Why KASBAH Exists

Animals In Captivity

Two entirely opposing views, both held by equally intelligent, compassionate people. Is either view the truth? Or neither? How do we determine the truth?

Firstly, we have to define what a "happy" animal is. One of the pitfalls in doing this is that we ascribe to animals all the feelings that a human would have in their position - or none of them! Both extremes are unrealistic.

Today, on the whole, public and media opinion tends towards the belief that "The Wild" is a kind of animal paradise, and that all captive animals yearn to be "set free". Is there any truth in this, or is it a philosophical world view, a matter of spiritual belief rather than objective fact? Is it in fact entirely anthropocentric, "returning" animals to the wild to make ourselves feel virtuous and able to look down on those who "force" animals to "remain" in captivity?

Generally, world-wide (with honourable exceptions), animal keepers display the opposite extreme of opinion. Animals are things, to be used for whatever purpose people wish, devoid of feelings, and with only the most basic needs. This too is entirely anthropocentric.

We also have to take into account the fact that although people have been trying to "save" the rainforests, tigers and so on for at least the last 30 years, rainforests (and tigers) are being destroyed in "The Wild" at a tremendous rate. There are occasional successes, but these often turn out to be temporary in the face of either the understandable need of local people to survive, or the profits to be gained by big business. Ironically, the rise of vegetarianism in the West by ecologically minded people is itself contributing to the demise of wildlife. Areas are logged to create Soya plantations, which are then sprayed to increase yields with the resultant runoff and pollution of watercourses.

My personal view is that animals are not humans - they do not share our attitudes and aspirations, they are not people in furry suits, and believing otherwise can actually lead to unintentional cruelty from the best of motives. Neither are animals automata, following mechanical programming. Animals are animals, with their own objectives and desires, and each animal is an individual, with its own idiosyncrasies, memories, tastes etc.

Over the years, talking to pet-owners, vets, farmers, conservationists, keepers and other people who interact daily with animals, it seems to be that many of them share this belief, though in some quarters it is not usual to express it like this. But it is all still opinion, even though it is backed up by experience. I lacked the facts to support or demolish my view.

I also believe that if we abandon keeping animals in captivity, a great many species will simply disappear, whereas if we have a healthy population in enlightened captivity, at least we have the option of returning them if circumstances allow. Examples of this are the Arabian Oryx and the Przewalski's Wild Horse.
IUCN View
Extinction, as someone once said, is forever.

Why I Wanted to Do Something About It

I needed to move the discussion from the realms of sentiment into reality.

The Birth of KASBAH

Since I work in IT, in a research laboratory (high energy physics, lasers, computing, space science and so on - we do not have laboratory animals), it came to me that a computer application could be built that merged information about the animal in the wild with animal behavioural data, along with factors that can be manipulated in captivity to create a tool that would show how to make otters happy.

KASBAH as a Research Project

However, I knew I would not be interested enough to do pure IT research. After talking to people who have PhDs and/or supervise research students, I decided to approach, as a potential supervisor, Professor Webster, at the Division of Animal Health and Husbandry, Department of Clinical Veterinary Science, University of Bristol. Professor Webster is well known for work in animal welfare and ethics, and is the author of " Animal Welfare: A Cool Eye towards Eden", so he was an ideal person to understand what KASBAH was intended to do. He was interested, and suggested Dr Mike Mendl as a co-supervisor; Dr Mendl is also interested in animal behaviour with a view to improving animal welfare.

Why KASBAH?

Do I Really Like Otters?

Well, when I see an otter, my first instinct is "Wh'os a woozy foozy otterbaby den?"

So yes, I love otters in the soppiest, most sentimental way possible. Very few people possess my cuteness tolerance, and otters are just so very cute. I have otter soft toys, postcards, posters, ornaments, I video otter programs, I play with Belinda and Bertie Otter, wiggling their little paws and letting them crawl about on me and chew my clothes.

But I can, on occasion, rise above this and look at them as small predators, going about their lawful occasions, and this is what I find so very fascinating. Otters, no matter how tame, are always wild, far more so than dogs or cats. You always interact with them on their terms - there is no compromise.

Seeing an otter that (I think) is unhappy is - dreadful.