Animal welfare World's leading zoo association accused of overlooking horrific cruelty Zoos belonging to World Association of Zoos and Aquariums filmed allowing shocking mistreatment of elephants, dolphins, lions, bears, penguins and whales Link to video: examples of the mistreatment of animals. 
 
 Dozens of examples of harrowing cruelty towards animals in zoos have been overlooked by the world’s top zoo organisation, animal welfare groups have alleged. 
 
 Zoos belonging to the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (Waza) have been filmed over the past five years making animals perform dangerous tricks, confining them to inadequate premises and beating them, contrary to Waza’s code of ethics, which demands the “highest standard of animal welfare”. 
 
 In November, an animal keeper at Mysore zoo in India was filmed beating an elephant, and Taman Safari in Indonesia runs a travelling dolphin circus in which dolphins are forced to jump through flaming hoops. Tourists are also able to pose with tigers for photos. 
 
 Zoo Negara in Malaysia has been condemned by a local MP for the terrible condition of its animals, and Dehiwala Zoo in Sri Lanka has come under fire after the deaths of a hippo, a lion and all the zoo’s penguins. The zoo has also been criticised for an elephant show in which handlers threaten the animals with sticks to make them do tricks. 
 
 A manacled performing elephant has been filmed at Dusit Zoo in Bangkok, and Almaty zoo in Kazakhstan and the National Taiwan Aquarium have been accused of housing bears and beluga whales, respectively, in sub-standard enclosures. 
 
 In 2009, a South Korean TV show filmed a small, terrified bear being placed inside a tiger enclosure at Everland Park. 
 
 All these zoos are members of Waza, a Switzerland-based organisation that acts as the peak member body for the world’s zoos. As revealed by the Guardian, Waza is being taken to court by an Australian conservation group over its alleged complicity in the infamous dolphin hunts in Taiji, Japan. 
 
 World's top zoo organisation accused of links to Taiji dolphin slaughter in Japan Read more 
 
 Waza’s code of ethics states that where animals are used in performances by zoos, they must “focus on natural behaviour” and “not demean of trivialise the animal in any way”. 
 
 It states: “Waza and its members should make all efforts in their power to encourage substandard zoos and aquariums to improve and reach appropriate standards. If it is clear that the funding or the will to improve is not there, Waza would support the closure of such zoos and aquariums.” 
 
 Despite these stipulations, Waza has confirmed that no zoo featured in the videos of alleged cruelty has been expelled, or publicly or privately condemned. 
 
 Waza has more than 300 individual zoo members, including London Zoo, the Zoological Society of San Diego, Toronto Zoo, Bronx Zoo and Melbourne Zoo. 
 
 Sarah Lucas, head of Australia for Dolphins, which is leading the court action against Waza, said the organisation was too closely wedded to the interests of its members. 
 
 “It’s very easy to find abuses in these zoos – elephants being beaten or bears being kept in tiny, grimy cages – but Waza doesn’t call out its members on any of these abuses,” she said. 
 
 “It’s easy to form the view that Waza is an organisation that protects its members’ interests above that of the animals. 
 
 “Many of the zoos and aquariums do take the code of ethics seriously, but there’s clearly a significant number that don’t and Waza itself doesn’t take it seriously. They need to enforce it, to take action. They’ve either got to do their job or stop pretending to be a policeman for zoos and aquariums.” 
 
 Lucas said Waza’s dual role as a voice for zoos and a conservation organisation was “inherently conflicted”. 
 
 Waza has previously expelled zoos for breaches of conduct, such as Johannesburg Zoo for the illegal importation of animals last year. 
 
 A spokeswoman for Waza said it took “reputable and reasonable complaints” very seriously. She said there had been no complaints over any of the examples of abuse highlighted by the Guardian, but that the man filmed beating an elephant at Mysore zoo had been fired. 
 
 The claims have raised concerns among Waza members, with one, Kolmarden Zoo in Sweden, weighing up whether to quit the organisation. 
 
 The director of the zoo, Mats Höggren, said he could not be part of the same organisation as the Japanese Association of Zoos and Aquariums, which takes dolphins from the Taiji hunt. 
 
 “We can’t be even indirectly associated, that’s not possible,” he said. “We feel horrible about what’s happening over there and we need to put pressure on Waza to do something. 
 
 “We will wait a little longer but there needs to be something constructive or we will terminate our membership, for sure.” 
 
