Trail of Disasters
An Entertainment Abuses Articles from All-Creatures.org

FROM Mars Greenwood
Facebook posting, September 29, 2021

We now have unlimited options for entertainment, not to mention a greater understanding of animal sentience and needs. In today's society, ogling at animals in zoos behind glass seems crudely outdated.

Baby Elephant being 'trained' at Ringling Bros Circus facility - Whistleblower Validates Ringling Cruelty to Elephants

If we look back in history we see that keeping animals in captivity has left a trail of disasters.
Costa Rica has recognized this and in 2013 declared that it would be closing all its zoos and releasing the animals who are able to be rehabilitated to the wild. (The others would be cared for in sanctuaries or live out their lives in nature parks.) Which will be the next country to make this compassionate decision?

FACT: There is nothing "normal" about animals in zoos. Wild animals belong in the wild, not captive in cities.

• Some 20 wolves, eight lions, white tigers, tigers, jackals, jaguars have either been shot dead by special forces or are missing. - Mzia Sharashidze, Tbilisi Zoo spokeswoman
• 2018: The lions at London Zoo are so inbred that 2 out of 3 lion cubs born are dying.
• 2018: A Eurasian lynx named Lilith escaped Borth Wild Animal Kingdom in Wales and was shot dead by order of the local authority. A second lynx, Nilly, died the week earlier when she was asphyxiated by the catch pole during handling.
• 2017: A white rhino named Vince was shot dead and his horns hacked off by intruders at Thoiry Zoo near Paris.
• 2017: Government inspectors found that nearly 500 animals had died in less than 4 years at South Lakes Safari Zoo in Cumbria, UK. The inspectors cited "overcrowding, poor hygiene, poor nutrition, lack of suitable animal husbandry and a lack of any sort of developed veterinary care" as welfare concerns and recommended that the zoo's license renewal be refused.
• 2016: A 17 year old gorilla named Harambe was shot dead at Cincinnati Zoo when a four year old boy climbed into the enclosure. Opinions are divided as to whether the boy was in any danger from Harambe before he was killed by zookeepers.
• 2015: A female gorilla named Julia, who had lived at Melbourne Zoo for 20 years, was attacked and killed by a younger male gorilla named Otana who had been transferred to the zoo from the UK.
• 2015: Keepers at Duisburg Zoo in Germany shot dead a male orangutan who tried to escape, saying that a sedative would have taken too long to take effect.
• 2015: Dozens of animals — including lions, tigers, monkeys and crocodiles — died from hunger or thirst at the Khan Younis Zoo in the Gaza Strip when they were left without care during the Palestinian and Israeli conflict.
• 2012: A polar bear in Buenos Aires Zoo overheated and died. (Another heat-stressed and depressed polar bear named Arturo is currently held at an Argentinian zoo and, despite public pressure, the zoo Director has refused to have him relocated.)
• 2008: A leaked memo revealed that a zookeeper at Melbourne Zoo had stabbed an elephant, Dokkoon, more than a dozen times with a sharp metal spike. The same memo exposed that a male gorilla, Rigo, had been kept in isolation for 16 years and four seals suffered partial blindness from the chlorine in the tiny pool they were kept in for up to three years while a $20 million dollar enclosure was built.
• 2007: A kangaroo was euthanized after being hit by a train that runs through the Cleveland Zoo.
• 2004: A 13 year old male gorilla, Jabari, escaped from Dallas Zoo and was shot and killed by police.
• 2002: Flooding enclosures in Prague Zoo led to an elephant and hippopotamus being euthanized to 'save' them from drowning.
• 2000: An 18 year old sloth bear named Medusa died of dehydration when Toledo Zoo officials locked her in a den to hibernate, not knowing that her species does not hibernate.

We have been born into a society that accepts animals in zoos as commonplace but the invention of the zoo dates back thousands of years — to an era when people who looked different were also put on display. We now have unlimited options for entertainment, not to mention a greater understanding of animal sentience and needs. In today's society, ogling at animals in zoos behind glass seems crudely outdated. Certainly it's unnecessary and rarely (if ever) in the animals' best interests. 

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