Zoos are cruel....

[Ihateboris]

And should be banned. It's just so sad seeing animals cooped up, just for the pleasure of selfish human beings.

Weird definition of important.

It is true!!! Humans are not needed for life to continue on earth. The planet will thrive without us. Humans are a plague on the earth!!!

That’s why it’s in inverted commas!! No life is “important!!!”

This is very true but mostly because humans would have wiped them out… It’s weird. We cage them to keep them safe from other people.

I've disliked Zoos since I saw the very distressed elephant at London zoo, during a school trip in the 70s.
I have taken my children a few times, but was glad when they both decided they didn't like the idea of animals in captivity, so didnt want to go any more.
I'm a bit dismayed to see that Newquay has been taken over by a Dutch leisure company and intends to introduce giraffes only a site only 13 acres in total. Is that in the giraffes best interests?

I don't think they're a good enough reason to keep just because some have breeding programmes. If some species go extinct at least they won't be faced with suffering at the hands of Man anymore. They're probably better off out of it tbh, earth is becoming an unbearable place to live because of wanton cruelty, pollution, changing climate, drought etc. I hate to see animals suffering.

@6ate9 as I asked you earlier are you leading the exodus of humans you keep going on about?

I come here to say about the polar bear.
I am Bristol born and bred, and went to the zoo a lot as a kid. I remember the polar bear just pacing up and down all the time. It was awful to see.

Same as flamingo land in the 90s I think it was 2 polar bears and a brown bear in a concrete enclosure with a bit of water down the slope. I went once and still see the brown bear rocking and the polar bears pacing. Awful. And not the worst animal cruelty.

I don’t think you did ask me earlier, but to answer you, NO!!!

The only life I will ever take is mine.

I know zoos are not ideal but i have also seen the side of poaching with my own eyes and that is another level of cruel. Babies being ripped from their mothers who are hacked to death leaving the babies to starve or senselessly killed.

I agree some zoos should be shut where the animals don't have appropriately sized cages or stimulation but without zoos a lot more animals would suffer far more and would be extinct. There should be stricter rules for zoos to adhere to.

Humans are the problem!! I think one answer could be Voluntary Human Extinction. If everyone stopped having children, the human race would naturally die out. Or humans could change their behaviour, but that’s NEVER going to happen.

@6ate9 that was the question.

Sorry, I don’t think I read your post. I was having to work!!!

Could do with replacing smoking breaks with a Mumsnet break @6ate9 😁

🤣 🤣

Work really does get in the way!!

It depends what the 'zoo' does. We have 2 close to us that rescue large animals. These are animals that could never be released into the wild, but already exist and need caring for. They are open to the public to raise funds to do this. A high profile rescue recently was Alex, a white tiger rescued from Ukraine. They also have tigers rescued from the circus. These animals deserve safety in their later years, but they are eye wateringly expensive to feed and lodge, not to mention vet fees. In my heart, I think rescue zoos should be largely exempt from the worst of the criticism

Yes we are coming to see Alex soon. He finally got to move it took so long.❤️

And we would all get sick as we need meat to thrive.

Before worrying about zoos have a look at the huge numbers of rabbits kept as pets for example and the terribly cramped conditions and neglect a lot of them are kept under. Yet they are bred for the pet industry despite the fact that they live for about 10 years and need exotic animal living conditions.

Look at the numbers of indoor cats across the world, living in small houses. Look at the numbers of large dogs kept in small houses with insufficient exercise. I would hazard a guess that the majority of dogs are not kept in optimal conditions throughout their lives.

Look at the huge numbers of abandoned pets when people can't or don't want to look after them any more.

Zoos are a great deal more humane than most pet owners.

Zoos do a lot of work with nearly extinct animals and without them those animals would not survive and disappear without trace

Why is it important to stop animals from becoming extinct? If humans reached near extinction, would it be ethical to set up human breeding programs and keep them in captivity?

I'm presuming this is true. https://www.freedomforanimals.org.uk/news/death-toll-in-uk-zoos

There is little info about it though.
The 19k deaths at Chester Zoo could have been mostly invertebrates.

Also all animals grow old and die. They don't live forever.