Zoo Zoo (Wildlife Conservation Society) leading the discussion. From then on, zoo professionals became increasingly aware of the need to engage themselves in conservation programs, and the American Zoo Association soon said that conservation was its highest priority. In order to stress conservation issues, many large zoos stopped the practice of having animals perform tricks for visitors. The Detroit Zoo, for example, stopped its elephant show in 1969, and its chimpanzee show in 1983, acknowledging that the trainers had probably abused the animals to get them to perform. Whipsnade Park in Bedfordshire, England, was opened in 1931 as the first safari
Joan Beauchamp Procter The track she followed still exists within Whipsnade Zoo, named in her memory, as "Miss Joan’s Ride". Joan Procter's involvement with large, potentially dangerous animals continued in her final years. At Whipsnade she had a close encounter with an escaped brown bear, which she captured by enticing it with some honey before shutting it in a lavatory. Towards the end of her life, when she could only get around the grounds of London Zoo in an electric wheelchair, she was still often accompanied by a 3 metre long Komodo dragon on a leash. Although seriously ill, she continued to work