 Höggren sits on the executive committee of the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria, and said it would also discuss Waza membership. 
 
 Sir Richard Branson has added his voice to the condemnation of Waza’s link to the dolphin hunts. 
 
 “I was shocked to learn that the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums, which is meant to protect animals, has members that are heavily involved in the horrific capture of dolphins in Japan,” the Virgin founder said in a statement. 
 
 “I join with Australia for Dolphins in calling on Waza to end its support for these organisations, and to end its toleration of taking animals from the wild using traumatic methods. Waza is the world’s peak captivity body and it should take a strong stance – no dolphins or whales should be captured from the sea ever again.” 

 Conservationists take World Association of Zoos and Aquariums to court for allegedly sanctioning a deal with fishermen in which dolphins were selected for capture 
 
 The world’s leading zoo organisation has been accused of being complicit in the infamous dolphin hunts in Taiji, Japan, by helping secure captured dolphins for one of its members, despite publicly condemning the practice. 
 
 The World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (Waza) is being taken to a Swiss court by conservationists who accuse it of misleading conduct over its stance on the Taiji dolphin hunts, which gained global attention through the documentary The Cove. 
 
 Waza is accused of sanctioning a private deal involving the fishermen who herd and slaughter the dolphins and the Japanese Association of Zoos and Aquariums (Jaza), which is an associate Waza member. 
 
 Waza’s code of ethics labels the dolphin hunts “inherently cruel”, but it allegedly agreed a “dolphin management protocol” with Jaza in 2009 that involved a “gentler” method of herding small numbers of dolphins towards shore where they would be captured for aquariums. 
 
 At a meeting in August Waza suggested a two-year moratorium on dolphin drive hunts, but this was rejected by Jaza, Waza said. Instead, Jaza proposed – and Waza allegedly agreed – that during September no dolphins would be killed, but Jaza would get first pick of those that were rounded up, in large numbers if necessary. 
 
 After that, three other organisations – Dolphin Resort, Dolphin Base and the Taiji Town Development Public Corporation – could purchase excess animals, with the rest released. Conservationists claim conditions at these aquariums, including the 37 Jaza member aquariums that take dolphins from Taiji, are terrible. 
 
 Waza has previously said the dolphin hunts were part of a Japanese cultural tradition stretching back “centuries”, but wildlife campaigners insist records in Taiji show that the first large-scale hunts started in 1969 and have been primarily driven by the desire to capture animals for exhibit, rather than for meat. 
 
 The capture of dolphins is said to have doubled in the past 10 years. A fully trained dolphin on public display can be worth more than $100,000, compared with as little as $100 if butchered for meat. Anti-hunt campaigners say the market for captured dolphins in China is growing rapidly. 
 
 Over the past five years, observers say, more than 5,000 dolphins have been killed at Taiji, with a further 750 captured for aquariums. Since the August 2014 agreement, 751 dolphins have been killed, with 41 bottlenose dolphins captured. 
 
 
 
 The herding and slaughter of dolphins, highlighted by The Cove, has provoked outrage among animal welfare groups and some governments. In August, Caroline Kennedy, the US ambassador to Japan, caused a minor diplomatic rumpus when she tweeted that she was “deeply concerned by inhumaneness of drive hunt dolphin killing”. 
 
 During the hunts, dolphins are forced into shallow coves by boats, with fishermen banging metal pipes in the water. They are then slaughtered with knives or hoisted out of the water for capture, with buyers from aquariums picking their favoured animals to perform various tricks for audiences. 
 
 Marine scientists maintain the capture process imposes huge physiological stress upon dolphins and increases their chances of dying once they are in captivity – hence the need to constantly replenish stocks from the wild. 
 
 
 
 “I’ve observed the hunts and seen dolphins being hit by propellers, hit by boats, flung onto the rocks, they are horrific,” said Sarah Lucas, the head of Australia for Dolphins, the conservation group that has filed court action against Waza. 
 
 Lucas said the legal action, filed with the Geneva civil court, aimed to force Waza to enforce its code of ethics, or to expel Jaza. 
 
 “For Waza to present itself as an animal welfare and conservation organisation and on the other hand support a member involved in one of the cruellest practices in the world, to the extent of helping them get preferential purchasing positions, is deceptive and harmful to the efforts to put the hunts to an end,” Lucas said. 
 
 “Most zoos and aquariums around the world have no idea how Waza conducts itself behind closed doors. They will be very surprised to learn this.” 
 
