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Zoo

This note is about the approach to zoos.

Cf.

  • Animal care centre
  • Animal hospital
  • Animal park
  • Animal refuge
  • Animal rehabilitation centre
  • Animal reserve
  • Animal sanctuary
  • Animal shelter
  • Aviary
  • Biodiversity centre
  • Botanical garden (with animal exhibits)
  • Conservation facility
  • Ecological park
  • Fauna exhibition
  • Game reserve
  • Living museum
  • Marine park
  • Menagerie (historical)
  • Nature centre
  • Nature reserve
  • Petting zoo
  • Safari park
  • Serpentarium
  • Vivarium
  • Wildlife park
  • Wildlife sanctuary
  • Zoological garden
  • Zoo
  • Welfare institution

Relevant concepts:

Challenges

  • Abnormal behaviours (stereotypies)
  • Animal advocacy issues
  • Animal justice
  • Animal rights
  • Boredom
  • Confinement stress
  • Disease transmission
  • Disrupted natural behaviours
  • Environmental deprivation
  • Ethical concerns
  • Genetic bottlenecks
  • Health
  • Inadequate enrichment
  • Inadequate space
  • Injustice
  • Longevity issues
  • Loss of autonomy
  • Loss of natural habitats
  • Microbiomes
  • Mobility
  • Mortality rates
  • Poor breeding outcomes
  • Psychological distress
  • Reduced fitness
  • Reproductive issues
  • Socialisation
  • Stress from human interaction
  • Suffering
  • Unnatural groupings
  • Welfare concerns

Proposals and Approaches

  • Abolition of zoos
  • Animal agency in decision-making about their care and environment
  • Animal-centred design of enclosures and habitats
  • Animal-led enrichment and activity planning
  • Community-based animal sanctuaries as alternatives to traditional zoos
  • Decolonisation of zoo practices and narratives
  • Democratic governance structures including animal proxies or advocates
  • Enhanced legal personhood or rights for animals in captivity
  • Labour rights including pay, medical care, and pension
  • Mandatory independent animal welfare audits
  • Participatory research involving animals as subjects with agency
  • Political representation for animals
  • Property rights
  • Recognition of animals as stakeholders in institutional policies
  • Rehabilitation and rewilding as primary goals
  • Rights to join unions for animals
  • Sanctuary transformation of existing zoos
  • Transparent public oversight and accountability mechanisms
  • Transition to virtual or augmented reality animal experiences to reduce captivity
  • Universal animal welfare standards enforced by international bodies

History and Progression

Hancocks, David. 2001. A Different Nature: The Paradoxical World of Zoos and Their Uncertain Future. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Miranda, Rafael, Nora Escribano, María Casas, Andrea Pino-del-Carpio, and Ana Villarroya. 2023. “The Role of Zoos and Aquariums in a Changing World.” Annual Review of Animal Biosciences 11:287–306. https://doi.org/10/g9rzz4.

Rothfels, Nigel, ed. 2002. Savages and Beasts: The Birth of the Modern Zoo. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.

Ethics

Animal Justice Calls for Edmonton Valley Zoo Fraud Investigation

Animal Justice Party: Zoos

Why Are Zoos Bad for Animals: A Comprehensive Guide - Pet Abuse

Abbate, Cheryl. 2022. “On the Ill-Being of Animals: From Factory Farm to Forever Home.” Midwest Studies in Philosophy 46:325–53. https://doi.org/10/gq9wqq.

Acampora, Ralph. 2005. “Zoos and Eyes: Contesting Captivity and Seeking Successor Practices.” Society & Animals 13 (1): 69–88. https://doi.org/10/cd5wrq.

Browning, Heather. 2024. What Are Zoos For? Bristol: Bristol University Press.

Donahue, Jesse, and Erik Trump. 2006. The Politics of Zoos: Exotic Animals and Their Protectors. DeKalb: Northern Illinois University Press.

Clay, Anne Safiya, and Ingrid J. Visseren-Hamakers. 2022. “Individuals Matter: Dilemmas and Solutions in Conservation and Animal Welfare Practices in Zoos.” Animals 12 (3): 398. https://doi.org/10/g9sbnv.

Gray, Jennifer. 2017. Zoo Ethics: The Challenges of Compassionate Conservation. Clayton South: CSIRO.

Heise, Ursula K. 2016. Imagining Extinction: The Cultural Meanings of Endangered Species. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Hilgier, Nina Matylda, and Thurston Cleveland Hicks. 2025. “The Issue of Contemporary Zoo Biopolitics: The Case of Chimpanzees.” Zoophilologica. Polish Journal of Animal Studies 15 (1): 1–16.

Jamieson, Dale. (1985) 2013. “Against Zoos.” In In Defense of Animals The Second Wave, edited by Peter Singer, 132–43. Oxford: Blackwell.

