Zoos routinely administer psychotropic drugs instead of fixing enclosures

At effectively every major zoo, psychotropic medications — SSRIs, benzodiazepines, antipsychotics — have been administered to animals exhibiting signs of psychological distress. Toledo Zoo dosed a gorilla with Prozac for anxiety, gave a tiger Valium for agitation, and put zebras and wildebeests on Haldol to 'relax' in new environments. Scarborough Sanctuary gave penguins antidepressants after storms. According to animal behaviorist Laurel Braitman, 'At every zoo where I spoke to someone, a psychopharmaceutical had been tried.' This matters because these drugs mask symptoms of a fundamentally inadequate environment rather than addressing root causes. There is virtually no peer-reviewed data on appropriate dosing, efficacy, or long-term side effects of psychotropic drugs in exotic species — veterinarians are extrapolating from human and domestic animal pharmacology. The animals are being medicated to make their distress invisible to visitors, not to improve their welfare. This persists because redesigning enclosures costs millions, while a daily pill costs pennies, and because there is no regulatory requirement to disclose psychotropic drug use to the public or to oversight bodies.