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Wild Animals in Entertainment

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Animal Ethics in the Age of Humans

Abstract

Wild animals in entertainment have long been popular. A wide variety of wild animals are held in captivity worldwide. Some are housed in modern zoos, sanctuaries, research facilities and wildlife centers, while others live their lives as actors in (traveling) circuses, in entertainment parks or on movie sets. Good animal welfare and quality of life matters first and foremost to the individual animal, but is also fundamental to meaningful and successful conservation , research and education programs. It is important to consider the animal’s perspective and the species-specific requirements that are not always compatible with our entertainment goals. This chapter will focus specifically on the topic of entertainment and performing captive wild animals in zoos, marine parks and circuses worldwide and which conditions need to be fulfilled to warrant good animal welfare, i.e. thriving captive wild animals.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    A tiger tug-of-war is a rope pulling interaction between a tiger and the visiting public at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, Florida, USA.

  2. 2.

    Domesticated species such as pigs, horses, dogs, cats, rats and cows, although commonly used and housed in zoos and circuses, will not be covered in this paper but require similar discussion and scrutiny.

  3. 3.

    Marine parks, aquaria and zoological parks housing captive wild animals will all be referred to as zoos in this paper. Circuses will be kept in a separate category although some activities might be overlapping.

  4. 4.

    However, many modern zoos are conducting research projects and continue to develop (extensive) husbandry manuals for species under their care, like the extensive Callitrichids husbandry manual counting close to 200 pages.

  5. 5.

    ESA Code of Conduct http://www.europeancircus.eu/?page_id=361.

  6. 6.

    https://vimeo.com/122718299.

  7. 7.

    The common bottlenose dolphin (T. truncatus) are the most commonly kept dolphin species in captivity; Pinnipeds include sea lions, seals, fur seals, and the walrus.

  8. 8.

    www.247animalwelfare.eu.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. AnimalConcepts, Lelystad, The Netherlands

    Sabrina Brando

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  1. Sabrina Brando
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Correspondence to Sabrina Brando .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Wageningen, Wageningen, Gelderland, The Netherlands

    Bernice Bovenkerk

  2. Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

    Jozef Keulartz

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Brando, S. (2016). Wild Animals in Entertainment. In: Bovenkerk, B., Keulartz, J. (eds) Animal Ethics in the Age of Humans. The International Library of Environmental, Agricultural and Food Ethics, vol 23. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-44206-8_18

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