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VOICE ONE
One of America’s best-known animalparks is the National Zoo in Washington, D-C. But recent animaldeaths there have caused Congress to order an investigation. I’mPhoebe Zimmermann.
VOICE TWO:
And I’m Steve Ember. Zoos in the United States is our subjectthis week on the VOA Special English program THIS IS AMERICA.
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Like millions of American women, Marie Galloway goes to work eachmorning. Mizz Galloway works in the nation’s capital. Her job is tocare for elephants. She manages the four Asian elephants at theSmithsonian National Zoological Park — the National Zoo.
As she works, Marie Galloway shows no fear. Her hugeresponsibilities increased in two-thousand-one. Kandula[KAHN-du-lah] weighed almost one-hundred-fifty kilograms at birth.During his first year, the elephant keepers taught him twentycommands.
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Big crowds stand in line to see Kandula and his mother, Shanthi.Unlike many other zoos, the National Zoo does not ask people to pay.Most of its money is from the federal government. Friends of the zooalso give.
About three-thousand animals live on sixty-six hectares of land.They represent more than four-hundred species.
Congress created the zoo in eighteen-eighty-nine.
VOICE ONE:
Each year about three-million people visit the National Zoo inWashington. But zoo administrators are currently facing criticism.
Recently, some animals have died. These included a pygmyhippopotamus, a Massai giraffe, two zebras and two red pandas. Redpandas are a distant relative of the giant panda, and are alsothreatened with disappearing from the Earth.
Congress ordered an independent investigation of the deaths.Also, the Department of Agriculture will now make unannouncedvisits. Zoos normally get inspected each year. But departmentofficials reportedly believed that the document that established theNational Zoo did not require that many visits.
Lucy Spelman says she welcomessurprise visits by experts. Doctor Spelman heads the National Zoo.She became director in two-thousand, at the age of thirty-seven. Sherose to head veterinarian the year before her appointment.
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The National Zoo is part of the Smithsonian Institution, whichalso operates a system of museums. Lawrence Small is head of theSmithsonian. He blames a large population of older animals at theNational Zoo for some of the deaths. Mister Small also blamesmistakes by workers. For example, the red pandas ate poison thatworkers put out to kill rats.
Mistakes may have also played a part in the deaths of other rareanimals during the past three years. These deaths took place at thezoo and its research center in Virginia. They included three Eld’sdeer. These rare animals died after two separate attacks by dogs.
Wayne Pacelle is an official of the Humane Society of the UnitedStates. He says the National Zoo needs more supervision. Heexpressed satisfaction that the zoo will be under closer watch.
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The National Zoo is a member of the American Zoo and AquariumAssociation. More than two-hundred-eight zoos, wildlife parks andother centers belong to this association. The group carries outinspections every five years.
The American Zoo and Aquarium Association last inspected theNational Zoo in January. Association officials set a meeting forlater this week to consider the results.
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Changes have already started at the National Zoo. Director LucySpelman now must approve all chemicals used. Animal doctors willsupervise the control of rats. And officials have created the newposition of general curator to supervise daily operations at thezoo.
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Thousands of visitors a month gather to see the two Chinese giantpandas at the National Zoo. Tian Tian [tee-YEN tee-YEN] is the maleand Mei Xiang [may SHONG] is the female. These big, furryblack-and-white creatures roll around in the grass. They play. Theyclimb trees. They eat bamboo. All the while they seem to study theirvisitors as carefully as the visitors study them.
China has loaned the pandas to the National Zoo for ten years.They arrived in two-thousand to replace others that had died. Thehope is that they will reproduce. A baby would be an importantaddition.
Giant pandas come from the mountains of central China. Only aboutone-thousand currently survive in the wild. China has aboutone-hundred-twenty others in panda-reproduction centers. Anestimated twenty more live in zoos outside China.
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America’s first zoo opened in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, ineighteen-fifty-nine. Today about fifty-million people visit zoos inthis country each year. “Let’s go to the zoo!” is an expression manyparents of young children know all too well.
What visitors find when they arrive has changed over the years.At one time, zoo animals lived in small, box-like cages. There wasnothing except the animal, its food and its waste. The Bronx Zoo inNew York City led the way to better conditions. It designed exhibitsto provide more freedom for its animals.
The idea to create settings more like nature has spread to otherzoos in America. For example, some — like the Saint Louis Zoo inMissouri — permit birds to fly freely, although inside buildings.
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Out West, one of the leading American zoos is the one in SanDiego, in Southern California. Three giant pandas live there,including Hua Mei [hwa may] — one of the few born at a zoo in theUnited States.
The San Diego Zoo is also known for its koalas. These brown,furry animals from Australia are much smaller than the pandas butalso highly popular.
Yet, back home, some Australian states fear that koalas may dieout. Several years ago, the San Diego Zoo started a program toprotect endangered animals and their natural areas. Other parks andwildlife groups are also involved in this project.
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The San Diego Zoological Society operates the zoo and the SanDiego Wild Animal Park. More than two-thousand animals share aboutseven-hundred-thirty hectares of land at the Wild Animal Park.Experts have praised the park as a center for protection of rareanimals.
For example, the Wild Animal Park has helped save the Californiacondor. With its wings spread, this huge bird measures three metersacross. In nineteen-eighty-seven, researchers captured the lastknown California condors in the wild. They took the birds to theWild Animal Park and the Los Angeles Zoo.
Today, more than one-hundred-fifty California condors are alive.Some have been freed in unpopulated areas of northern and southernCalifornia and the state of Arizona.
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Not long ago, a visitor to California saw a condor. Someone toldthe man how experts had rescued the birds from dying out. “It is agood thing we have zoos,” the man answered.
But not everyone would agree. Some people believe it is wrong tokeep animals in zoos. They say most of the animals in zoos are notendangered. So they question the need for programs to breed theseanimals in captivity. For one thing, critics say some animals candie early in zoos.
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One group with criticism is People for the Ethical Treatment ofAnimals, or PETA. It says zoos teach people that it is acceptable tokeep animals in lonely conditions, far from their natural homes.PETA notes that zoos differ in quality. It says animals often havelittle chance for excitement or exercise.
Animals may bite at the bars of a cage, or walk back and forthfor long periods of time. PETA says animals in zoos are sometimesbeaten or mistreated in other ways.
Such groups argue that zoos seek animals that are “crowdpleasers” because entertainment is what visitors want most.
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The recent deaths at the National Zoo in Washington may add tothe criticism. But zookeepers in America say they do a lot morethese days than simply put animals on show. Many visitors are likelyto agree, especially those old enough to remember what zoos used tobe like.
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VOICE ONE: This program was written by Jerilyn Watson. It wasproduced by Cynthia Kirk. I’m Phoebe Zimmermann.
VOICE TWO:
And I’m Steve Ember. Join us again next week for another reportabout life in the United States on our VOA Special English program,THIS IS AMERICA.