Open AccessCOVID-19 AND THE FUTURE OF ZOOS
Author(s) -
Angie Pepper,
Kristin Voigt
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
les ateliers de l'éthique
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 1718-9977
DOI - 10.7202/1083646ar
Subject(s) - precarity , subsidy , injustice , bankruptcy , covid-19 , closure (psychology) , institution , state (computer science) , political science , order (exchange) , business , law , finance , biology , virology , medicine , disease , pathology , algorithm , outbreak , computer science , infectious disease (medical specialty)
The COVID-19 crisis has left zoos especially vulnerable to bankruptcy, and the precarity of their financial situation threatens the lives and well-being of the animals who live in them. In this paper, we argue that while we and our governments have a responsibility to ensure the protection of animals in struggling zoos, it is morally impermissible to make private donations or state subsidies to zoos because such actions serve to perpetuate an unjust institution. In order to protect zoo animals without perpetrating further injustice, governments should subsidize the transformation of zoos into sanctuaries and then facilitate the gradual closure of most of these sanctuaries.