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Inside Man

Morgan See, Morgan Do

Aired February 05, 2015 - 21:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


MORGAN SPURLOCK: They are beautiful. They're such beautiful animals. I want to take them home.

This is the rock that he check at us (ph). That would hurt if they got a hold of this. Which rather be hit with this or poo? That's the choice.

Some thing tells me they're not so happy to see us.

When I was a kid, I loved going to the zoo.

Thank you very much.

I mean, it was the only place where I could see wild, exotic animals without traveling halfway around the world. And now that I have a kid on my own, I get to relieve that experience every time I take him to the zoo. But are the animals as happy to see us as we are to see them?

Once upon a time, zoos existed solely for our entertainment. And as we became more enlightened, there's still (inaudible) to include education. But in this day and age, is it really fair to put animals on display for the price of a ticket?

Shouldn't we be looking at things from their perspective? And what role do zoos play in our lives today? To find out, I'm going inside the Detroit zoo and becoming a zookeeper. Home to more than 2600 animals of 265 different species, it's a bustling ecosystem filled with animals and their keepers.

As a member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums or the AZA, it's one of the most well respected zoos in the United States. If there's any place who can give me an insight on the issue, it's here.

SCOTT CARTER, CHIEF LIFE SCIENCES OFFICER: Morgan.

SPURLOCK: Hi, how are you?

I'm meeting Scott Carter, the Chief Life Sciences Officer here to get me started.

CARTER: The Detroit Zoo was built in the late 20s. And it was designed to not have cages.

SPURLOCK: It opened in 1928 and it since become one of the most popular family attractions in Michigan. It is such a picture in the community that it's been unaffected by the bankruptcy of the city.

How much it cost to run a zoo like this? Because this is big?

CARTER: Annual budget is about 30 million.

SPURLOCK: 30 million. And how many people come here a year?

CARTER: About 1.3 million.

SPURLOCK: Wow. What do people come to zoos for?

CARTER: People come to zoos because they want to see animals.

SPURLOCK: That's why I go too. That's what I wanted zoos.

CARTER: That's right.

SPURLOCK: That's why I take my little boy to a zoo.

CARTER: And that's your expectations...

SPURLOCK: Yeah.

CARTER: ... when you're there. So...

SPURLOCK: And that's where you learn something.

CARTER: We -- well we don't use the (inaudible) parts.

SPURLOCK: With a staff of over 200 people and over 1,000 volunteers, it takes a small city to run the zoo. And I'm a joining the ranks and being put to work.

CARTER: OK. Well, we're going to start to operate. You have to look like a zookeeper.

SPURLOCK: OK.

CARTER: So here is a shirt. From here on out you're going to be working with animals staff. When you work with animal staff, you're going to be with someone all the time. The zookeeper is also going to know when an emergency has call, should it happen.

SPURLOCK: OK.

CARTER: It will be really, really unlikely. They will know exactly what to do and you're going to take orders and do it for (inaudible).

SPURLOCK: Great. I'm very good at that.

CARTER: Good. Excellent.

SPURLOCK: Great.

CARTER: Good luck getting labor like this.

SPURLOCK: That's right. Well, thank you very much. Thanks for having me.

CARTER: I'm looking to.

SPURLOCK: Appreciate this ?

Now that I'm card-carrying zookeeper, my first task is to feed the animals.

What's in this meat? What are we giving them? What is this?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Beef and horse and some other things. Here's a spoon for you.

SPURLOCK: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So basically, what you can do is just get a little bit on the spoon and slip it there and she'll grab it with her lips. Is this your first time feeding meat?

SPURLOCK: This is the first time feeding meat on the spoon to a grizzly bear. It's definitely my first.

There he go.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There you go. Perfect.

SPURLOCK: I never though I'd be feeding (inaudible).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah, there you go. And then release it. Perfect.

SPURLOCK: It's gone. Look at that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good job.

SPURLOCK: That tongue is crazy.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes it is.

SPURLOCK: Oh, it's weird.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, it's really rough, almost like a cow's tongue.

SPURLOCK: OK. That's crazy. They're like Gene Simmons.

In just a few hours, I feel like I've already fed the entire animal kingdom. And now it's dinner time at the primate house.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Gorillas eat all fruits and vegetables. And then they also get some formulated primate chow. It comes to the bottom.

SPURLOCK: Looks like this.

It's like a really, really dry cracker. This make you like super regular.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Probably.

