Opinion: Lions simply don't belong in zoos

This horrific attack, which occurred when the keeper was cleaning the lions' enclosure, was entirely preventable. All too often we see - yet still fail to learn - that caging wild animals brings tragedy to both them and us.

Attacks on humans, which occur with staggering regularity, show the stress, anxiety and agitation that animals held captive in zoos, circuses and marine parks experience every day of their lives. And who can blame them for lashing out? Can you imagine having every aspect of your life controlled? Not being able to choose who to love or spend your time with, having your family torn apart, not being able to choose what to eat, when to sleep, where to go, or anything else? It would surely drive any one of us insane.

So it should come as no surprise that in 2014 Shoalhaven zookeeper Trent Burton sustained serious injuries to both his hands from a crocodile attack. And that in 2008 Arna the elephant killed circus trainer Ray Williams by crushing him in her enclosure in Yamba. Or that in 2001 lion trainer Geoffrey Lennon was mauled by three lions during a performance in Penrith.

Even when animals have been born and bred in zoos, as was the case with Ariel and Juda, the lions who attacked the zookeeper at Shoalhaven, they retain their natural instincts. In nature, lions are social animals who live in large prides and have a territory as large as 260 square kilometres. But when they're behind bars, they're reduced to living exhibits to be gawked at. Oxford University researchers concluded that animals who are wide-ranging by nature experience tremendous physical and psychological anguish in captivity and should be phased out of zoos altogether.

Even the "best" zoos can't, and don't, guarantee the care and safety of the animals they keep for profit, members of the public who come to view them, or the zookeepers. Who can forget Harambe, the gorilla who was gunned down after a young boy managed to crawl through a fence before falling into his enclosure at the Cincinnati Zoo?

These animals are not where they belong. Nevertheless, zoos continue to breed them under the guise of "conservation" in order to produce crowd-pleasing babies. And most zoos get rid of "surplus" animals - either by killing them or selling or trading them to other zoos or exotic animal dealers.

Then there's the fact that the vast majority of species kept in zoos are not endangered. And while there's a commonly held misconception that zoos reintroduce endangered animals into their native habitats, in reality most zoos have no involvement of any kind with reintroduction programs.

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All the cages in the world won't save animals from extinction, and breeding more animals for life in captivity won't do anything to help bolster the species' population in nature.

Instead, we must address and remedy the fundamental causes of species endangerment: habitat destruction, poaching and the exotic animal trade.

As for the lions who attacked the zookeeper at Shoalhaven, the zoo's owner thankfully says they won't be euthanised after an investigation. But what was there to investigate? These lions simply acted like lions. The solution is to stop breeding more animals and to retire the ones already in captivity to accredited sanctuaries where they can have some semblance of a normal life.

We've all recently had a tiny taste of confinement due to the COVID-19 lockdown, although most of us have still had our families, television, books and other creature comforts to keep us entertained. And while we're grateful to be getting some of our freedom back now, animals held captive in zoos, circuses and marine parks will spend the rest of their lives behind bars despite never having committed any crime.

As long as we continue to treat wild animals as living exhibits, it will only be a matter of time before we're talking about the next attack. For their sake and ours, we must close down the cruel and archaic institutions that hold them captive.