The Truth About “Top” Zoos: Dr. Liz Tyson of Born Free USA on Animal Captivity, Happy the Elephant, and Why No Zoo Is Good for Animals

This week, Jasmin and Mariann welcome back Dr. Liz Tyson, Director of Animal Welfare and Advocacy at Born Free USA, for a wide-ranging and eye-opening conversation about the reality of animal captivity in zoos — including the “best” ones. Using the recent death of Happy the Elephant at the Bronx Zoo as a launching point, they dig into Born Free’s ongoing investigation of AZA-accredited zoos, the debunked myths of zoo conservation and education, the pipeline that moves animals from “top” zoos to roadside facilities, and why community-led conservation is the only path forward for truly protecting wildlife.

• Happy the Elephant & Nonhuman Rights: Dr. Tyson breaks down Happy’s nearly 50 years of captivity at the Bronx Zoo, her landmark self-recognition mirror test, and the Nonhuman Rights Project’s groundbreaking — though unsuccessful — legal effort to grant her personhood and freedom.
• Born Free’s Zoo Investigation: Born Free USA has already released reports on the Bronx Zoo, Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, and Audubon Zoo as part of a two-year investigation of 10 top AZA-accredited zoos, finding that so-called “elite” zoos fail animals in the same fundamental ways as roadside zoos.
• The Conservation and Education Myths: Dr. Tyson dismantles zoos’ core justifications — insurance populations, species preservation, and educational value — with data showing the vast majority of zoo animals are not threatened in the wild, and that visitors spend an average of 69 seconds at enclosures.
• Deceptive Zoo Architecture: From moats disguised as open savannahs to trees wired off from the animals they appear to offer, Dr. Tyson explains how modern zoo design is engineered to make visitors feel good while masking the reality of confinement.

• Sanctuaries vs. Zoos & the Path Forward: Dr. Tyson contrasts true sanctuary care — including Born Free’s own 208-resident primate sanctuary in Texas — with zoo operations, and argues that community-based, locally led conservation is the only approach that can actually protect wildlife in the wild.

ABOUT OUR GUEST

Dr. Liz Tyson is Director of Animal Welfare and Advocacy at Born Free USA, where she leads both the organization’s advocacy work and its primate sanctuary in Texas — home to 208 rescued monkeys. Over the course of her career, she has helped animals across the globe: establishing the first locally run sterilization program for street dogs in the Middle East, partnering with indigenous communities in the Colombian Amazon to end the hunting of wild primates, running a UK charity dedicated to ending animal exploitation in circuses and zoos, and helping design a rehabilitation complex for rescued monkeys at Ensessa Kotteh, Born Free’s sanctuary in Ethiopia. In 2018, she earned her doctorate in animal welfare law, and in 2020 published Licensing Laws and Animal Welfare: The Legal Protection of Wild Animals with Palgrave Macmillan/Springer Nature — to date the most comprehensive study of the legal protection of wild animals in English zoos.

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Join hostesses Jasmin Singer and Mariann Sullivan on this unique and fun award-winning podcast that focuses on changing the world for animals.

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