SPURLOCK: So how many gorillas are there?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have three gorillas.

SPURLOCK: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They are all half brothers, Chip, Pendy (ph) and Kongo.

SPURLOCK: Anything I should know before we get started, of things that I should or shouldn't do?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Something really important is direct eye contact in primate culture is considered a threat.

SPURLOCK: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So while you and I talk with direct eye contact. It's actually a threat for them.

SPURLOCK: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So usually it look chest high on them or directly pass them.

Always -- one always seems to fall out. The first we do we -- I check on the way down. We make sure all the cages are locked.

SPURLOCK: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They come in to this individual stalls and eat their dinner or breakfast (inaudible) time a day. I'll let you operate the door you'd like.

SPURLOCK: And there he is.

Wow. He's piercing his lips. He's unhappy.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That is called a threat face.

SPURLOCK: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They stand very rigid and very tall and then pierced their lips and really very tight.

SPURLOCK: Right.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And then just toss.

SPURLOCK: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And when you give them things, you want to make sure that your fingers don't cross... SPURLOCK: Yeah.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... and they can just take it from you.

SPURLOCK: How about a banana? I'm in his back (inaudible). I've never been so happy having a fence next to me in my life.

These are the most agar vegetarians I've ever met. But I guess this is what you get when you put wild animals in cages.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SPURLOCK: This week, I'm an honorary caretaker here at Detroit zoo. To better understand zoo and their relevance in our culture.

This is definitely (inaudible).

What started out as the light heart of day, ended up with surprisingly intense encounter with some hungry gorillas. So today, I'm going to down shift with something a bit more in my speed, penguins.

LINDSAY SANDIFORD: You can put that buckets on there.

SPURLOCK: OK. So what do we -- what's first?

SANDIFORD: We are going to clean. We have the hose and scrub.

SPURLOCK: OK. This is like more work than I thought you have to do in a zoo.

SANDIFORD: Oh yeah.

SPURLOCK: Yeah.

SANDIFORD: We have to make sure they're face is nice and clean.

SPURLOCK: Yeah.

SANDIFORD: Lots of cuddling and playing with animals all day.

SPURLOCK: Go ahead, go ahead. Penguin train, coming through. That is a very loud noise you're making, a little tiny bird.

I got an assistant here. You have to watch where you walk, everywhere you go or else you're a -- you might step on a penguin. What's the temperature inside here?

SANDIFORD: The temperature is about 46 degrees today.

SPURLOCK: OK.

SANDIFORD: We keep it between 45 and 50.

SPURLOCK: OK.

SANDIFORD: So it's kind of like they're summer temperature. SPURLOCK: He made this nest (inaudible) like nest on the rocks.

SANDIFORD: Yap, they're fitting on (inaudible).

SPURLOCK: OK.

SANDIFORD: You can see how they're kind of hunched over. So you'll see the egg underneath him. And that's a fake egg that they're sitting on, just so the real ones aren't getting broken.

SPURLOCK: So these are the fake eggs, where are the real ones?

SANDIFORD: And this is our incubation room and nursery.

SPURLOCK: Oh wow.

SANDIFORD: There we have our chicks. They are 13 days old and 14 days old.

SPURLOCK: Thirteen days old. Well they seem big for like only like 13 days old.

SANDIFORD: They grow very fast.

SPURLOCK: What's the age do you like take to the eggs...

SANDIFORD: What we do is we'll give them the fake eggs for their incubation period and then at the end of breeding season we'll pull the egg from the nest. They just think it didn't hatch. They'll kind of hang out for a couple of more days and then they're often completely forgotten.

SPURLOCK: OK, there's a change to the experience for the chick, you know, by not having I guess this adult penguin to model after her.

SANDIFORD: They do look to us as parent for the first few years but then once hormone start, it's like...

SPURLOCK: They're done.

SANDIFORD: They're nothing to me.

SPURLOCK: Right. Why is it so important to have a place like this where you can actually take care of the eggs and raise the chicks?

SANDIFORD: We do want to be able to raise chicks and further the population in captivity.

SPURLOCK: OK. All good?

SANDIFORD: Yes.

SPURLOCK: I found it a little bit disconcerting that the penguins are being raise in incubators away from their parents only to live to lives entirely in captivity. Is this the case for all the animals at the zoo? I'm checking in with Scott Carter to learn more. So in situation like that, you guys plan that or you just let it happen?

CARTER: For a lot of species in zoos, now that's planned and it's planned by people from a lot of different zoos.