 Waza has more than 20 associate members, including Jaza and the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria, as well as 300 individual zoo members, including London Zoo, the Zoological Society of San Diego, Toronto Zoo, Bronx Zoo and Melbourne Zoo. 
 
 Courtney Vail, the programs and campaigns manager at US-based Whale and Dolphin Conservation, said Waza’s actions were “beyond comprehension”. 
 
 “They seek to separate killing from acquisition, which is irrational as the methods utilised in driving and herding are the same,” she said. “Waza’s approach is not only encouraging additional hunts, it’s actually endorsing this method as a legitimate way to capture dolphins. Waza is complicit in this.” 
 
 A Japanese NGO, the Elsa Nature Conservancy, said Jaza had confirmed to it that Waza had agreed at the August meeting to the priority purchasing agreement. It said Waza also agreed that large pods, rather than the supposedly more humane smaller groups, of dolphins could be rounded up for Jaza to purchase. 
 
 The chairman of Jaza, Kazutoshi Arai, confirmed to the Guardian that Jaza had the first pick of bottlenose dolphins during September. 
 
 “We select the dolphins and the rest are released, but only during September,” he said. He acknowledged that during that month there were no limits on the size of the pods that fishermen could drive into the bay. 
 
 Arai insisted Waza did not explicitly voice an opinion on the new arrangements, or on giving Jaza and the Taiji organisations priority on procuring animals. 
 
 “Using separate drive hunts only for dolphins that will be bought by Jaza members is better, as long as everything is done to safeguard the animals’ welfare,” he said. “In this way we have responded to Waza’s requests to change the way we do things. 
 
 “The killing of dolphins in Japan is approved by the government, so that’s not Waza’s concern. Waza’s business is live capture. The two [killing and live capture] were mixed up before and that caused problems for zoos and aquariums. 
 
 “But if we separate live capture it’s much less of a problem.” 
 
 Waza officials reportedly told Jaza in October it still had not gone far enough in devising a humane way of procuring live dolphins. 
 
 In February, Jaza submitted a fresh report on its new method of live capture that is being discussed by Waza officials. Arai said Jaza had also asked Taiji fishermen not to separate bottlenose dolphin mothers from their calves. 
 
 The executive director of Waza, Gerard Dick, said the organisation had tried to influence Jaza to phase out drive hunts. 
 
 “Waza is not in any way or form participating in the drive hunts,” he said. 
 
 “We were informed by Jaza that there is a change of catching practices planned, implying that in the month of September only bottlenose dolphins shall be taken alive by Japanese aquariums,” he said. “No lethal takes would occur during this month. 
 
 “Waza has continuously tried to influence Jaza in order to eventually phase out the acquisition of dolphins by Japanese aquariums. Waza suggested a proposal to establish a two-year moratorium but this was unfortunately not acceptable.”
– Animal welfare groups are putting pressure on the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums to clean up its act after videos surfaced showing beatings and cramped quarters at some of the organization's 300 facilities. Though WAZA's code of ethics calls for the "highest standard of animal welfare," activists say handlers threaten animals with sticks at Sri Lanka's Dehiwala Zoo, where a hippo, lion, and all the zoo's penguins died recently, the Guardian reports. Evidence of poor living conditions and abuse were also reported at other zoos within the world's top zoo body. At South Korea's Everland Park, a small bear was even placed in a tiger enclosure for a TV show, activists say. WAZA's code of ethics notes that if standards aren't met, WAZA "would support the closure of such zoos and aquariums." However, a rep says none of the zoos have been booted from the organization and only a man caught beating an elephant at a zoo in India was fired. WAZA has also been linked to the dolphin slaughter in Japan and is accused of cutting a deal with fishermen who select dolphins for captivity, the Guardian reports. The chairman of the Japanese Association of Zoos and Aquariums, a WAZA member, says JAZA gets the first pick of the dolphins from "drive hunts," which many consider inhumane, conducted separately from similar hunts where dolphins are slaughtered. "We select the dolphins and the rest are released," he said, noting there's no limit on the number of dolphins fishermen can trap in a bay in Taiji each September. WAZA's executive director says the group "is not in any way or form participating in the drive hunts" and has pressured JAZA to change its practices. The head of Australia for Dolphins, which is suing WAZA, says the body doesn't take its code of ethics seriously and "they've either got to do their job or stop pretending to be a policeman for zoos and aquariums."