Journey from Wilderness: Facing Dilemmas of Wild Animal Exhibits

Abstract

Wild animal trade, including capture and transport of animals from faraway lands to European and American markets for public exhibition, became a well-established business by the nineteenth century. Journey by animals to the destination in rudimentary conditions caused high mortality. This is an area in history that receives scant attention today. Also, husbandry technology in zoos was in dire need of improvement in earlier years. It is easy for us to condemn the work of yesteryear by using today's prism, an act called “Presentism”. Instead, we should review the deed of our predecessors in historical perspective; judging them by today's moral standard will not get us anywhere. In early day America, traveling menageries first introduced the public to captive wild animals before zoos developed as civic institutions in increasingly urban societies. During the era, the division of circuses, menageries and zoos often blurred. This essay attempts to present a holistic review of wild animal exhibition operations including traveling menageries, circuses and zoos, focusing on selected topics from the eighteenth century through the middle of the last century. Today, even with tremendous contributions having been made, zoos still face considerable challenges in terms of wildlife conservation.