"'Sero is sulking' is a wrong personification... Blaming animals"

"Animal Entry Line Unfair... Does Not Help Solve the Problem"

Recently, there has been criticism that using expressions like "pissed off" toward the zebra 'Sero,' who escaped from the Children's Grand Park and roamed the streets of downtown Seoul, is a "typical example of incorrect anthropomorphism."

On the afternoon of the 23rd, a zebra that escaped from Children's Grand Park was wandering around a residential area near Jayang-dong, Gwangjin-gu, Seoul. Photo by Kim Min-woo, provided by Yonhap News.

Choi Taegyu, a veterinarian and head of the Bear Habitat Project, appeared on CBS Radio's 'Kim Hyun-jung's News Show' on the 28th and said, "People say animals rebelled, fought, or even got 'pissed off,' but this is incorrect anthropomorphism. For example, if an animal is scared and unable to perform normal behaviors, calling it 'pissed off' blames the animal as the subject who is sulking," he explained.

He added, "This perspective does not help solve the problem. While it is understandable that animals can appear cute, the reality is that the animal is experiencing significant distress, and finding it cute in such a situation can actually be unfair from the animal's point of view."

Veterinarian Choi stated, "It is very natural for wild animals like zebras not to behave according to human intentions. Therefore, wild animals that need to be managed by humans, such as in zoos, must learn to communicate with people through artificial training. Saying they are rebelling means the training is insufficient," he said.

Regarding the park's plan to bring a female zebra for Sero, he said, "The expectation that a deliberately introduced female will satisfy the existing male may fail, so countermeasures are necessary." He explained, "Sero is a plains zebra, and the social structure of this species is not composed of just one male and one female. Sometimes males and females are together, but there are also groups consisting only of males. It is important to be able to select the members of the group."

About Sero's escape incident, he criticized, "It was an event where the safety of both the zebra and people was at great risk. Zoos should prevent escapes by considering the physical abilities of the animals, but it is unreasonable that a fence that a zebra could break was left unattended in a zoo that has been around for 50 years."

Furthermore, he said, "More and more people agree with the argument that confining wild animals in zoos for public amusement is not educational," and added, "In the long term, we need to seriously consider how to phase out certain zoos."