Welfare of Captive Wild Animals
It is hard, in the world in which we live, to leave wild animals alone because we are constantly and irrevocably encroaching upon their habitats and lives in the search or desire for resources (sometimes for greed, sometimes for survival, sometimes just for ‘fun’), but I believe we should be concentrating our efforts and research on keeping wild animals in their own bit of the wild. A tiger in a zoo is not an 'ambassador' for the species as a whole as is often claimed. It is lost to the wild population as surely as if it had been shot. Such an individual is not concerned for the overall survival of the species but for its own immediate welfare and survival – we cannot impose such responsibilities on animals that have no choice in the matter.
Captive wild animals are deprived of their normal habitat (and microclimates); often of their normal family groupings; normal patterns of migration and mating; and of being allowed to express a normal range of behaviours.
Samantha has been working with the Captive Animal Protection Society (www.captiveanimals.org) as their Honorary Veterinary Advisor, but also Animal Defenders International: www.ad-international.org; Zoocheck Canada: www.zoocheck.com; The Born Free Foundation: www.bornfree.org.uk; Advocates for Animals: www.onekind.org; The Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals: www.ispca.ie, and others, since 1993 to help limit the suffering of wild animals in their various forms of captivity. This help is usually in the form of behavioural and environmental assessment; reports and advice on specific animals or institutions; and on broader issues such as stereotypic behaviour and elephants in captivity; as well as in my capacity as veterinary surgeon to state, for the purpose of legal proceedings, whether “unnecessary suffering” has been caused.