Still think it’s a zoo?
Haunting images of animal captivity
JO-ANNE McArthur, a Canadian photographer and animal rights activist, does not deny that her new book could be called “onesided”. That is sort of the point. The images in were taken at zoos across five continents, but they don’t include depictions of handlers bottle-feeding baby hippos, giving pandas ultrasounds or cleaning cages. They’re taken from the perspective of the public and, McArthur said, aim to show the animals as “individuals” as opposed to representatives of their species. The photos are unusual, featuring solitary animals juxtaposed against gawking crowds, suburbia and the barriers that keep them enclosed.
The book is anti-zoo, but McArthur said she hopes it will count as a contribution to an escalating public conversation about animals in captivity – one that has been highlighted by uproar over Sea World orcas and the killing of Harambe the gorilla.
What follows is a Q and A with McArthur, accompanied by a selection of photos from the book. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
What was your experience with zoos before this project?
I have an early childhood memory of a zoo in Hawaii. An orang utan was defecating in its hand, smearing it on a tree and eating it. All the tourists were laughing and screaming about it and taking photos. People often refer to the “love” I have for animals. That’s correct, but only partly so. I’ve also always had a concern for animals. I’ve often felt sad for them. Seeing them on display seemed so awkward to me. Staring, being stared at. I know I’m not alone in this sentiment.
It’s clear you’re not a fan of zoos now. Was there a turning point?
I don’t remember a turning point. I just remember always being on the side of the animals when it came to seeing them. I remember always feeling that it wasn’t fair to the individuals that they were kept in zoos, that there were dogs locked up in backyards, birds kept in cages.
Did you go behind the scenes at the zoos you photographed or stay on the visitors’ side?
I’ve been behind the scenes, and I have a lot of zoo friends, and over the years I have heard their private complaints and worries. In the early 2000s, a fashion photographer knew I loved animals, and so invited me to do a three-day shoot with him. The zoo was making money renting out the animals.
The animal that afternoon was a bald eagle. Behind the scenes were rows and rows of large, caged birds. The eagle was tethered by the ankle and made to sit under the hot lights of the shoot on a white backdrop, perched on a cow skull, next to a leather boot, which was the item being advertised.
The bird was panting and kept trying to fly away. The bird would fly the length of the tether and then get yanked back and upside down, hanging by the tether, then righted by the handler, then put back on the cow skull. My zoo friends quietly express their woes to me about things the visitors don’t know or see, like new animal introductions that go wrong and end in death.
How do you think that affected the portrayal of zoos in your book?
The book will get some criticism for being one-sided. But it’s important to remember that zoos are one-sided, and we need to see more of the darker corners so that we can continue to discuss the problems with captivity. The images in
will help to further enliven the discussion about the individuals caught in these systems. The zoo conversation often loops back to conservation efforts and species preservation, at the expense of the individuals.
From the outside, we see zoo marketing. From the inside, as visitors, the zoo also shapes how we see, and fail to see, the animals. I want us to remember that we might pass through a zoo in two or three hours and return home. Zoo animals, however, remain there long after we’ve gone. I try to show what that might be like for them.
You’re dismissive of zoos’ wildlife conservation efforts. Why? Isn’t there a range of commitment to these programmes?
I’m trying to get the conversation away from the conservation crutch. Zoos have done a great job marketing conservation efforts, when most of their money is spent on other projects.
Captive animals are bored, lonely, separated from their families and friends. But, conservation?. Marius the giraffe, killed and publicly dissected by a Danish zoo, was “culled” because he was genetic surplus. But, conservation?.
Yes, please tell me about all the successful conservation. Tell me about elephant conservation. Zoos use the conservation angle to this day to justify the catching of wild animals, including African elephants as recently as 2016, and bringing them to American zoos. – Washington Post