SPURLOCK: OK.

CARTER: The Species Survival Plan Program is a long-term management program for a specific species.

SPURLOCK: In other words, a highly organized breeding program, the Species Survival Plan or SSP was founded by the association of zoos and aquariums. Each species has its own SSP which tracks the genetic information of every animal. They keep a stud book of who is pregnant with whom and a population plan to keep track of which zoo has which animal, and how to transfer animals to different zoos to procreate with an eligible mate.

This modern day Noah's Ark will ensure that the species will be sustained in captivity for years to come. Not to mention, ensuring a constant stream of cute babies to keep the visitors coming.

CARTER: The thinking is that if we have this reservoir captivity it is a bit of stop gap, it could be a stop gap...

SPURLOCK: Yeah.

CARTER: ... to the complete elimination of that species in the planet.

SPURLOCK: Yeah.

CARTER: You know.

SPURLOCK: No one wants animals to go at extinct but who is benefiting from the species survival plan, the animals or the zoos? They're sustaining a population but they're also selling tickets in keeping their doors open.

This means they're breeding generations of animals who aren't really wild. How does this affect their quality of life? I'm meeting with the zoo's director of animal welfare to find out.

Hey how are you?

STEPHANIE ALLARD, DIRECTOR OF ANIMAL WELFARE: Good. How are you?

SPURLOCK: Good. I'm Morgan.

ALLARD: Stephanie. How are you?

SPURLOCK: Good. Nice meeting you. So how can you tell if an animal is happy?

ALLARD: Well it would be great if I could ask them. SPURLOCK: Yeah.

ALLARD: But unfortunately, I don't speak and use the animals' languages.

SPURLOCK: Zebra or Giraffe?

ALLARD: You know, I don't speak any of those languages. It's a shame...

SPURLOCK: Yeah.

ALLARD: ... because that would make my job a lot easier.

SPURLOCK: Yeah.

ALLARD: So that means we actually have to spend a lot of time watching them.

SPURLOCK: OK.

ALLARD: So we look for behavioral indicators of welfare. We also look for physiological indicators.

SPURLOCK: What are some of the behavioral patterns that they would exhibit if they were happy thriving (ph)?

ALLARD: they should be engaged with their environment. They should, you know, participate in enrichment activities. They should engage in socially normal behaviors. They should want to engage with other social partners.

You really have to think about, you know, what it might mean for an individual animal or species in specific location and think (ph) for yourself if it's really the best thing for them.

SPURLOCK: Yeah.

Stephanie is going to walk me through the hands on research that she leads the zoo keepers through.

So Steph, why are we here at the warthog area?

ALLARD: Participate in our workshop that we host here.

SPURLOCK: OK.

ALLARD: We have them come into the warthog habitat and we have them experience it as a human would and then we have them follow up experiencing as a warthog.

SPURLOCK: Got to get my warthog.

ALLARD: Nice.

SPURLOCK: My warthog on -- already when you're down here it smells a bit like dotty, so if you're wondering at what point or (inaudible) the sort of the smell like dotty, right now and I've been in here, so smell good. It is still cool in here though.

This would be my place. I get in here. I just crawl up and crawl and take a little nap. And there is mud. There's a nice cool mud down here. So this is where I'd lay too. I'd lay right down here as a warthog.

ALLARD: So one of the things that you'd picked up on is there are lot of places that they can choose to be that offer them similar sort of comforting and comfortable places to rest, to be in public view or be out of public view. And there's lot of options that is really important thing about animals that are house in groups.

SPURLOCK: Right.

ALLARD: You want to make sure that all of them have opportunity.

SPURLOCK: I feel like I'm start get an idea of the effect that being in a zoo or being in captivity has on an animal. Like the smaller animals had the ability to almost duck away and hide, not have a people kind of steering in to their homes all the time. But what about like the bigger animals? Someone like the gorillas even?

The Detroit zoo has been conducting detailed research in the lives of their gorillas since they arrived over a decade ago. The three half brothers were born in the captivity of the Bronx Zoo but were moved here as a bachelor group as part of the gorilla Species Survival Plan.

Bachelor groups are rarely last this long in the wild, so Stephanie and her team are trying to determine if these boys are getting along.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So you're going to note gorilla data.

SPURLOCK: That's what I have been in charge with.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So what's going to happen is every 10 minutes, you have to run around and find out the gorillas and marked on what each gorilla is doing. Note down any kind of social behaviors that you see.

