To wonder why older kids never go to the zoo?

[anotherfinemess1]

I had a fantastic day out with DS (8 years old) at London Zoo yesterday. We all loved seeing the animals and it’s great now he’s older and can read the signs and learn about species and how they are being saved in the wild. I was really shocked that he was about the oldest kid there. Why don’t older kids (8+) go to zoos any more? I hope my son never grows out of it - at the moment he wants to be a conservationist when he grows up and surely that’s going to be really important for his generation after the older generations have made such a mess of the planet!

You thought the UK might be caging animals like it's the 1920's? Really?

To clear up, no we're not. We also have running water and electricity. It's an absolute dream over here, you should come and visit.

It’s boring AF. I hated it and opted out as soon as I could 🤣

Mine have lots of hobbies at weekends so days out tend to be done in the holidays

You know the ast majority of animals in zoos have lived their whole life in captivity, as they were bred there're?They don't get a random zebra from the Savannah. It is literally the whole life they have known.

But anyway. Wd are going in circles. I believe that keeping pets is cruel and that their welfare standards are low. You don't.

You really have a serious gap in your knowledge.

Domestic animals are bred to be domestic.

Wild animals aren't.

Keeping pets is how the animals live. Dogs and cats that are bred today wouldn't survive in the wild.

Now if you don't understand that then I suggest you ask the nearest ten year old because mine could explain it.

I grew up in Bristol and I loved going to the zoo to see the meerkats, aquarium and reptile house. I was obsessed with the reptiles! But I remember hating the crowds and seeing the larger mammals in tiny enclosures made me feel uneasy and anxious. As I grew older I don't remember consciously deciding to shun the zoo but I did have other interests by then.

Maybe cos the older kids are wise enough to realise that zoos are cruel.

Mine are 18 and 20, and still love the zoo!

I don't like zoos. I can't see animals in small cages.

I'm not keen on zoos at all. I do love a monkey sanctuary though.

Oblomov24 · Today 21:41
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I don't like zoos. I can't see animals in small cages.

Few zoos have small cages now.

Visit the highland Wildlife Park. Fantastic environments for the animals in their care.

Without such places, many species would be gone.

Is your daughter an optician?

No?
Have I missed something?

Jersey Zoo for example has various lemurs. It also does work in Madagascar itself.
According to google "Unfortunately, according to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™, 90% of all 112 known lemur species are threatened with extinction, and almost a third (31%) are now Critically Endangered – just one step away from extinction.27 Oct 2023"

Madagascar along with many developing countries has its own issues and these may not be compatible with the continuing existence of wild lemurs etc. It may be time to say goodbye to them and to elephants, lions, tigers etc.

Here in the UK we used to have wolves and bears roaming wild. I doubt we're in a position to welcome them back. I think for many wild animals their time may well have come.

I'd rather say goodbye to these magnificent animals then see them rounded up, captured, killed or locked up for the rest of their lives. No wild animal deserves that.

Some people are quite keen on the idea on reintroducing wolves in some parts of the UK. Rewilding for nature, climate and people | SCOTLAND: The Big Picture

I think letting wild species become extinct would be short sighted. I don't think we as humans understand enough about how everything interrelates to just throw away natural variation.

Do you honestly think that humans, being the selfish, self-absorbed and consumerist creatures that we are, would budge up to make room for this 're-wilding'? I don't.

I don't think humans have the slightest understanding of interrelation of the animal species and broadly, I don't think we care either.

I wish I didn't think this but I do.

All kids are different. Your child likes it, other children don’t. I’m not sure what’s hard to understand about that 🤷‍♀️

No, the optician I used to visit was proposed to in a zoo.

Weekend sports, rehearsals and sleepovers don’t allow a lot of time.

DD18 loves it but then she is studying Zoology at uni.
We both went together a couple of years ago and had a zoo keeper experience with something she is very interested in
She took her BF to Chester zoo last year and womansplained all sorts to him.

Not womansplained. Explained. From a position of knowledge and expertise. Not from a position of gender.

Kids get older and become more aware. Lots of kids are very switched on and are old enough to recognise the deep injustice in capturing and exploiting nonhuman animals for human entertainment. Tiny children tend to see an animal and think 'oh, cute!' and nothing more.

Genuine question - do we think that zoos will become economically unsustainable soon, as when these socially aware teenagers grow up they won’t want to take their own kids to the zoo anymore?

Surely we should already be there - so many saying that zoos are cruel in this thread and I assume they have never taken their children to the zoo in the first place?