdoors. Seeing animals and birds is one of the main draws […]
Bat in the House!!! Wait! There’s no need to panic—you can remove him or her safely and humanely. Did you know that bats are the only flying mammals on Earth? They include more than 1,300 different type of species distributed across six continents. With a nocturnal lifestyle, they are often thought of as being rare, […]
Is that selfie really worth it? Why face time with wild animals is a bad idea The phenomenon of kangaroo selfies hit the headlines earlier this month, when several tourists were injured while feeding wild kangaroos in Lake Macquarie, north of Sydney. They may have wanted a memorable holiday snap, but ended up with rather […]
What the grieving mother orca tells us about how animals experience death For many weeks, news of a mother orca carrying her dead infant through the icy waters of the Salish Sea captured the attention of many around the world. Keeping the infant afloat as best she could, the orca, named Tahlequah, also known as […]
I’ve heard that a lot of companies are just a front and aren’t really about volunteering. Is that true? Yes, that is true and even more so when volunteering is about supposedly preserving species that happen to be majestic, beautiful and/or have cute babies… So you need to watch out. Here are a few tips to help you […]
We, who visit places that host captive wildlife, can switch our attitude from one of a passive consumer to one of active empathy and compassion so that we actively help them. That enclosure does not look quite right? That animal does not seem quite ‘well’? Then engage in discussions with the staff. Dare to take that […]
You see something that you don’t understand, or that concerns you… Should you ask? Is there such thing as a naive question? The answer is ‘Yes’ you should ask. And ‘No’ there are no naive questions when the welfare of animals is at stake. Dare to ask, and engage in a respectful discussion with the […]
In April 2017, Responsible Travel became the first travel company to stop promoting any holidays that included a visit to a zoo. Their reasons are centered around the education value of zoos, how much is spent on conservation efforts and what percentage of zoned animals are endangered. This is a very courageous decision from a […]
Increasingly zoo experts are questioning the effectiveness of isolated ex situ breeding for conservation. Some have argued along these lines that “there are far too many endangered species and not nearly enough space to breed them all in captivity and, in many cases, far too little habitat remaining in which to reintroduce them. In addition, […]
Our enthusiasm and indulgence for animal captivity is changing yet very slowly. But we can accelerate our pace because it can only be a win-win for science, for the animals, and for us as moral individuals… ‘Are zoo animals happy? There’s a simple empathy test we can apply is a very good piece of journalism on […]
