Hand-picked deals by our pirate team
Inspire me!
Hand-picked deals by our pirate team
We value your privacy
We use cookies to enhance your browsing experience, serve personalised content, and analyse our traffic. By clicking "Accept All" you accept this and consent that we share this information with third parties and that your data may be processed in the USA. For more information, please read our .
You can adjust your preferences at any time. If you deny, we will use only the essential cookies and unfortunately, you will not receive any personalised content. To deny, .
Costa Rica becomes the first country to close all public zoos đź’š
Last May, Costa Rica confirmed the closure of the last two state zoos that operated in the country.
It makes sense that this decision comes from a country whose forests are home to 500 thousand unique animals, representing more than 4% of all known species on Earth.🦥
Costa Rica has become the first country in the world to close all it's public zoos. We'll tell you a little more below, pirate.
It is known that zoos are one of the places tourists usually visit when they travel to another country. But, this has not prevented the Government of Costa Rica from making the decision.
The Ministry of Environment and Energy (MINAE) announced that it would not renew the contract with Fundazoo, the foundation that until now was in charge of managing the State's wildlife centres. Following the decision, the SimĂłn BolĂvar Zoo and the Santa Ana Conservation Center have stopped operating.
The announcement comes almost a decade after a law was passed that prohibits keeping wild animals in captivity within government-subsidised facilities. The application of the regulations was delayed due to a series of legal protections and litigation filed by FundaZoo. But, finally, it has been carried out. Even so, the reform does not apply to the 18 private zoos that will still be able to operate in the country.
State authorities have therefore begun to transfer the 287 animals that lived in the now closed facilities. They have been transported to a rescue centre, Vida Silvestre, where their physical and psychological health will be assessed to determine the next steps.
Animals that are able to be, will be reintroduced into their natural habitat. But there will be many others who will not be able to and who, therefore, will live in cage-free sanctuaries.
Would you like more countries to implement these measures?
Activists, legislators and various organisations in countries such as Mexico, Spain and the United States have put forward proposals to close state zoos. So far, none of the initiatives in these cases have been successful. We'll see what happens in the future, pirate.