Animals In Captivity: Questions Raised After Lion And Rhinoceros Incidents

Published January 4, 2019 at 1:27 PM EST

In this December 2018 photo provided by Wolf Park, intern Alexandra Black pets Niko the wolf at Wolf Park in Battle Ground, Ind. The fatal mauling of Black, a zoo intern by a lion that escaped from a locked pen at the Conservators Center in North Carolina, illustrates the need for state regulators to crack down on unaccredited exhibitors of dangerous animals, animal welfare advocates said Monday, Dec. 31. (Monty Sloan/Wolf Park via AP)

Two incidents this week — the hospitalization of a 2-year-old after she stumbled into a rhinoceros enclosure at a Florida zoo, and the death of a 22-year-old intern during a routine cleaning of a lion enclosure at a North Carolina wildlife center — have sparked conversations about the safety and ethics of keeping wild animals in captivity.

Here & Now‘s Peter O’Dowd talks with Kitty Block, acting president and chief executive officer of the Humane Society of the United States and the president of Humane Society International.

You make NHPR possible.

NHPR is nonprofit and independent. We rely on readers like you to support the local, national, and international coverage on this website. Your support makes this news available to everyone.

Give today. A monthly donation of $5 makes a real difference.