There's one unusual feature of the zoo economy that makes zoos different from other businesses. Zoos don't buy or sell animals, they only trade. It may seem odd to run a business – even a non-profit – with a collection that you can't buy or sell.
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Zoos follow a fundamental principle: You can't sell or buy the animals. It's unethical and illegal to put a price tag on an elephant's head.
The focus of environmental efforts takes the form of research, captive breeding of rare animals, and conservation. Researchers at zoos can study animals up-close. They can observe behavior such as mating and nutrition choices. Biologists and veterinarians are also available to treat sick or injured animals.
The unwanted adult animals are sometimes sold to “game” farms where hunters pay to kill them; some are killed for their meat and/or hides. Other “surplus” animals may be sold to smaller, more poorly run zoos or, worse, to laboratories for experiments.
The Chinese government owns nearly all the giant pandas on earth. And American zoos will shell out up to $1 million a year to rent just one. Most sign 10-year panda diplomacy contracts, and if any baby cubs are born, they pay an additional one-time $400,000 baby tax.
Animals at these unsafe, non accredited zoos are often at risk for overbreeding, which can lead to overcrowded zoo spaces, with animals being sold to other zoos and circuses without as much thought to each animal's best interests.
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.
There are also commercial poachers who are involved in the illegal wildlife trade and capture rare or highly prized wildlife and sell the live fish or animals to interested buyers to keep as exotic pets or are sold to private zoos.
How much money do zoos spend on animals every year? Depending on the size of the facility and the number of animals in their care, AZA-accredited zoos and aquariums can spend between $500,000 and $20 million (or more) on animals every year. At AZA-accredited zoos and aquariums, funds aren't just spent on animal care.
Considering the questionable management practices and the poor or absent conservation and educational benefits, even in zoos considered to provide the best conditions, confining a wild animal to a lifetime of captivity in a zoo is, in our view, clearly unethical.
Accredited zoos in America have handed surplus animals over to circuses, unregulated roadside zoos, private breeders, exotic animal dealers, private pet owners, taxidermists, laboratories for scientific research, and hunting ranches.
Zoo keepers do not pet the animals they care for. They might pet baby animals that are being hand raised but only because it's necessary. Especially tigers. They are not allowed to go into an enclosure with most of their animals, either to avoid stressing the animal, or because the animal can be dangerous.
American zoos do not actually own the pandas that we enjoy going to visit. China rents pandas out to the tune of $1 million a year. Zoos typically sign a 10-year contract, which means that at the end of that contract, a zoo will have spent $10 million renting one panda. And any cubs that are born while at the zoo?
With diplomatic tensions running high between Beijing and a number of Western governments, China appears to be gradually pulling back its pandas from multiple Western zoos as their agreements expire.
Panda diplomacy is the practice of sending giant pandas from China to other countries as a tool of diplomacy. From 1941 to 1984, China gave a gift of pandas to other countries. After a change in policy in 1984, pandas were leased instead of given as a gift.