SPURLOCK: (inaudible) and now -- and it's just kicking it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We run very careful and don't hit those people.

SPURLOCK: I didn't hit anybody. I didn't hit anyone.

(Inaudible) chilling, looking through the window. (inaudible) Cheap(ph), right. Was that Chip?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah, that's was Chip.

SPURLOCK: Chip. I will mark that down now and they threat display.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh that's definitely a threat. And here comes Chip, also in a threat. So these are -- and that's a quite display right there and then another threat display. And now they're in prolonged threat. So anything that's longer than five seconds, they call it prolonged.

SPURLOCK: And they prolonged threat.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yap.

SPURLOCK: In doing the research we saw that the gorillas are displaying a lot. So maybe they're not so happy being stocked together. What long term effect is this having on?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SPURLOCK: I've gone inside the Detroit Zoo as honorary zookeeper.

This like more work than I though you have do in a zoo.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, yeah.

SPURLOCK: Yeah.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good.

SPURLOCK: And I work closely with the zoo staff and monitoring the well-being the animals.

And they prolong threat.

Well some animals seem to relatively serene existence. The gorillas seem pretty anxious.

I marked that down.

If there are regularly stress, is that having an effect on their well- being? Observing behavior is one thing. But how do you get up close to assess their physical health?

So what are we going to be today?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, today we're going to do some training.

SPURLOCK: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm going to train you with an positive reinforcement. And offer conditioning. So we're going to.

SPURLOCK: I need and lot and lots of reinforcement.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So we're going to see how that goes for you. So that way you can experience how they feel when they don't know understand what I mean and I want I want them to do.

SPURLOCK: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because we can't take foot and expect they suppose they know what we need. SPURLOCK: The zookeepers have developed a way of communicating with the gorillas to conduct health checkups. So before I help with that. I need to learn the language.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There you are.

SPURLOCK: So I have to go in my monkey cage?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah.

SPURLOCK: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And actually I'm also going to give you these big gloves.

SPURLOCK: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because they obviously have bigger hands than we do.

SPURLOCK: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And don't have as much (inaudible).

SPURLOCK: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So that will make all what you need. So we use a clicker here. In the beginning of training I would teach that a click means you get a treat and just understand that means you did something correct, that you're behaving, you're standing still, you're being calm.

SPURLOCK: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's a great job.

SPURLOCK: Then when if not?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A lot of times we use things. A lot of times in that case we would just simply turn and walk a little bit away so we understand that I'm not ready to work with you in that situation. Good job very nice, good. So then once that established you understand this means good, I'm getting a treat. Then we start working with something we call a target.

SPURLOCK: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So I could use this as you move here and you would come and target.

SPURLOCK: All right.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So I could touch your hands and say that I wanted here. And that is an easy way, to get things where you need them to go. OK, so what we're going to do now, is I'm going to use an arbitrary word that doesn't mean want I want you to do, because obviously if I said what I want to do, you would know, right.

SPURLOCK: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So I'm going to use the word zap (ph) and train you to do zap (ph) what does mean. Good. Good. Zap (ph). Good. I just trained you for chest presentation for ultrasound. That meant chest.

SPURLOCK: Yeah. Just look at that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah.

SPURLOCK: I'm not a half bad gorilla.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nope, you're not bad.

SPURLOCK: See.

Now it's time for the real gorillas to come in for their ultrasounds.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good morning Kongo.

SPURLOCK: Melissa (ph) and I are working with the zoos Chief Veterinarian Dr. Ann Duncan whose job is to monitor the heart health of the three gorillas. And apparently they have more serious issue than anger management.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Chest. Good boy.

ANN DUNCAN, CHIEF VETERNARIAN: That's better.

SPURLOCK: Wow.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's good work Kongo.

DUNCAN: So we can catch, with this little clips of the heart pumping.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Great.

DUNCAN: So this is the left side of the heart and the right side of the heart and that's one valves, the mitral valve on the left side and then tricuspid valve on the other side.

SPURLOCK: (inaudible) about opening and close (inaudible).

DUNCAN: Yep, you're seeing that. Yeah. OK, I think we're done. OK.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good job.

DUNCAN: Good job Kongo. We trained our gorillas about two and a half years ago for this behavior and we've been doing it every six month since.

SPURLOCK: OK. And what's the reason for doing it every six months?

DUNCAN: Heart disease. SPURLOCK: Wow.

