FOR ZOOS

[Guest guest]

http://www.satyamag.com/jul00/doherty.html

Life at the Bronx Zoo

The *Satya* Interview with James Doherty

 

 

 

*Jim Doherty* has been General Curator of the Bronx Zoo since 1979 and is

the Carter Chair in Mammology. He is a Professional Fellow of the American

Zoo and Aquarium Association (AZA) and serves as Species Coordinator for the

AZA's Sumatran Rhinoceros Species Survival Plan. Doherty supervises the care

and management of the Zoo's 6,000-plus animals, and is recognized as a

leading mammal expert. Last month *Satya* caught up with Doherty to talk

about life at the Zoo and about some of the more pressing issues with which

he is concerned.

 

*What's the job of a zoo curator like?

*Curators are responsible for anything to do with the animal collection and

that includes designing the exhibits. We're the people who know what the

needs of the animals are and how to exhibit them because we know what kind

of environment they come from.

 

We hire the keepers who have degrees in subjects like biological sciences,

animal science, animal behavior, psychology or anthropology. They actually

are the ones who get to know the animals best because they work so closely

with them.

 

We write the graphics to try and educate our visitors—it's a real challenge

to get a message across because they're not coming here to be educated.

 

We're involved in many species programs because so many of our animals are

endangered. There are a lot of cooperative efforts between zoos in this

country and in other parts of the world. We're constantly helping each other

and exchanging advice. It's a wonderful job because of the variety; there's

no such thing as a normal day.

 

*What purpose would you say zoos serve?

*I think that zoos were intended to be recreation areas where people come to

be entertained. Today we can't afford that. Yes, we entertain, but now we're

trying to educate, to get a message across about what is happening to

wildlife and to wild places. We're hoping that visitors go away with a

greater appreciation for wildlife and wild places, and caring about what

happens to them. If we save a habitat for the gorillas, for example, then

we're saving the habitat for many other animals who live in the same forests

as them.

 

*How does the zoo educate people about habitat conservation and endangered

species?

*If you go through the Congo Gorilla Forest you will see a wealth of graphic

educational material. The challenge for us is finding creative ways to get

this material to the visitor so they will read it, and not just walk past

it.

 

There is more and more information available that we can pass on; but there

is still a lot that we don't know. We want the visitor committed to working

with us, supporting us, helping us.

 

The people who come through the Congo Gorilla Forest have each donated three

dollars. At the end of the exhibit there are kiosks and they get a chance to

show us what kind of a project they want their three dollars used for in

nature. The money is not to be used at the zoo. Because the Congo Gorilla

Forest exhibit is so popular, we believe that we will be able to have $1.5

million for conservation work in Africa every year. That's fantastic.

 

*What role do zoos play with regard to species extinction and habitat

conservation in the countries of origin?

*We used to think that we were a reservoir of genetic material and that we

would have animals available for reintroduction. For example, if the

gorillas disappeared in Africa, well, we have a pretty sizable captive

gorilla population here in North America, we could take some of the gorillas

from zoos and reintroduce them. I don't think that's likely to happen now.

 

We do work with some endangered species in nature, although acting mostly in

an advisory capacity. So many animals are endangered. The animals are

getting more and more crowded into smaller and smaller areas; they are, in

many cases, living in mega zoos in nature. In other words they're living in

populations that have to be managed by man. So we are trying to help our

colleagues in other parts of the world manage their own animal populations.

 

*The display in Gorilla Forest shows how the destruction of rainforest

begins with a road. Does the zoo attempt to educate the public about how

their daily lifestyle choices affect the environment?*

Yes. We have a rainforest gallery in the Jungle World exhibit that tells

that story very well. There are graphics on jungle products, foods and

medicines. There is a light box next to each with examples of some of the

products coming from rainforests, things like wood products, fabrics and

rubber; various fruits and coffee; and a variety of medicines all derived

from tropical plants.

 

There are so many things coming out of the rainforest that we're using all

the time. One of our concerns was, would people pay attention to such a long

list of products? I've seen people stop and scan those lists even though

they may not read the whole thing. We want people to go home thinking about

being less wasteful. We're not saying, " Don't cut down the forest, " but we

are saying, " let's be more careful about how we cut down the forest; let's

be more careful about everything that we do. "

 

Americans are role models for people in many parts of the world though often

we are not good role models because we are a very, very wasteful society.

We're throwing away things that people in developing countries wouldn't

think of throwing away; they couldn't afford to. They reuse cans, bottles,

paper and cardboard over and over again until they are worn out. But these

people want to live the way we do. They'd love to have television and a car.

They want the things that we have. So they often exploit their resources in

order to raise their standard of living. In many cases, they can't afford to

think about conservation the way we can in this country. I think we have a

responsibility to try and be less wasteful, to do more recycling and so on.

We could show people in the developing countries that we are a caring

society.

 

*What is an AZA Species Survival Plan (SSP)?

*North American zoos cooperate to manage all the members of one species as

one population to get the greatest genetic diversity and maintain a healthy

captive population so there never needs to be any thought of bringing other

animals into captivity. It's worked out very well. Now there are a lot of

species survival plans.

 

I'm the coordinator for the Sumatran Rhino SSP. It's an extremely small one

because there are only a few in captivity. This is a very sad story because

this is one large mammal that will probably go extinct in our lifetime. They

are found in Southeast Asia, in Malaysia, in Borneo and other parts of

Indonesia. Because of poaching and habitat destruction, they are

disappearing rapidly. They're being killed for body parts, including horns

and organs, to sell in Asia. There is not a large enough captive population

to sustain this species. The reason we have any still remaining in zoos is

that they are long-lived.

