What happens to animals who die at the zoo? (2024)

FAQs

What happens to animals who die at the zoo? ›

After an animal dies, a necropsy is done to determine a specific cause of death to list beyond simply euthanasia, and the results are added to the animal's permanent file. Once this testing is completed, the remains of the animal are cremated.

He tells us when zoo animals die, some are cremated and others are buried, but all are treated with sensitivity and discretion. “Because of the nature of our animals, they are endangered species, often times having value on the black market, or poachers want parts of these animals,” explains Dr. McKinney.

Officials from the zoo say they bury the remains but don't disclose the locations publicly, as some of the animals are endangered and highly trafficked. The zoo doesn't hold memorial services for the animals that die, but Junge says that doesn't mean they aren't mourned. “I knew this calf well before she was even born.

AFTER THE ZOO

Other “surplus” animals are sometimes sold to roadside zoos (which are typically very poorly run), private individuals, animal dealers, or to laboratories for experimentation purposes.

Zoo staffers identify the cause of death (if it isn't already known) and preserve tissue samples that might be important for research or education. (The zoo maintains an archive of formalin-soaked specimens from every animal that's died there since the 1970s; the Bronx Zoo has tissue samples dating back to 1920.)

After an animal dies, a necropsy is done to determine a specific cause of death to list beyond simply euthanasia, and the results are added to the animal's permanent file. Once this testing is completed, the remains of the animal are cremated.

State and local rules and the animal's cause of death must be considered. Disposal options will vary depending on the type of animal, the number of animals that have died, the local environment, and the type of disease. Burial, burning, composting, landfill or rendering are all options for disposal.

Zoos often incinerate the bodies of dead animals, even very large ones, because they don't have space to bury them, and there may be concerns about parasites, disease, or drug residue in the body such that it would be a bad idea to let other animals eat it.

“I'm confident that when the allegations are heard in the court of law, the jury will agree that these former executives of the Columbus Zoo extorted, conspired, bribed and stole over $2 million in public funds for their own benefits,” Yost said. “In simple terms, the bank hired the robbers to work security.”

The zoo lost accreditation following leadership issues and questions around the way it transferred animals for entertainment purposes.

Are animals still captured for zoos? ›

Thus, zoos are not in the practice of actively capturing animals in the wild from their natural habitats. Exceptions to this involve the optimization of breeding programs which seek to preserve or increase numbers of threatened or endangered species.

The animals in zoos are largely owned by two entities: the zoo they are in, or another facility that loaned the animal out. The animals can't leave, as they are the property and charges of various zoos and facilities. They also would likely not survive in the wild, as they are accustomed to human care.

Reintroduction programs, by which animals raised or rehabilitated in AZA-accredited zoos or aquariums are released into their natural habitats, are powerful tools used for stabilizing, reestablishing, or increasing in-situ animal populations that have suffered significant declines.

What do zoos do when a large animal dies? They perform a necropsy – which can take all day for an animal as large as an elephant. They offer grief counseling for the staff. The remains are removed from the compound and cremated.

The animal would first be sedated. Then the euthanasia drugs would be injected via catheters in veins in the elephant's ears or legs.

Zoos have guidelines that require them to have regular habitats and modified enclosures for animals. This means that some animals will need to be moved indoors or their enclosures will have to be adjusted with heating aids in order to create healthy animal living conditions.

Captive-bred animals generally lack the survival skills necessary to be released into the wild and often have developed such severe zoochosis—psychological trauma brought on by captivity—that they would not survive.

Feeding by scavengers redistributes some of the dead animal's energy. The scavengers will return some nitrogen and other nutrients to the ecosystem through their bodily functions (as the dead animal did during life), while incorporating the rest into their own bodies until their own death.

The answer can be summed up like this: The zoo tosses the poo into dumpsters to be hauled away and turned into fertilizer for your garden, lawn or compost. This also includes waste from carnivores, although at much lower volume than from the zoo's grain-eating mammals.

In fact, psychological distress in animals kept in zoos is so common that it has its own name: Zoochosis. Zoochosis can include rocking, swaying, excessively pacing back and forth, circling, twisting of the neck, self-mutilation, excessive grooming, biting, vomiting and coprophagia (consuming excrement).