Zoo Ethics The Challenges of Compassionate Conservation

About this book

Zoo Ethics examines the workings of modern zoos and considers the core ethical challenges faced by people who choose to hold and display animals in zoos, aquariums, or sanctuaries. Jenny Gray asserts the value of animal life and assesses the impacts of modern zoos, including the costs to animals in terms of welfare and the loss of liberty. Gray highlights contemporary events, including the killing of the gorilla Harambe at the Cincinnati Zoo in May 2016, the widely publicised culling of a young giraffe at the Copenhagen Zoo in 2014, and the investigation of the Tiger Temple in western Thailand.

Gray describes the positive welfare and health outcomes of many animals held in zoos, the increased attention and protection for their species in the wild, and the enjoyment and education of the people who visit zoos. Zoo Ethics will empower students of animal ethics and veterinary sciences, zoo and aquarium professionals, and interested zoo visitors to have an informed view of the challenges of compassionate conservation and to develop their own ethical positions.

Contents

Introduction - Of Beetles, People and Zoos
Terminology
1. Introduction to Applied Ethics and Zoos
2. The Modern Zoo
3. The Moral Disquiet with Zoos
4. Animal Welfare
5. Animal Rights beyond Welfare
6. Consequentialism
7. Virtue Theory
8. Environmental Ethics
9. Conclusion
Bibliography
Index

Customer Reviews

Biography

Jenny Gray is the Chief Executive Officer of Zoos Victoria and has assumed the role of President of the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums in 2017. She has held roles as Executive Director of Durban Transport, Head of Corporate Electronic Banking at First National Bank and Chief Executive Officer of Johannesburg Zoo. Jenny recently completed her PhD in Ethics at the University of Melbourne and regularly speaks at leadership and zoo conferences, including a talk at TEDx Melbourne in 2012.