On March 23, 2023, at around 2:40 p.m., a male zebra born in 2021, named Sero, broke the wooden deck installed around the cage at the zoo of Children’s Grand Park of Seoul, and escaped. After wandering around the roads and residential areas for about 20 minutes, he was surrounded in an alleyway in Guui-dong, Gwangjin-Gu, which is about 1 km from the zoo. The police, fire department, and park keepers surrounded Sero, installed a safety fence, and administered a gun-type anesthetic seven times to quell the situation. Citizens who witnessed it directly on the street said they were surprised and afraid, and this case became a hot topic. According to Children’s Grand Park, Sero’s home will be changed from a wooden fence to a steel one, and he will live with a female zebra for at least one year to prevent feeling lonely.
After the escape of Sero, his keeper’s comments caused controversy on the Internet. “Sero is completely pissed. He makes it clear even to the point of refusing snacks, and he’s waiting sullenly for the door to open.” One netizen commented: “I think Sero escaped because he was frustrated staying at the zoo, but I don’t think it is right to say he was ‘pissed’ about it.” With such opinions gaining traction, the idea of zoo abolition obtained mainstream attention for the first time since the Daejeon O-world incident in 2018.
The opinion that zoos should be abolished is as follows. First, zoos are facilities that ‘exhibit’ animals. In this case, it is notable that the zoo is a facility for exhibition. According to an article in Yonhap News on March 31, 2023, after Sero escaped, the Children’s Grand Park Zoo was crowded with people trying to see the zebra. Due to the fence replacement work, the herbivore village viewing route was blocked and even a barricade was installed. Citizens said that they stretched their necks from the opposite deck, and called out his name to see Sero from a distance. Second, there is a lack of facility management. Many people are raising questions about the management of the zoo’s kennels. In March 2017, two Bengal tigers living at the Jeonju Zoo died of kidney failure and anemia, living less than two-thirds of its average life span. Such short-lived animals in zoos are common both domestically and internationally. Third, zoos can be replaced with VR (Virtual Reality) and AR (Augmented Reality). In 2020, SK Telecom built and operated an AR zoo of 7,272 in the area of Seo-myeon Animation Museum in Chuncheon from January 4, and has been operating a zoo in VR at the CES (Consumer Electronics Show) 2021.
The objection is as follows. First, zoos provide shelter for animals. If you go to the zoo, you can see that various efforts are being made to enrich animals’ behavior. For giraffes with long necks, fresh grass is attached to high places every day, and various fruits such as figs, pumpkins, and kiwis are provided to bears. Second, it can protect endangered species. European bison, Przewalski’s horse, etc. were endangered animals that have been managed to thanks to the protection of the zoo. Although the Chinese deer, Père David's deer, were extinct in China, they were preserved and bred in the Duchy of Bedford in England, and then sent to zoos around the world, raising about 1,000. Third, zoos provide educational value. The main customers of zoos are children. For children, it is an opportunity to see animals that they have only seen in books, so they can increase their creativity and thinking skills. Moreover, children can also learn zoo etiquette and raise civic awareness.
- Survey
ST surveyed 22 domestic university students to find out the citizens’ awareness of zoos. According to the survey results, many people think that zoos and aquariums are bad for animals. However, those who say that a zoo should be abolished can say that it is true that zoos have a bad effect on animals, but it is difficult to implement abolition. Moreover, while many of those respondents thought that the educational value of the zoo was great, most of them expressed the opinion that it was not an acceptable reason for the existence of the zoo.
- Implication
After Sero’ escape, an online survey was conducted on 5,036 people for four days on the polling platform, Searchtong. About 40 percent of them said that a zoo should be abolished, and about 60 percent said that a zoo should exist. Since public sentiment is against abolition, those who support total abolition may be in for a long road. However, ST hopes that if the number of people in favor of abolition increases and awareness of zoos is improved, while complete abolition is difficult, the number of suffering animals will be reduced by improving the environment of zoos.
Kim Tae-eun (Planning Editor)
rhfelddl1@soongsil.ac.kr
