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.

Yes of course. But again, that’s an “idealistic” scenario.

@Kirawaswaiting107 Or is it just facing up to the truth rather than fiddling around the edges? I hope not. I fear it may be. I am quite sure that there is good conservation work going on. I just wonder if we have left it too late and whether it will really make a difference.

Back to zoos, I am proud to be a member of a brigade that includes Chris Packham and Will Travers. And yes, they are also conservationists but that's the kind of conservation, I could support. One that does not cause further animal suffering, mess things up further or is really an excuse for zoos to breed more animals. I'm less optimistic perhaps than they are that it might work but, then again, I suppose that might be because I spend more time on MN with the pro-zoo brigade than they do.

I think there is a whole swathe of scientists and conservationists who say that in all probability we have left it too late, yes, but still want to try.

The question is how do you intend to fix the world’s over-population issue within the next thirty years? Forcible contraception? One child policies? Payments to the child-free? Even if you believe those methods to be ethical, how do you enforce and police them globally?

Without humans, wildlife would thrive and biodiversity would grow. It’s quite a dilemma!!!

I am like everyone else I'm afraid. I've got no answers.

Yeah, I don’t see why not 🤷‍♀️

@BeSunnyLemonSheep If there is nothing wrong with zoos, you'd be happy to live in one and presumably think that other animals are equally happy to live in one, why the need for cages or enclosures? Surely nobody would want to escape this paradise. Or is it that you think the lions, for example, may attack other animals and people? Well indeed they might. That's what lions do. Hunt, kill, eat. That is their natural state. But we take that away from them and, at best, offer up 'enrichment activities' which can't hope to match the richness of their life in the wild. Tough as it may be. Would you be happy to have the things you do taken away from you? Work maybe, but your hobbies, interests, offspring? Have your life controlled by someone else?
Or did you make that comment because you can't admit that you know full well that you wouldn't be happy living in a zoo and you are also aware that there is plenty wrong with them but can't admit that either?

@redboxer321 I agree with you!!!
For me, it comes down to the fact that humans are a plague on the earth and animals would thrive without us. Animals don’t need us to survive, unlike humans who can’t survive without animals. We cause nearly all the problems on this planet, and then when it’s too late we feel guilty and try to make amends, by making animals suffer all for the greater good!!!

oh we all know you two agree. But you both have some weird ideas about how great it is that species go extinct and suffer greatly in the wild. While thinking humans (also animals) should be removed from earth.

I think even someone in year 6 would be capable of understanding that this is not the case at all.

It’s humans who have made most animals extinct. Wild animals would thrive in the wild without human intervention, but domesticated pets wouldn’t.