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I REFER to the letter, "Safety and care come first at wildlife
parks", on Monday.
It is encouraging to hear that the Singapore Zoo adheres to the
standards drawn up by the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums
(Waza).
The zoo, however, did not address most of the concerns raised by
the Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (Acres) with
regard to contact sessions with wild animals.
How does the zoo ensure that members of the public are not in
danger from contact with the wild animals, which are unpredictable
and can attack at any time, regardless of how well-trained the
zookeeper is?
The zoo cannot deny that incidents have happened and have
resulted in injuries.
In addition, despite the animal enclosures being designed to
meet the Waza safety standards, there have been cases of animals
escaping from their enclosures in the past.
Lastly, the zoo needs to meet all the standards drawn up by Waza
and not just some of them. Section 2 of the Waza Code of Ethics and
Animal Welfare states that "where 'wild' animals are used in
presentations, these presentations must focus on natural behaviour
and not demean or trivialise the animal in any way". The
circus-style elephant show at the Singapore Zoo clearly does not
meet this standard.
James Chua
