Phillip T. Robinson - Life at the Zoo: Behind the Scenes with the Animal Doctors

LIFE AT THE

ZOO

Columbia University Press
Publishers Since 1893
New York Chichester, West Sussex
cup.columbia.edu
Copyright 2004 Phillip T. Robinson, DVM

All rights reserved
E-ISBN 978-0-231-50719-6

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Robinson, Phillip T.

Life at the zoo: behind the scenes with the animal doctors / Phillip T. Robinson. p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 10 0231132484 (cloth : alk. paper)

ISBN 13 978-0-231-13248-0 (cloth : alk.paper)

ISBN 10 0-231-13249-2 (pbk. : alk.paper)

ISBN 13 978-0-231-13249-7 (pbk. : alk.paper)

1. Zoos. I. Title.

QL76.R64 2004
590.73dc22

2004043893

A Columbia University Press E-book.
CUP would be pleased to hear about your reading experience with this e-book at .

Z oogoing is one of Americas favorite pastimes. In fact, more Americans are reported to visit zoos and aquariums annually than attend all major professional sporting events combined, with present numbers approaching 140 million. Worldwide attendance at zoos and aquariums is estimated at 600 million people. The motives of zoogoers range from simple curiosity and amusement to educational and spiritual growth. Americans are fascinated with animals. This is clearly reflected in our annual expenditure of billions of dollars to purchase pets, supplies, and animal medical care. Cats, dogs, birds, ferrets, lizards, snakes, and tortoises have become common household companions for people, causing a huge growth in the pet industry worldwide. Television programs involving animals are at an all-time high, representing one of the most popular segments of the communications and television entertainment industry.

Perhaps no area of veterinary science is as intimidating or demands as much versatility as the practice of zoo animal medicine. At times it requires a taste for the kinds of body slams, physical and mental, that might be found elsewhere only in the World Wrestling Federation. After all, zoos are made up of both animals and peopleand people usually bring the most uncertainty to the running of a zoo.

Quagga in London Zoo, 1870

The evolution of zoos is ongoing, at times painful, and fraught with some lingering anachronisms involving purpose and ethics. Along with the publics growing awareness of environmental degradation and species extinctions, the expectations of zoos have risen steeply. In addition, animal welfare concerns have placed zoos under the public microscope, questioning the care and conditions of animals under their stewardship. Responding to these influences, the zoo profession has undergone a steady transformation over the past thirty years, changing many of its values, priorities, and programs.

Given the global urgency to protect wildlife and wild places, some people look with optimism upon the capabilities of the new zoological gardens to help provide security for the survival of nature. The quagga, a now-extinct relative of the South African plains zebras, epitomizes a dwindling population of creatures that escaped the grasp of modern civilization. In 1873 the last, nameless, individual died in captivity at the Artis Zoo in Amsterdam, Holland. While the collective capacity of zoos and aquariums to offset the steady losses of animal species in the wild is far too small for the global problem at hand, zoos contributions to conservation biology are significant, and growing. Zoos have enormous potential to educate the public about environmental conservation and are collaborating in the field and the laboratory to help address problems of animal extinctions.

My purpose for writing this book is to share some hard-earned insights into the dynamics of caring for and conserving wild animals in captivity, as well as to consider a few broader implications for how we view nature and animals in our society. Truthfully, when I left zoo work I never had an exit interview, and, in part, this book fulfills that exercise. This book will not tell you how to run a zoo, but it may give you a better idea of what to be pleased or perplexed about when you visit one in the future. It is written from my personal perspective as a staff veterinarian at the San Diego Zoo, a university research veterinarian, a wildlife biologist, and a nature lover. The experiences described are mostly my own, but the insights and knowledge therein have been honed by my fortunate association with many talented, dedicated professionals throughout my zoo career. I have filled in some of the blanks with supplementary research about zoos, which becomes hard to attribute in detail without citing sources like an academic treatise. Comedian Michael Wright put it this way: To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research.

This book recounts some of the thinking and thoughts that go through a zoo veterinarians mind when visiting animal patients in a zoo. My focus, as zoo medicine should be, is more on keeping animals healthy than on the technology of treating preventable conditions. In sharing my experiences and ideas about zoo people and zoo animals, I have struggled to balance the inclusion of personal opinions and the cataloging of esoteric facts and diseases; I am not always sure which prevailed.

Most of us in the zoo-doctor profession believe that it takes a quirky combination of science, art, and good fortune to practice successfully. My own experiences corroborate just thatespecially the quirky parts. Through their dedication and perseverance, zoo veterinarians have advanced the knowledge of animal keeping, health, reproduction, and conservation, as well as the humane well-being of wild animals in captivity. In doing so they have fundamentally altered the course of zoos, bringing them alongsometimes kicking and screaminginto this new millennium.

It may be the blend of art, science, and pragmatism of zoo medical practice that makes it a unique and rewarding career, but it is the romantic fantasy of working in a zoo that somehow captures everyones imagination, including mine.

Family, friends, mentors, and associates have all helped me over the years on my zoo and conservation journey, and, thereby, in the preparation of this book. I am sincerely grateful to them all. My lively, loving mother, Marge Robinson, has always encouraged me to pursue whatever occupations or projects inspire me, but she never anticipated that she would end up referring to me as the monkey doctor. Several individuals in particular have actively encouraged, tolerated, and assisted me in refining my efforts to articulate my thoughts on the written page, especially Katherine and Shane Robinson, Dr. Rollin Baker, L. James Binder, Donn Stone, and Dr. Duane Ullrey. Marvin L. Jones provided helpful comments on the final draft. I also have been fortunate to benefit from the skills of my helpful editors at Columbia University Press.