8th April 2023

Join us in demanding transparency from the zoo and aquarium industry that holds thousands of animals captive across the UK.

Take part in our action today and demand No More Zoo Secrets!

Zoos and Aquariums are big business in Britain. There are currently more than 300 licensed zoos across the country, each of which holds a variety of animals captive in enclosures that frequently do not provide enough space, enrichment, or sufficiently natural environments. The licences that allow these businesses to continue, and to profit from the incarceration and display of wild animals, are granted by your government.

Under the Zoo Licensing Act 1981 an individual or business may apply for a licence to display wild animals by submitting an application detailing “the kinds of animals [to be kept in the zoo] listed in taxonomic category of Order and approximate number of each group” [Zoo Licensing Act 1981; Licensing; 2 (1)]. An ‘approximate number’ is simply insufficient. How are the public, whose money has been used to prop these businesses up during the pandemic, to know what is really going on behind zoo and aquarium walls if they can’t even publicly quantify their animals? 

All zoos and aquariums should be required upon application, and annually thereafter, to know and report the exact number of animals within each species that they hold on site in order to be transparent about the activities of the zoo, and to be held accountable for the animals’ well-being. 

Zoo Licensing is supposed to offer protection from neglect and abuse for the animals held captive within zoos and aquariums, as well as encouraging conservation efforts for species whose wild populations are threatened. However, the example of South Lakes Safari Zoo, dubbed ‘Britain’s Worst Zoo’ after the deaths of nearly 500 animals and one keeper, shows that this is not the case. South Lakes Safari Zoo maintains its zoo licence today, despite persistent evidence of continued failures. The licensing system is broken and animals are subjected to years of suffering in facilities that should have been closed when their incompetence first came to light, or better still, never have been granted a licence in the first place.

Take part in our action today and demand No More Zoo Secrets!

The current licensing framework does not demand enough from the businesses and individuals operating zoos in the UK. We are asking that the Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) implement a new licensing regime in which anyone applying for a new zoo licence, and those who already hold one, agree to annually report:

• The exact number of animals they currently hold, listed by age, sex, and species (including conservation status as listed by the IUCN), per enclosure.
• The exact number of animals, listed by age, sex, and species (including conservation status), purchased, sold, swapped or traded by the zoo or aquarium within the previous year, including their provenance.
• Surgeries carried out in the previous year (including pinioning), listed by age, sex, and species (including conservation status).
• The exact number of animals, listed by age, sex, and species (including conservation status), who have died at the zoo or aquarium within the last year, with the cause of death (including reason for euthanasia or culling) for each case.
• The exact number of animals, listed by age, sex, and species (including conservation status), released into the wild by the zoo or aquarium within the last year.

This transparency will allow government bodies, non-governmental organisations, and the general public to ascertain the true scale and nature of wild animal captivity within the UK, the mortality rate for animals in captivity, and the claimed conservation value of zoos and aquariums in the UK. It will expose the failings of zoos and aquariums across the country, and allow businesses to be held accountable for those failings.

Where a zoo or aquarium is unable to provide these numbers, or where the numbers reported show any deaths due to unnatural causes (i.e. accident, injury, or killing for population control), this should trigger a suspension of the facility’s zoo licence and an immediate inspection of the zoo.