DUNCAN: Most prominent in the great apes. This is a model of the heart. When we did their every first ultrasounds, we though that their heart wall was a little bit thick, thicker than we want to be. And when that's the case the heart can't pump as well as it suppose to. And that can be a problem over time.

SPURLOCK: And you don't know what causes that thickness (inaudible).

DUNCAN: We don't know what causes it. But we know that we need to be aware of it and be -- hopefully find a way of treating it.

SPURLOCK: In the wild there's -- do they have same problems?

DUNCAN: There is a group of researchers that went over to Cameroon and did exams and didn't see the same degree of heart disease on those animals.

SPURLOCK: OK. What would you hypothesize would -- is causing this, if it's mostly animals in captivity?

DUNCAN: Well the things that are most likely are diet, genetics and then stress is a possibility. And honestly it could be a combination of all three of those things too.

SPURLOCK: What can you do diet wise apart from medication?

DUNCAN: Well although we're feeding them vegetables like they would get in the wild, it's not the same plants that they would be getting the wild. Yeah, and you've see they get a lot leave, but I don't think their getting romaine in their wild habitat.

SPURLOCK: No. I think you're right.

It's pretty disappointing to hear that their suffering from heart disease. An illness they likely wouldn't have in the wild. And it really makes me question why we would want to keep breading more animals in captivity who may suffer the same fate.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So Chip and Kongo have two different heart medications, lisinopril and carvedilol. These are actually human...

SPURLOCK: Right.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... medications. And our gorillas actually get half tea and half juice.

SPURLOCK: Their getting like their own little Arnold Palmer.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. We hold the juice bottle at the bottom.

SPURLOCK: Right.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just so that we can get our fingers anywhere too close. SPURLOCK: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And just tilt it towards me.

SPURLOCK: So just put it right toward him like this.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And he'll open his mouth and drink. And when you get about half way -- please tell him to stop for a second.

SPURLOCK: Good boy.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good Kongo.

SPURLOCK: Good Kongo. Look at that.

Give my baby gorillas some shoes.

The greatest (ph) project here at the zoo is trying to create the most healthy environment they can for these apes, deal with their health problems, do everything they can to give them the longest to highest quality of life if possible. But what you also start realized is part of their health problems that they're facing are caused by the fact that they are in captivity.

How do we get pass that? How do we fix a problem? How do we make sure we never create that problem ever again?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SPURLOCK: I'm going to do some pretty amazing things since I've been here at the zoo. I've gotten to feed some baby animals. I've gotten to bond with the gorillas. You know, I've even gotten to become an animal.

And wow, I may have gotten a little bit of an education over the past few days, the question is I really retain any of that and can I actually pass that along to people?

So now, to test my knowledge in the area where I have the most experienced, I'm going to become docent or volunteer educator to see if I can teach people about the gorillas.

He's a western lowland gorilla from Central Africa.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And then?

SPURLOCK: These are critically endangered which is -- let's say, two steps away from being extinct. Why would you rather be gorillas than chimpanzees?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah.

SPURLOCK: Well, for one, gorillas are vegetarians. So they only eat vegetables, fruit and vegetables.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's what my mom eat. SPURLOCK: Yeah.

There's a very specific scent that gorillas have that nothing in the world smells like a gorilla.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you describe it like how?

SPURLOCK: It smells like, you know, 100 sweaty teenage boys and like in a horse's stable.

Yeah. That's what I would -- say it smells like. Smell that scent right there.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh yeah.

SPURLOCK: Yeah.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I thought it was you.

SPURLOCK: No, that is...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thermo(ph).

SPURLOCK: That is gorilla mask. I'm killing it.

Do you have guys any questions about the gorilla?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, they've said they're peaceful, happy.

SPURLOCK: They are very peaceful. They will -- they'll make threatening emotions, threatening gestures. Most of the time they will try to scare you away, scare enough the gorilla away.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah.

SPURLOCK: Yes. So if you guys go around to the other side, there is a viewing center. Were probably be able to see the other two guys...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Very knowledgeable. Thank you.

SPURLOCK: Thank you. Thanks guys.

Did you hear that? She said I was very knowledgeable.

The Detroit Zoo holds itself to a pretty high standard of education and care. And as AZA accredited zoo, it must continue to meet the standards of the association. But there are nearly 3,000 known animal exhibitors in the country and only about 200 or less than 10 percent had the AZA's seal of approval.

