Petting zoos with their wildlife and exotic species, are becoming increasingly popular. In Part 1 of 2, we look at the impact of these facilities on the welfare of both wildlife and humans.
AS SOON as they entered the petting zoo, schoolchildren excitedly rushed towards the pygmy horse behind a wooden fence. Quickly, they grabbed carrot sticks from their plastic tub feeding kits. The next instant, they were waving more than a dozen carrots at the horse.
Each child was hoping the horse would pick the one in his hand. But that was just a starter for the children at Farm in the City, one of the largest petting zoos in Malaysia.
(Feature image: The boom in petting zoos has pros and cons, as they feature wildlife, including exotic creatures such as the Aldabra giant tortoise, endemic to Seychelles | Photo by Lee Kwai Han)
In the next section, they will get to feed critically endangered Elongated tortoises (Indotestudo elongata). In the same enclosure, they could huddle with one of the world’s largest land tortoises, the Aldabra giant tortoise (Geochelone gigantea). No fences in between.
Petting wild animals is trending. It is even being touted as a tourist attraction by the facilities. When once, only farm animals were featured, visitors can now feed and touch exotic animals like cockatoos, snakes, tortoises, raccoons and even endangered Malayan tapirs (Tapirus indicus).
But studies show that wild animals can be stressed when placed in captivity – zoos included. Animal welfare in captivity is a valid concern.
At one such facility in May last year, the Minister of Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability (NRES), said his ministry was regulating wildlife petting zoos strictly to ensure animal welfare. NRES’s Department of Wildlife and National Parks (PERHILITAN) oversees the licensing of wildlife trade and management in Peninsular Malaysia.
However, conservationists’ concerns go beyond animal welfare — they are also worried about public health and safety, and ultimately the impact of such facilities on the country’s wildlife conservation efforts.
What is a petting zoo?
But first, what is a petting zoo? Macaranga visited 4 petting zoos and zoos with programmes offering interaction with wildlife in the Klang Valley and made these observations.
In a petting zoo or the petting section of a park, visitors can walk freely into huge cages or aviaries, to feed, touch or hold animals. The facility may also have sections with animals like tortoises, peafowls and deer wandering around people.
Signboards about the animals are displayed for visitors to learn about their names, area of origin, diet, life span and interesting facts about them. Some cages have do-not-feed/touch signs.
For animals like Ring-tailed lemurs (Lemur catta), skunks, and raccoons, animal keepers would let visitors feed or hold them under their guidance.
Conservationists, however, are concerned about animal welfare in petting zoos.
The feeding of animals is the first point raised by Dr Carl Traeholt, Team Leader of the International Program of Copenhagen Zoo. “It requires a lot of management in the process to avoid them getting malnutrition, or not getting proper food…or getting too fat.”
But if fed with a balanced diet and in portions prepared by the zoo’s feeding kitchen, “it would be okay from a health perspective.”
However, Dr Sharmini Julita Paramasivam is cautious. “Physically the animal might be looking well, but emotionally or mentally, it’s probably not doing very well,” said the Associate Professor in Veterinary Behaviour and Animal Welfare at the University of Surrey.
Too many hands
Dealing with multiple unfamiliar hands, with different scents, touches, and temperatures every day causes animals to show stressful behaviours.
For example, with bears, “If you see them pacing, going left, right, left, right, left, right…that’s one indication that they’re not coping very well. It’s called stereotypical behaviour. It’s an abnormal, repetitive behaviour.”
Sharmini added that other animals would overgroom themselves, with birds plucking their feathers out. But stress signals in reptiles are less obvious.
Petting zoo owner Chiew Yih Sin said his animals are well cared for. He told Macaranga that a registered veterinarian conducts regular health checks on the animals in his Zoo in Mall premise in Selangor. One requirement for a PERHILITAN permit to run a petting zoo is a veterinary health check at least once every 6 months.
In Malaysia, zoos and permanent exhibitions of wildlife are regulated under the Wildlife Conservation Act 2010. Operators must comply with the specific standards, for example, minimum enclosure sizes. Mobile zoos and wildlife interaction programmes have their guidelines too.
However, these regulations and guidelines apply only to the species listed in the Wildlife Conservation Act. The list does not include many of the exotic animals commonly found in petting zoos: capybaras, raccoons, meerkats, budgerigars and cockatiels.
