Costa Rica is the first country in the world to take such a drastic measure! After years of captivity, hundreds of animals have left the zoo to be transferred to shelters.
The one who likes to describe himself as an “environmental champion”, has just taken a new step. In 2013, Costa Rica adopted a law on the protection of fauna and flora. Eleven years later, it became the first country in the world to close its public zoos, namely the Simon Bolivar Zoo in San José and the Santa Ana Conservation Center.
Ten years of legal battle
Jaguars, crocodiles, sloths, turtles, spider monkeys… Nearly 300 animals have been released but will not return to the jungle in complete freedom. “Some have lived in captivity for more than thirty years” and “all will be transferred to the ‘Vie sauvage Tropicale’ refuge, to examine them and determine their best final destination,” explains the CRHoy website, reported in Courrier International.
The two animal parks should have been closed in 2014, after the law was approved in 2013, but the FundaZoo Foundation which managed the zoos appealed the decision, delaying the closure for a decade. We finally had to wait for the thirty-year concession contract to expire on May 10, which the government refused to renew. The two establishments will be converted into a park or public garden.
18 private zoos remain open
“We are becoming a country without public zoos, with a vision oriented towards sanctuaries and rescue centers,” said Environment Minister Franz Tattenbach. This transfer is also good news for taxpayers. These establishments cost Costa Ricans 1 billion colones (around 2 million euros) each year. However, the country still has at least 18 private zoos, which are not affected by the law.
An example to follow for other countries? For its part, France adopted, in 2021, a law aimed at putting an end to dolphinaria and the keeping of wild animals in circuses in order to combat animal abuse.