So what are the standards kept by everyone else? Well, it's kind of a mix back. JOE EXOTIC, FOUNDER OF GAROLD WAYNE INTERACTIVE ZOOLOGICAL PARK: The unique thing about our zoo versus a big city zoo is we're more one on one personable with our animals.

Come here Goofy (ph), what are you doing? What jobs (ph)? What jobs (ph)?

SPURLOCK: Meet Joe Exotic, the Founder of the GW Zoo in Wynnewood, Oklahoma. Own too, what Joe claims is the largest captive tiger population in the world.

The zoo exhibits about 140 tigers, 25 lions.

EXOTIC: That's (inaudible) to see you.

SPURLOCK: An 18 high breeds who were the results of Joe's experiments in crossbreeding.

(OFF-MIKE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For over 12 years, Joe has had to belief that all cats came from the original saber-toothed tigers from 360 million years ago.

So for his own wonder, what he did is he built this large enclosure here where we can have a baby lion and baby tiger grow up together and knew each other as adults. They breed and they had four female ligers.

We shocked the world four years later when we had the world's first two liger young out here.

EXOTIC: OK. We bred a tiger and a lion together to get the liger.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right.

EXOTIC: Then we breed that liger with the white tiger to get the taliger.

Are you with me?

Once we breed the liliger with the liliger then we're going to be back almost a full-blown type of lion because there's too much lion.

Lot of people call me a mad scientist but I don't need a license to breed tigers. The only thing I need a license for is to be open to the public to educate and funding (ph).

Never go without a bag of circus peanuts.

SPURLOCK: Not only can Joe breed as he wishes but without much oversight, he can make a lot of decisions about the animals lives, diet and care.

And Joe has pretty an orthodox methods when it comes to feeding time. Those circus peanuts are actually marshmallows. EXOTIC: Yeah, jump.

Do you want the whole bag? Take double bag.

I had an accident here back in October. It was one of our workers stocked her arm at a tiger cage and lost her arm. So, now the protocol is nobody shifts (ph) animals or anything except me. So, watch out.

Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to welcome you to the Garold Wayne Interactive Zoological Park.

My name is Joe Exotic. This is Lightning, Thunder and Peanut will make his way up here in just a second.

We're going to put tigers in your lap. You're going to feel the love and bond of -- for just a few minutes of what we do everyday of our lives in order to save these majestic creatures.

SPURLOCK: Despite previous incident, the animals' attacks on an employee and visitors, Joe believes that by interacting with the animals, the general public will become more engaged in species conservation in the wild.

EXOTIC: You can watch T.V. as long as you want. You can read as many books as you want until you fall in love with the baby tiger in your lap. You'll never care as much as you do after you do that.

Hands on learning and hands on education, it is the only key of these animals to accept.

Your next interaction is going to be to kiss (inaudible), OK. And don't worry about that, we're going to get your photo taking while you're kissing the camel the (inaudible) yesterday, so he's all fine and dandy, OK.

SPURLOCK: You're probably wondering, how was all this possible? Is it a health code violation to kiss camel? What about an alligator on your head?

EXOTIC: Oh my God, you've got five seconds. He's going to choke you to death.

SPURLOCK: Could a python be a choking hazard?

Well, the short answer is no because in the eyes of the federal government, Joe his breeding practices and his entire operation are completely legal and licensed by the United States Department of Agriculture, the only federal agency responsible for oversight.

So much for the AZA.

EXOTIC: The AZA is nothing more than a country club of zoos. OK, then they have no special powers, they have no funding that they give to anybody.

There you go. Hey, look at -- look, look, look..

There's half of dozen credits and agencies out there. The United States Zoo Logical Association accredits. Zoo Logical Association of America out of Florida accredits, and what is it do for any others? Absolutely nothing.

SPURLOCK: Well, Joe does have a point. Under the animal welfare act, the USDA only oversees minimal standards of housing and public safety which means that essentially 90 percent of the zoos in America are left their own devices to make decision about breeding and conservation.

SCHREIBVOGEL: Well, start to get him back.

I'm going to cage one tranquilizing a cat. There is no certification for tranquilizing animals like that but you do have to have enough training by your bed (ph) of record.

She is a good cat and he'll take care or I will shoot, calm down, and making pet him on while (inaudible).

People have such a wrong idea of tranquilizers. It's just, you know, it's not just shoot them and they go down. It's not a quick process.

What you're doing girlfriend? You got to go and live in Texas.