Not in the list
The Malaysian Association of Zoological Parks and Aquaria (MAZPA)’s chairperson, Dr Kevin Lazarus, is concerned about the animals that fall into this gray area. “They’re not domestic. They are wild, but they’re not in the Wildlife Act.” Their welfare should then be covered under the Animal Welfare Act, he said.
Lazarus said MAZPA is trying to engage the various government departments to look into this, “so that all animals’ welfare (is) taken care of.”
MAZPA is an alliance of 23 public and private zoos and aquaria in Malaysia that works on improving animal welfare, biodiversity conservation, and public awareness. Of the 4 zoos and petting zoos Macaranga visited for this story, Zoo Negara and Farm in the City are MAZPA members.
In Zoo Negara’s petting section, a racoon approached a boy who was holding food pellets given to him by a zookeeper. But the boy got scared and dropped the pellets. Nonetheless, he agreed to try feeding the animal again. This time, his father held his hand firmly and made sure he did it. (Lee Kwai Han)
Lazarus is also worried about the welfare of zoo visitors. The closer humans get to animals, the more likely diseases will pass between them. Such zoonotic diseases range from mosquito-borne dengue and chikungunya to air-borne tuberculosis and brucellosis.
At one petting zoo, visitor Kavineshwar G. Ravendran came away with mixed feelings.
“If you notice, there were certain animals that don’t want to interact with humans.” He told Macaranga that he tried to touch a Slow loris (Nycticebus coucang). But “the moment I almost touched it, (its) body shivered. So I knew it didn’t want to be touched or to be near [me].”
After speaking with Ravendran, Macaranga spotted the slow loris crouched in a hole in a cement tree in its enclosure. Below the hole, a sign depicting a cross on a hand reads, “Do not touch. Animal tend to bite” in capital letters. (See photo below)
Risk of bites
Ravendran’s anecdote alarmed animal behaviourist Sharmini. “Slow lorises are the only venomous primates in the world. They produce venom in their glands here, by the [inner] arm, and they will lick it and bite you.”
A slow loris bite can lead to severe allergic reactions with symptoms like lip numbness, hoarseness, nausea, vomiting and shortness of breath.
Nonetheless, slow lorises are promoted on social media as desirable pets. To prevent bites, traders usually remove the slow lorises’ teeth, causing them pain and eating difficulties.
Petting zoos do display signs at enclosures and common areas advising visitors how to behave, including not touching and feeding certain animals, such as the slow loris, birds and civets. (Lee Kwai Han)
A spokesperson for the petting zoo responded to Macaranga in writing that their slow lorises “are from captivity and are not wild slow loris, so generally they are not aggressive towards humans.” The primates only use their venom when threatened or mostly in the wild, they added.
“The venom is very mild to the regular human being if bitten unless, of course, the said human has an allergy towards its protein. Additionally, we have signage around to warn customers not to touch the animals, planter barriers and tree [at] height to prevent direct contact and also a staff to standby at the enclosure to ensure the animals are not mistreated,” they wrote.
They also explained that safety is of high priority in their petting zoo. “Animals, no matter domesticated or wild, always still have the ability to bite/scratch or hurt their keepers/owners, just like cats and dogs, therefore there is always a risk involved. We work hard to mitigate the risks by providing training, setting up SOPs (standard operating procedures), working in a buddy system etc.”
Safety first
When asked about human safety in wildlife interactions, another petting zoo, 99 Wonderland Park, replied in an email that the team oversees sanitation and cleanliness of all animals, and ensures the safety of employees, customers, and animals.
“Rest assured, all of our animals are thoroughly trained, vaccinated and in optimal health, as part of our commitment to their welfare,” said Dr Hasvene Kaur, resident veterinarian and head of the park’s zoology department.
[Edited by SL Wong]
This story was produced with a grant from the Youth Environment Living Labs (YELL) and administered by Justice for Wildlife Malaysia (JWM). The contents of this story do not necessarily reflect the views of YELL, JWM, and their collaborators.
Lee Kwai Han produced this story after attending workshops on covering wildlife crime led by Macaranga, including last year’s workshop on reporting on wildlife crime in court supported by Internews Earth Journalism Network.
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