Earlier this year, the Party for the Animals (PvdD) submitted a proposal to close the Artis Zoo in Amsterdam and turn it into a city park without animals. The proposal will be debated by the Amsterdam City Council when the summer recess is over.
In the proposal, PvdD Amsterdam leader Anke Bakker mentions that the animals at the zoo are not able to “express their natural behaviour: to fully develop their abilities”. The proposal about the zoo’s future centres around the welfare of the zoo animals and the need for green spaces as Amsterdam continues to grow. The PvdD hopes to turn the popular Dutch zoo into a city park where the community can gather and “where many free-living animals [could] hang out: butterflies, birds, hedgehogs.”
Experts agree that some animals do need more space to act freely, such as elephants. “Elephants are such large animals that such a small space really hinders them from exhibiting natural behaviour. My estimate is that you should no longer keep them in the long term,” said Maarten Reesink, animal studies lecturer at the University of Amsterdam, to De Telegraaf.
However, there are animals that actually thrive in captivity. “Some other animals have a fine life in the zoo, perhaps even better than in the wild,” explained Reesink. “Smaller prey animals do not need much space, and there is no danger of predators in Artis. There is not much wrong with that. Corals in the aquarium are also stuck in one place in the wild.”
The zoo has argued that it is important with climate change and biodiversity loss to have a place where people can see endangered species. “Real contact. Emotional contact. Where we not only get to know the life around us but also come to love it and want to take care of it,” wrote Artis in a statement.
Artis also drew attention to the fact that every year they enrol 140.000 pupils and students in education programmes, support 100 species conservation programmes - one such example being griffon vultures that can’t survive in the wild - and 14 nature conservation projects. The Dutch zoo also participates in 25 scientific studies on animal behaviour, local biodiversity and more.
According to Reesink discussing the future of zoos in the Netherlands is necessary, but believes that each species should be considered individually. He thinks that zoos should continue to change and “will become much more like a shelter” with animals being reintroduced into the wild.
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