The problem with zoos is…

The response to this is: those animals who are zoo-born will have no concept of so-called “freedom” and even if set free, wouldn’t be able to last a day out in the wild. They would not have been taught to hunt and kill, (‘Oh my god, mama, you mean we have to chase that fellow down and then asphyxiate him while he kicks our ribs in and tries to disembowel us with his horns, and then rip and tear through his arse to get to his tender portions? Disgusting! And, anyway, you never taught us any of it! Give me a steak served rare any day!’)

Besides how many of us really know what freedom is? Most of us live very routine lives, doing the same thing day after day, hour after hour, visiting the same places for holidays, and most of us are technically free. But, ah yes, we have to admit that seeing a tiger relentlessly pace up and down in its enclosure hour after hour (even after having partaken of buffalo steak done raw) is no patch on watching one stalk through the forest in the wild, its burning amber eyes riveted to the herd of chital it has just spotted through the trees… Watching a solitary African tusker going slowly nuts in its enclosure, swaying from side to side, day after day, year after year is no patch on watching a herd of elephants squeal ecstatically over the arrival of a wobbly new member of their family.

Zookeepers have long argued that modern zoos serve several vital functions. Primarily, they provide a sanctuary for those animals that are critically endangered in the wild. If the unthinkable happens, then the wild can be restocked with animals bred in the zoo. California’s San Diego Zoo has done so, as has Gerald Durrell’s zoo in Jersey – which repatriated the golden lion tamarin, and Mauritius kestrel back to their original habitats. Also, not all of us are able to trot off to Antarctica to see penguins, let alone go to the jungles of the Congo to watch gorillas. For children, who perhaps would have only encountered “wild” animals on television channels, here’s proof that the animals actually exist in flesh and blood! Some zoos even have petting enclosures, where children can cuddle and cosy up with harmless species to enable them to bond with them.

There are a couple of big hiccups with the repatriating back to the wild arguments. Firstly, there’s got to be a wild to repatriate the animal back to. Where are you going to send back say orangutans whose forests have been turned into palm-oil plantations? Zoo-raised animals will have to be trained to be wild – and that basically means to fear us. (Not very flattering but there it is!) They have to be taught to hunt and kill, which is easier, said, than done. Some animals, like crocodiles for example are easier to repatriate than others, but how many people would want crocs to be released in their neighbouring water bodies?

The cages in most zoos alas are nothing better than prison cells, with cramped dimensions, cement floors and bars. And some zoos breed animals for all the wrong reasons: Recently there was great excitement in the Delhi Zoo when a white-tigress gave birth to three white cubs, having been bred with a white male. This, when it’s well- known that white tigers are genetically predisposed to ill-health. And sure enough, (at the time of writing) two of the cubs have died and the third doesn’t look too good. (But then we can’t resist anything that’s white can we? The white tiger Vijay at the Delhi Zoo became a superstar after he killed a mentally troubled intruder in his enclosure).

Zoos may be a last resort for critically endangered species but in India alas, most of the people visiting zoos, do so to mindlessly gape and gawp and shudder deliciously. And all too often you get the feeling that entirely, the wrong species has been put behind bars. Just stand outside the monkeys cages and you’ll get the idea.