For the first time in a century and a half, London Zoo has no elephants. The three Asian elephants that used to live there left last month, one at a time in a specially designed truck with a police escort. They are now in new, roomier digs at Whipsnade wild-animal park in the Bedfordshire countryside, and the zoo has no plans to replace them. After a keeper was crushed to death last October by Dilberta, a 3.8-tonnc female elephant, zoo officials decided that central London is no place for such huge animals. The decision is sure to disappoint zoo-goers, for whom a zoo without elephants is...well, not much of a zoo at all. But it's symptomatic of a much deeper struggle. Modern zoos are having to abandon their historical baggage and do more to justify their existence―a rethink that goes to the heart of what zoos are for. Animal rights groups have argued for years that zoos are cruel, antiquated institutions that imprison animals for no good purpose. Governments are starting to agree, insisting that zoos do more to justify their existence. In their defence, zoos point to three important roles they can play in the modern world: conservation, research and education. But when you look closely, most fall far short of the mark on all three counts. A few of the best zoos, however, are leading the way to a newer, more substantial mission. The rest must follow their lead or risk being consigned to history.
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