 

*So what's the survival plan?

*I don't think that there can be one; Sumatran Rhinos are just doing too

poorly in nature. There are only three in North America, all in the

Cincinnati zoo. One is very old and appears to be post-reproductive. One is

very young, but she's never carried a pregnancy to term, though we don't

know why. There certainly are other rhino species that are not having

problems like this.

 

*What are some of the most successful SSPs?

*The gorilla is a good example. This has worked because people have been so

willing to cooperate. Years ago, we didn't know what we know about gorillas

today. Most zoos that had gorillas kept them in pairs, but they didn't

breed. It now appears that maybe they grew up like brother and sister even

if they were not related. Once the SSP for gorillas started, gorillas were

moved around the country, swapped, put in different situations. The quick

turnaround was remarkable. Gorillas that had been in captivity for 20 years

or more and had never shown any interest in reproducing began to breed

successfully.

 

We have a gorilla here, Timmy, who was wild born in Africa in 1959, and was

at the Cleveland zoo for 28 years. He never reproduced in all that time and

then the SSP recommended that Timmy come here. In 1998, Timmy's eleventh

baby was born here at the Bronx Zoo and he only came here in 1990. He is the

most wonderful father and protector of the baby gorillas. He's also the

peace maker among the females and he doesn't fight with any of them. He gets

along with everybody so well. This was an animal that a lot of people said

was going to come here and die. I expect he will die here; he's been here 10

years now. He still looks pretty good. He's 41, and that's pretty old for a

gorilla, probably like 82 in human years.

 

Gorillas have great personalities. Every one is different and they're all

named. People come to the zoo to see gorillas. They say, " I saw that gorilla

when I was a kid. " They're bringing their own children to see the gorillas

that they saw as a child.

 

*Will the program require Timmy to go to another zoo?

*It would be recommended if he were younger, but at 41 that's not so easy.

If you had a family and you moved, the children may not fully understand why

you're moving, but at least you can try to explain and hopefully calm their

fears. Unfortunately, we can't do that with the gorillas.

 

We were very worried when we moved the gorillas into the Congo Gorilla

Forest because most of them were born in the old ape house. They didn't

understand why we were moving them, they don't understand this new facility.

Now I think they've forgotten the ape house because it was so old and small

in comparison to what they have now. I expect Timmy will stay here just

because of his age and because of the fact that I think there is stress when

you move animals. I don't think he deserves it. Also, we like him here. But

if we were told to move him, we would do it.

 

*Have there been successful programs to reintroduce captive-born animals to

the wild?

*Yes, there have been a number of them—not as many as we would like. A few

years ago, we were involved in a program for the black-footed ferret. In the

mid 1980s, the black-footed ferret was the rarest mammal in the world. They

were thought to be extinct. Shame on us for allowing this animal—unique to

the western part of the U.S.—to disappear. With all the resources we have,

we killed them off. But a small wild population was found in Wyoming. We

brought them into captivity and set up a successful captive breeding

program, and eventually reintroduced them.

 

The Arabian oryx antelope, once found all over the Arabian Peninsula, was

killed off completely by people shooting them for sport. A captive breeding

program was started in Arizona. Then the country of Oman said that they were

interested in reintroduction and were willing to protect the oryx. So oryx

that were four or five generations in captivity were reintroduced to the

Arabian Peninsula. There have been some hunting setbacks but the animals

have done remarkably well. The desert in that part of the world is an

extremely harsh environment; these are animals that had water and food put

in front of them in zoos, and then they had to go out and find water and

grazing grass. And they did it. Their numbers have built up quite

dramatically from the small number of animals that were reintroduced.

 

*What would you say to people who feel that animals shouldn't be kept

captive at all, that no matter what efforts are made, it's an unnatural

existence for wild animals?*

Very, very rarely do we bring animals from nature today. We would be much

more likely to put animals back than to bring them into captivity.

Ninety-seven percent of the mammal collection here was born in this or some

other zoo. The three percent that were born in the wild are mostly the old

gorillas, who have been in captivity for many years, and some old rhinos.

 

These captive animals are ambassadors to the people who come here,

representing the animals that are found in nature. For the gorillas and most

of the animals we have, captivity is all they know, they don't know any

other life. That doesn't mean that we cannot treat them well; I think that

if you look around the zoo you'll find that we do treat them well. These

animals live a much better life than they do in nature. They live longer,

have medical care and better nutrition. They have no predators and they have

wonderful people caring for them—veterinarians and keepers who ensure that

they're healthy. The keepers aren't getting rich working here; they come

here because of their love for the animals.

 

*Do you consider yourself to be an animal advocate?

*I think that the fact that we're working here makes us animal advocates.

We're all here because we care about the animals; we want what's best for

them. There are about 600 mountain gorillas surviving in nature today and

Africa is where they belong. They are not in captivity; they are not in

zoos. I hope that we never see them in zoos. If we do, then that means that

we've blown it. They should be able to survive out there. Right now it's a

very tenuous situation, but we want them to stay in nature. They're much

better off in their natural habitat just because that's where they belong.

We'll bring them into captivity if we have to but we really don't want to.

Unfortunately there are fewer and fewer places in nature for many of these

animals and it's not fair to let them go to extinction.

 

*Do you feel that there are any key issues that people are not " getting "

when they criticize zoos?

*They should come and walk through here with us and hear us talk to them

about the animals and how much we care. I do believe we care as much as they

do. I think that's the best thing we could do, to have dialogue.