Recent reports of Perhilitan finding nothing wrong with conditions animals are held in at a zoo, only serve to reinforce the general perception these government officials always find in favour of zoos.
Often over the past decade I have wondered if this is because Perhilitan does not know what they are doing or, do not care about the welfare of animals.
Whenever a complaint is made, Perhilitan has always come to the defence of the zoo. They see nothing wrong, hear nothing, and do nothing. It must make their job easy and it doubtless means they can remain close friends with their buddies responsible for all this cruelty. Pity the poor animals Perhilitan are prepared to leave suffering.
The Wildlife Conservation Act may as well have been written in invisible ink. It is not enforced.
Most educated people know Malaysia’s forty or so zoos are, with one or two exceptions, places of appalling cruelty. Profits are always put before animal care.
Is anyone in Perhilitan qualified to inspect zoos and assess animal welfare standards? If the answer is no, this explains a lot of things, but in law ignorance is no defence.
One example – how many birds are kept in cages that prevent them from flying? Birds have wings, for flight. Depriving them of the ability to fly and experience natural stimulus is a breach of Malaysian law.
How many zoos have their own vets with experience of wild animals? It is a legal requirement.
Over at least ten years I have been highlighting bad zoos in Malaysia, the law was changed and is very good – on paper. Sadly, very sadly, but not all that surprisingly, Perhilitan’s attitude and work ethic have not changed.
It’s really very simple for members of the public to assess the welfare of animals in a zoo they may be visiting. A baseline guide when looking at animals and birds in zoos are the Five Freedoms for Captive Wildlife: Are the birds and animals experiencing…
- Freedom from Hunger and Thirst… by ready access to fresh water and a diet to maintain full health and vigour.
- Freedom from Discomfort… by providing an appropriate environment including shelter and a comfortable resting area.
- Freedom from Pain, Injury or Disease… by prevention or rapid diagnosis and treatment.
- Freedom to Express Normal Behaviour… by providing sufficient space, proper facilities and the company of the animal’s own kind.
- Freedom from Fear and Distress… by ensuring conditions and treatment which avoid mental suffering.
Given most zoos appear not to care about the cruelty their birds and animals suffer, and Perhilitan’s constant defence of bad zoos, if readers do not want to be complicit in this suffering, the very best and easiest thing to do is to stay away from all zoos.
No one needs to visit a zoo so why spend precious money paying to watch animals suffer? Bad zoos will then soon go out of business and you will have been part of the solution to ending cruelty to birds and animals – and you do want to help stop the cruelty, don’t you?
If you must visit a zoo, go to Singapore, where you will see a zoo of such quality you will never, ever, want to visit a Malaysian zoo again.
Sean Whyte is from Nature Alert.
The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.