Dublin Zoo should get rid of its exotic animals and turn itself into a rescue sanctuary for native wildlife, an animal rights activist has argued. 

Campaign group Freedom for Animals has called for all elephants in zoos to be returned to the wild, insisting the world’s largest land mammals cannot live fulfilling lives in zoo enclosures. 

On Newstalk Breakfast, Animals Behind Closed Doors Animal Advocate founder Gerry Boland said he believed the concept of zoos are “certainly outdated” but predicted that they are not going to “go anytime soon”. 

 “What I do think should happen is all the large exotics in zoos should be phased out over a period of time,” he argued. 

“They shouldn’t be bred again; urban zoos - really any zoo - is unsuitable. 

“You can’t recreate the wild environment for large exotics.” 

Elephants in a zoo. Picture by: Patrick Bolger/Dublin Zoo

Instead, Mr Boland suggested that zoos should be turned into sanctuaries for native wildlife. 

“I could see Dublin Zoo in the future operating as a wonderful sanctuary in the Phoenix Park,” he said. 

“Where it’s taking in sick, injured or endangered species in Ireland, then releasing them back into the wild.” 

An endangered pine marten. Picture by: Alamy.com. 

Also, on the programme biologist Éanna Ní Lamhna said while once the purpose of zoos was to show people what these exotic animals looked like, things have changed in recent decades. 

“Zoos are centres for conservation of species that are endangered in the wild,” she said. 

“Dublin Zoo is a centre where they breed the Golden Lion Tamarin monkeys monkeys, which is a small monkey from the Atlantic rainforest of Brazil.”

A Bornean orangutan. Picture by: PA Images / Alamy. 

Ms Ní Lamhna added that all zoo animals are captive bred and that “putting them back into the wild is the problem”, partly because of habitat loss. 

“With orangutans, they come from tropical rainforests - most of which are being cut down so they can grow palm oil and things like that,” she said. 

“The zoos are very much stopping animals from becoming extinct. 

“This is a really important role that zoos play all over Europe. 

“They have a studbook, they share animals with each other to get as much genetic availability into them as possible.”

Main image: A split of elephants and a red squirrel. Pictures by: Dublin Zoo and Alamy.