Watch: New Animal Planet Series to Focus on The Bronx Zoo

Coming February 18, you and the world will get to see behind the scenes of what goes on at The Bronx Zoo.

The Zoo, which will air on Animal Planet, shows an intimate look at the relationship between zookeepers and animals in the nation’s largest urban zoo.

It’s a place that has come a long way since putting up Ota Benga, an African man from the Congo, behind a cage and on full display.

Since the 1980s, the Bronx Zoo began a major campaign to turnaround the nature of zoos from simply holding animals in captivity to recreating habitats where they could roam more freely while at the same time contributing to conservation of species facing extinction.

Not everyone is excited about the upcoming show as many animal activists are decrying the “poor” conditions of animals at The Bronx Zoo.

A group on Facebook, CompassionWorks International, responded to the show by posting the following:

The Bronx Zoo just announced that Animal Planet is airing a show this February on the ongoings at the zoo. We bet they’ll leave out Tundra’s plight enduring 90°F heat through the summer months, the tigers who continuously pace in their tiny enclosures, the camels who are forced to give rides, and Happy the Elephant, who lives in solitary confinement.

Please urge Discovery (parent company of Animal Planet) to stop glorifying a zoo where animals are suffering by commenting here: http://bit.ly/2hEPiki
#BoycottTheZoo

Clearly the zoo has come a long way and yes there are still concerns with the treatment of the aforementioned animals but there’s no denying that The Bronx Zoo is doing great work in preserving so many species as we face the largest mass extinction in 65 million years.

Now if only they come back and film season two with animals of another kind over The Bronx River—humans as they zipline from one side of the river and back coming this summer!