This doggy (ph) right here will be going out today to another zoo.

SPURLOCK: Another function of Joe's business is to trade animals to other zoos and circuses.

It's clear that Joe sees nothing wrong with his zoo or its standards of animal care and as far as the federal government is concerned there is no difference between a GW zoo and the Detroit zoo. Anywhere you go the animals are still there for our benefit.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SPURLOCK: A zoo is a great place to take your family but it's inherently a place you go to pay to see animals on display. Is it no different than other animals who entertain us?

There are circuses, rodeos, parades, aquatic theme parks, and even talk show appearances.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People ask like you get a water buffalo in your studio? Well, I did it baby.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're kidding.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You are the greatest.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What is going on?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a water.

SPURLOCK: There are so many ways that we use animals for our enjoyment without realizing how it would affect them.

With all the attention the Detroit Zoo pace to the well-being of their animals, will they ever determined that they shouldn't be there? That's a great question for the executive director.

I'm Morgan.

RON KAGAN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF DETROIT ZOO: I'm Ron.

SPURLOCK: Ron, nice to meet you.

KAGAN: You too.

SPURLOCK: Are zoo still relevant? Do we still need zoos in today's world? I mean, granted, we have animal's zoo...

KAGAN: Yeah.

SPURLOCK: ... that we've -- that have been brought in captivity.

KAGAN: Right.

SPURLOCK: You can't abandon those. So there is...

KAGAN: Right.

SPURLOCK: ... there is a responsibility to those animals.

KAGAN: Right.

SPURLOCK: But beyond that, you know, should we be keeping animals in captivity?

KAGAN: Only if they can thrive. What you really expect when you come do a zoo is that you're only going to see animals that are thriving. You would not want your zoo to keep animals if you know that they were suffering.

SPURLOCK: In keeping with this philosophy, the Detroit zoo came to the conclusion that they couldn't provide a healthy and happy environment for their elephants, Winky and Wanda.

KAGAN: They would have to be hooked up inside for a months at a time and we just felt that's wrong. We knew they were suffering and we keep trying to make it better but we didn't really see any path that fundamentally was going to do that. After a lot of, you know, heartache, we finally said, what's best for them...

SPURLOCK: Yeah.

KAGAN: ... is to do this and ultimately we're successful and then sent them to a fabulous sanctuary in California that we've been working with for 20 years.

SPURLOCK: Most are response from the people who come here like people who come to the zoo and say, but we love the elephants.

KAGAN: Right, and that's the point. We love the elephants. We don't want them to suffer. And so, you know, yes, there are few people who are still upset with us. I think the vast majority of our community understood the discussion and...

SPURLOCK: Yeah.

KAGAN: ... supported our decision. A lot of people said we were going to lost audience and when we moved the elephants our attendance numbers were about a million visitors a year now they're about 1.3 million.

So the critics are not always right.

SPURLOCK: Winky and Wanda moved from their two acre habitat in Detroit to a 2300 acre sanctuary in Central California called PAWS, the Performing Animal Welfare Society Sanctuary.

Here there are no cages and no visitors, just a lot of space to roam free.

While Winky, unfortunately, passed away a few years ago, Wanda seems to be enjoying her life away from the crowds.

ED STEWART, PRESIDENT AND CO-FOUNDER OF PAWS: You see that far ridge in the...

SPURLOCK: In between the two...

STEWART: ... that's the end of our property.

SPURLOCK: Wow. Ed Stewart founded PAWS with his partner Pat Derby 30 years ago as a refugee for captive and performing animals.

This now home to over 75 animals but you would never it with a first glance.

When you come to a place like this and it is night and day from any zoo on earth. It's the whole are of this place bigger than any zoo I've ever been to, and this nothing like a zoo. It is like the animals actually getting to be animals. This at least feels natural.

What a great place to get to come and see them, the best part of the whole idea of a sanctuary as you can't come see them. Its kind of gash 22 (ph). You're going to get to see him now so enjoy this, because it's pretty awesome.

Good boy Nick.

