The press release, sent this Saturday April 30 in the editorial offices of the region, is titled as follows: “Zoo d’Amnéville: scandalous, Paz (Paris animals zoopolis) reveals images of a polar bear and a lynx who have troubles important to behavior. An inciting title, followed by a video link which actually shows… not much. The first video, 17 seconds, shows a polar bear going back and forth on a beach bordering a waterfall, accompanied by this audio commentary from the filmmaker, annoyed: “It’s horrible, seriously! “. On the second, 18 seconds, we see a lynx skirting the window of its enclosure and suddenly turning around before disappearing, then returning ten seconds later.
Difficult to detect the slightest abuse or animal suffering in these 35 seconds of images. And even less to see any revelation in these brief moments of the daily life of animals in captivity. We adhere or not to this animal life offered as a spectacle. The debate is not new. What is, is the offensive method of associations looking for a buzz, even if it means building it from scratch, to get a message across.
“A Deep Boredom”
Amandine Sanvisens does not appreciate the remark. The 2017 co-founder of Paz said she was shocked when she received these videos from a visitor to the zoo: “They are repeated movements, without apparent purpose. These are stereotypes that you only see in captivity. We may no longer pay attention to it. But they are the marker of deep boredom and great suffering. This shows that no enrichment is offered to the animal. These images show that there is an urgent need to protect captive animals exploited by zoos. »
This is an opportunity for the association, which challenges Emmanuel Macron on its social networks, to ask for the end of animal captivity, and therefore of zoos “because it is impossible to meet the basic needs of animals in such conditions. ” Attacks that surprise Albane Pillaire, the director of the zoo: “The video of the lynx shows nothing for me. As for that of the bear, I can provide you with plenty of others showing a completely different behavior. It is 17 seconds in the life of an animal that has just arrived at the zoo and it seems difficult to me to draw a lesson from it. This bear has been in contact with another individual of the same species since Tuesday. They benefit from a support program, work is underway to see what suits them best. We are in a period of adaptation. It is also analyzed by two master’s students in ethology. »