Jamieson, Dale. 2022. “Zoos Revisited.” In The Philosophy of the Environment, 180–92. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

Keulartz, Jozef. 2015. “Captivity for Conservation? Zoos at a Crossroads.” Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics 28 (2): 335–51. https://doi.org/10/6hq.

Pierce, Jessica, and Marc Bekoff. 2018. “A Postzoo Future: Why Welfare Fails Animals in Zoos.” Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science 21 (sup1): 43–48. https://doi.org/10/g9r923.

Rooney, Edited Monique, and Russell Smith. 2011. “Managing Love and Death at the Zoo: The Biopolitics of Endangered Species Preservation.” Australian Humanities Review, no. 50, 137–58.

Spooner, Sarah L., Susan L. Walker, Simon Dowell, and Andrew Moss. 2023. “The Value of Zoos for Species and Society: The Need for a New Model.” Biological Conservation 279:109925. https://doi.org/10/gwfmq6.

Stanton, Rebecca Rose. 2021. The Disneyfication of Animals. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.

Vincelette, Alan. 2024. “Perspective Chapter: The Value and Ethical Status of Zoos.” In From Zoo to Farm - the Quest for Animal Welfare, edited by Jaco Bakker and Melissa A. de la Garza, 1–25. London: IntechOpen.

Managerial Welfare

Hosey, Geoffrey R., Vicky Melfi, and Sheila Pankhurst. (2009) 2013. Zoo Animals: Behaviour, Management and Welfare. 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Kleiman, Devra G., Katerina V. Thompson, and Charlotte Kirk Baer, eds. (1997) 2010. Wild Mammals in Captivity: Principles and Techniques for Zoo Management. 2nd ed. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

Maple, Terry, and Bonnie M. Perdue. 2013. Zoo Animal Welfare. Berlin: Springer.

Interventions and Proposals

Alshaheen, Rua. 2019. “Post-Zoo Design: Alternative Futures in the Anthropocene.” PhD Thesis, Tempe.

Daria Loi. 2006. “Project Zoo: Co-Designing Behavioural Enrichment Products and Activities for Orangutans.” In Proceedings of the Ninth Conference on Participatory Design: Expanding Boundaries in Design, edited by Gianni Jacucci and Kensing, Finn. Trento.

Garcia-Pelegrin, Elias. 2025. “Do Robots Belong in Zoos?” Biological Conservation 309:111293. https://doi.org/10/g9rzz5.

Orrego, Santiago. 2025. “Partial Encounters: Exploring More-than-Human Entanglements in Berlin’s Animal Enclosures.” Journal of Contemporary Ethnography 54 (3): 336–63. https://doi.org/10/g9r924.

Tironi, Martín, and Pablo Hermansen. 2018. “Cosmopolitical Encounters: Prototyping at the National Zoo in Santiago, Chile.” Journal of Cultural Economy 11 (4): 330–47. https://doi.org/10/gfsp22.

Webber, Sarah, Marcus Carter, Wally Smith, and Frank Vetere. 2017. “Interactive Technology and Human–Animal Encounters at the Zoo.” International Journal of Human-Computer Studies 98:150–68. https://doi.org/10/f9hkkf.

References

Arcari, Paula. “Slow Violence Against Animals: Unseen Spectacles in Racing and at Zoos.” Geoforum 144 (2023): 103820. https://doi.org/10/g83xpc.

Coghlan, Simon, Sarah Webber, and Marcus Carter. “Improving Ethical Attitudes to Animals with Digital Technologies: The Case of Apes and Zoos.” Ethics and Information Technology 23, no. 4 (2021): 825–39. https://doi.org/10/g82d48.

Keulartz, Jozef. “Towards a Futureproof Zoo.” Animals 13, no. 6 (2023): 998. https://doi.org/10/g9d7v7.

Lee, Keekok. 2016. Zoos: A Philosophical Tour. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Minteer, Ben A., Jane Maienschein, and James P. Collins, eds. Zoos2018. The Ark and beyond: The Evolution of Zoo and Aquarium Conservation. Chicago: University of Chicago press.

Morris, Desmond. 1996. The Human Zoo: A Zoologist’s Classic Study of the Urban Animal. New York: Kodansha.

Rose, Paul, and Lisa Riley. “The Use of Qualitative Behavioural Assessment in Zoo Welfare Measurement and Animal Husbandry Change.” Journal of Zoo and Aquarium Research 7, no. 4 (2019): 150–61. https://doi.org/10/g8zgwv.

White, Rob. “Environmental Victimology and Ecological Justice.” In Crime, Victims and Policy: International Contexts, Local Experiences, edited by Dean Wilson and Stuart Ross, 33–52. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015.

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