SPURLOCK: Besides giving the animals the freedom to roam outside all day, they do come inside to receive medical treatment for the health problem cost by a life time of captivity. STEWART: What is it the health problems that you see and elephants are animals in captivity?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They tend to develop arthritis, with the arthritis they'll develop, you know, curve joints. They'll pigeon toes and bear weight in an abnormal way which puts pressure on their digits on their toenails. They'll get abscesses in their feet that need constant care. A lot of it is because, you know, elephants are design by nature to keep walking, and keep moving, and keep eating, keep busy and in captivity they're rarely given space to do that or the freedom to do that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So there are the targets. He's got a little bucket of treats, getting to come, wrap his trunk around the top. He's losing a tooth and we check his tooth on the upper left side.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I take blood from him couple times a year, just like we go to the doctor for a check up. Same kind of thing just to make sure he's healthy. Ready? (inaudible).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good boy Nick here. Nick here. Good boy, you're a good boy.

SPURLOCK: So there's the blood coming out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good boy. There you go.

SPURLOCK: And so there's blood coming out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good boy.

SPURLOCK: And he didn't clinch.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Over here Morgan we're going to look at his foot.

STEWART: Good boy.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So elephants in captivity suffer from a lot of foot problems. You know, they can develop foot infections so we always check their feet. But this is actually very health looking foot.

SPURLOCK: What should be done with the animals in the captivity?

STEWART: Stop breeding them.

SPURLOCK: Yeah.

STEWART: Just give the ones that are here and really, really good quality of life for the rest of their lives and stop, just stop. We consider the people at Detroit good friends, all, everybody.

SPURLOCK: Yeah. It's a nice zoo.

STEWART: It's a great zoo. SPURLOCK: But I guess the question comes done to a -- so I guess an ethical and a philosophical one of should we have zoos?

STEWART: Should we have captivity.

SPURLOCK: Should we have captivity.

STEWART: Yeah, I try never to.

SPURLOCK: Yeah.

STEWART: Just cause it really our target is not zoos.

SPURLOCK: It just that captivity.

STEWART: Just captivity.

SPURLOCK: Yeah, in general.

STEWART: Us, included.

SPURLOCK: Yeah. So should we have captivity?

STEWART: I don't think it's doing any good.

SPURLOCK: Yeah.

What Ed and the team with or Paul are doing is amazing. But it's clear to see that after a life in captivity, these animals still aren't free.

STEWART: Good, good girl.

SPURLOCK: Every aspect of their lives and well-being must be managed. Since they were never able to learn the skills required to take care of themselves. It does make you stop and think about all the implications of keeping wild animals captive.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SPURLOCK: I find it really encouraging the folks to Detroit Zoo made the decision to pull their elephants and actually move in to a sanctuary. As you can see they're not hurting for attendance, I mean the place is still packed.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're all set and done.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you very much.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're welcome.

SPURLOCK: The bigger question is. Is in time were their research show that maybe there's other animals that could also benefit by being in another place.

After everything I've seen and experience this past week, I'm checking in with Scott Carter to find out what he thinks is the future of zoos.

So do you feel that since it is a zoo and people get to come that the animals have the ability to try of will that human interaction always impact that?

CARTER: Animals will always be impacted by people and that's true both in the zoo and in the wild.

SPURLOCK: Would it be a better situation where you basically say "OK, we're now going to have a zoo," but nobody can came and come visit.

CARTER: That wouldn't be zoo, would it. Zoos are already reflecting public attitudes, you know, and where zoos use depend to the people and do chimps are on bicycles and elephants are doing tricks. So there's already been this huge shift which put emphasis on what animals needed.

SPURLOCK: Do you think there were come a time we say zoo shouldn't exist?

CARTER: I don't know that'll happen in my life time, Morgan.

SPURLOCK: Yeah.

CARTER: I think that the question is about the cultural relevance of zoos. I'm not sure I can predict what that's going to be in 100 years.

SPURLOCK: Yeah.

CARTER: But if were betting that I would say in 100 years, the zoos will still be here.

SPURLOCK: Yeah.

I think quite a week working as zookeeper to Detroit Zoo. Before I retire my badge, there's one last thing I have to do.

He is ready to go, check him out. So fast how quick they get to those doors.

Go outside buddy, time to go.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Go on Kongo.

SPURLOCK: Go ahead, go outside. It's an incredible experience to get come and kind of spend time with animal who is so much like us but at the same time zoo nothing like us. You can sense emotion on them, you can sense excitement. But there some realities as much as if want have a real connection with them that they're still animals and they have very different need than we do.

My time to the zoo is open my eyes to the impact we have on the lives of these animals who have been brought or breed in captivity.

If zoos aren't go away anytime soon we'll continue to face the challenge of meeting these animals needs. But hopefully zoos will continue to evolve to become less for us and more for the animals.