I learnt a new word the other day. Zoochosis. It’s a condition that drives animals to madness, so mad that they can eat themselves to death.
They chew off their own limbs and other body parts and eat them. And then, they slowly die. Autocannibalism is a horrible way to go.
As the name suggests, zoochosis is a condition that affects animals trapped in small enclosures and cages in zoos.
Life in captivity is hell for animals. In fact, the animal rights group Peta says it’s no life at all. Humans decide what the animals eat, when they sleep, where they rest, and even choose the animals’ sexual mate. Females get pregnant without sex as artificial insemination is common.
Enclosures may be made to look like home, but they will never be home. No zoo can be large enough for that.
The animals never asked to be put into zoos, they have no need for them. They belong in the vast wild.
True, there are instances when good-hearted humans rescue injured animals, and those made orphans by poachers, to be rehabilitated. Some of these animals also end up in zoos, unable to fend for themselves in the wild.
The onus therefore is on us, as humans who put them there, to ensure that they get to stay in what at least seems like home, and that they remain well-fed with their natural diet.
After all, we also make money off them, by selling tickets to those who come to gawk and those who come to learn about animals they may otherwise never get to see in their lifetime.
So, when energy and natural resources minister Shamsul Anuar Nasarah said that zoo operators should not look to the government for funds, it caused hackles to rise.
He said the government had already allocated RM1.3 million in June to help Zoo Negara.
The problem is: the zoo, which houses some 5,000 animals, needs RM1 million a month to keep going, especially at a time when there are no visitors and no income. The government’s RM1.3 million would hardly raise a meow.
There should be much more money made available for the animals in captivity.
After all, our politicians are willing to spend some RM80-odd million to fund a propaganda unit and RM200 million to improve tourist spots – at a time when there are no tourists!
There is no way the zoo can raise that kind of money in these Covid-19 times. It did make RM1 million in July and RM1.3 million in August, but the takings fell to RM850,000 in September and to just RM150,000 in October.
Their cry for help roars in our ears. We are duty-bound to help those animals that can’t even go back to the wild – they would be no match for the real wild beasts.
It’s a pity, of course.
If only we could free the animals and empty the enclosures. In their place, we could instead put some really amazing humans on exhibit.
You know, like the one who said we should give some people money to stop them from becoming robbers. Or the guy who could not see a dark-skinned woman in dim light, and the one who proudly proclaimed that incidents of bullying in schools had dropped – when school had been out since March.
And, oh yes, the one who said all debts should be written off, and that we should print more money to save the economy.
There must be a lot of people who would pay good money to gawk at these specimens.
The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.