Section A
One of London Zoo’s recent advertisements caused me some
irritation, so patently did it distort reality. Headlined "Without zoos you
might as well tell these animals to get stuffed", it was bordered with
illustrations of several endangered species and went on to extol the myth that
without zoos like London Zoo these animals "will almost certainly disappear
forever". With the zoo world’s rather mediocre record on conservation, one might
be forgiven for being slightly skeptical about such an advertisement.
Zoos were originally created as places of entertainment, and their
suggested involvement with conservation didn’t seriously arise until about 30
years ago, when the Zoological Society of London held the first formal
international meeting or3 the subject. Eight years later, a series of world
conferences took place, entitled "The Breeding of the Endangered Species", and
from this point onwards conservation became the zoo community’s buzzword. This
commitment has now been clearly defined in The World Zoo Conservation Strategy
(WZCS, 1993), which does seem to be based on an unrealistic optimism about the
nature of the zoo industry. The WZCS estimates that there are
about 10,000 zoos in the world, of which around 1,000 represent a core of
quality collections capable of participating in coordinated conservation
programs. This is probably the document’s first failing, as I believe that
10,000 is a serious underestimate of the total number of places masquerading as
zoological establishments. The second flaw in the reasoning of
the WZCS document is the naive faith it place in its 1,000 core zoos. One would
assume that the caliber of these institutions would have been carefully
examined, but it appears that the criterion for inclusion on this select list
might merely be that the zoo is a member of a zoo federation or association.
This might be a good starting point, working on the premise that members must
meet certain standards, but again the facts don’t support the theory.
Even assuming that the 1,000 core zoos of the WZCS are all of a high
standard, what might be the potential for conservation Colin ’Fudge, author of
Last Animals at the Zoo argues that if the world’s zoos worked together in
cooperative breeding programs they could save around 2,000 species of endangered
land vertebrates. This seems an extremely optimistic proposition from a man who
must be aware of the failings and weaknesses of the zoo industry. Moreover,
where are the facts to support such optimism Today
approximately 16 species might be said to have been "saved" by captive breeding
programs, although a number of these can hardly be looked upon as resounding
successes. Beyond that, about a further 20 species are being seriously
considered for zoo conservation programs. Given that the international
conference at London Zoo was held 30 years ago, this is pretty slow progress,
and a long way off Tudge’s target of 2,000. In accordance with WZCS, what kind of zoos can participate in the international coordinated conservation programs
【参考答案】
Any zoo that is a member of a zoo federation or association.