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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to not want to go to the zoo?

71 replies

MilaV · 10/08/2011 22:47

I find it depressing, animals have so little space. None of my friends seem to share my views, they keep insisting we go (the ones with children as well as the ones who don't - zoo lates have become so popular). I don't wat to point it out or say anything not to look preachy. But seriously, do people not think about this??? I feel so bad every time I see an ad on the tube (that penguin beach, or any other photoshopped image showing the animals having "fun"). Life in zoos for animals is terrible :(

OP posts:
Kayano · 10/08/2011 22:48

Or we could leave nature to it and loads more would be extinct?

worraliberty · 10/08/2011 22:49

Zoos do wonderful things for animals with breeding programmes etc

evenlessnarkypuffin · 10/08/2011 22:50

Yes. Because thats why there are Meerkats in Chessington. And Giraffes in London. The great threat of extinction.

Original poster
MilaV · 10/08/2011 22:51

There are natural reserves. Zoos are for people to look at caged animals. Some animals tolerate this better than others. In the case of elephants, it's terrible how much pain they can feel, most of them go crazy. I don't even want to think of primates. :(

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squeakytoy · 10/08/2011 22:53

YABU, the projects that Zoos do for the benefit of animals in the wild, and the education a child receives at the zoo itself are definately worthwhile.

Most of the animals (if not all) have been bred in captivity and are not missing their natural habitat.

madhattershouse · 10/08/2011 22:56

Some zoo'z are better than others tbh..come to Colchester Zoo they work so hard to keep the animals happy, and those in the wild alive!

Original poster
MilaV · 10/08/2011 22:57

@squeakytoy, where do you take from that wild animals born in captivity don't need space, or a natural living? Wild animals need space and to be in the wild. I definitely don't think it's ethical to have them in a zoo just so children can look at them...

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Original poster
MilaV · 10/08/2011 22:57

@madhattershouse I agree with you, some are better than others. I was quite disappointed at London's, I found the animals had so little space and they looked dirty and not well looked after.

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GypsyMoth · 10/08/2011 22:58

which zoo is this op?

emmam25 · 10/08/2011 22:59

having recently been to Colchester Zoo and seen the brilliant work they are doing with captive breeding programmes, fund raising and education as well as the well thought out and spacious enclosures I think YABU and judging on how zoos used to be rather than how they are now. I would say go the zoo and then make a judgement.

Original poster
MilaV · 10/08/2011 22:59

The London zoo, the one in Regent's Park

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wompoopigeon · 10/08/2011 23:00

But London Zoo doesn't have elephants? Most of their big animals were shipped out ages ago.
Just say no and that it's not your thing. No need to preach. Your friends should respect it even if they disagree. ZSL is actually a weird one to complain about in particular as they have amazing amounts of conservation work in fifty countries- I get their mag and it really is impressive stuff. The penguins that they have for example are not the cutest species but the rarest species and they are doing considerable work to protect them in the wild. I can think of much worse zoos TBH.

Esian · 10/08/2011 23:01

Yanbu. The tiger at Chester zoo has a massive enclosure but seems to spend all it's time pacing around the perimeter. It had worn a path along the fenceSad

Original poster
MilaV · 10/08/2011 23:01

I'm glad to hear that wompoopigeon. I was there last year and I think I saw elephants... could I be wrong? Overall, I got a bad impression of the zoo.

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CogitoErgoSometimes · 10/08/2011 23:03

As a regular visitor to Whipsnade I'd say it's the total opposite of something depressing with no space. So big that it takes a bus to get round the thing. Wallabies and peacocks pinging about all over the place hoping to grab a bit of someone's lunch. Lion enclosure big enough that sometimes you can't actually see the lions ... Hmm I think the animals there were either born in captivity, rescued or transferred from other zoos rather than taken from the wild. They all look very well cared for whereas life in the willd can be nasty, brutish and short for animals. Antelopes, as I discovered on a trip to Africa, are just walking Pedigree Chum for hyenas.

BikiniBottom · 10/08/2011 23:04

I am sure if I was born in a cage I would not be happy living in one. One's instincts overrides one's birthplace.

Zoo conservation work is important but many creatures simply do not have enough space. Children can get a similar education in a safari park.

So on the whole YANBU. I get quite depressed even at some of the "nicer" ones.

squeakytoy · 10/08/2011 23:04

London Zoo hasnt had elephants for a while.

I was there last month, and it was a very interesting day out. None of the animals seem distressed, and as WomPoo says, ZSL is very heavily into conservation.

FoundWanting · 10/08/2011 23:05

I don't object to zoos. We have some nice ones locally and the work that they do is very inspiring.

I wouldn't go near a zoo in August because of the wasps. Can't you say you have a wasp phobia? Grin

madhattershouse · 10/08/2011 23:06

Colchester used to be depressing, I hated when we went there when I was young! The new owners have spent a fortune making it nice for the animals and visitors..no cages to be seen!

BikiniBottom · 10/08/2011 23:07

I have been to London zoo a few times and the lion enclosure in particular is incredibly depressing. There is no way that space is big enough for such large cats and that is just one example.

ClaireDeLoon · 10/08/2011 23:07

YANBU yes there are certain captive breeding programmes that do good, but mostly it's about unhappy caged animals in unnatural environments for people to gawp at. The captive breeding angle is a get out clause really so that people can feel good about their gawping. Most of the zoo species aren't endangered at all. Just look at dolphinariums for example, still being captured from the oceans to perform tricks for tourists.

Ungratefulchild · 10/08/2011 23:07

I completely and utterly agree with uou MilaV. Zoos are horribly cruel and degrading for animals. I last went a zoo when ds1 was a baby (London zoo) and I vowed I would never return. The only person I know who has ever agreed with me about this was interestingly a zoologist, who said that there was no need for zoos in this day and age,

Jajas · 10/08/2011 23:07

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
MilaV · 10/08/2011 23:08

Yes no elephants in London zoo, I just read an article that they had been shipped to a natural reserved somewhen near 2001. So my mistake, I was thinking of the zoo in Barcelona, which had a case of an elephant who went mad from captivery. Apologies for getting that wrong.

Regarding London's zoo, I now recall that the animals that most impressed me were the giraffes (I really thought they had little space) and the gorillas.

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madhattershouse · 10/08/2011 23:08

I did mean Colchester Zoo btw! I believe Colchester itself is still depressing Grin