does anyone else feel guilty going to the zoo???

[nailpolish]

does anyone else feel like this? those poor animals locked up in the enclosures. but its so much fun. i never know whether to go or not

nailpolish - if you're up that way, the Black Isle Wildlife park is also worth a visit - up the A9, through Inverness, and then across the bridge. More 'farm' type animals, but really really nice place to go. They have some more exotic (wallabies etc) animals, and have reindeer etc.

Oh don't know, misreable men will often take a poke at anything, just to try to cheer themselves up a bit

Undeniable, hmb, but I think animals are different!

Sorry, meant to add a there

I hate Dudley zoo. Hate it, hate it hate it!!
I think its so cruel on the poor animals
When dd is older I'll take her to the safari park instead

I do sometimes depending on the zoo. Always feel sorry for the larger animals as I think they need more room.

I did feel guilty the other day letting dss go to the circus as it was one of the few with animals. They had horses and an elephant. They get checked every year but still felt bad. DH took them though but I did buy the tickets It wasn't a good circus either so wish I hadn't bothered now.

Naw, we are all the same under the skin, we just smell a little better! Well, most of us anyway!

to be serious mating isn't the key, but producing live offspring is a better indicator. Edinburgh has had a lot of sucess with rhinos mating iirc

Born Free review of UK zoos.

Oh, yes, hmb, when I said "breeding" I meant having families, not sex

I loved twycross, as an adult and as a child but still felt guilty but oh how I laughed when the big chimp urinated out of the cage onto an old guys shoulder

We went to Chester Zoo recently for DS's 1st birthday and I was really impressed, it was a really spacious and informative zoo and seemed very "up" on conservation and environmental issues.

cant believe there are still circuses with animals!

I go and make sure to contribute money. It's really, really important to us to teach our daughter to respect animals - and indeed, all of nature. We try to show her that all living creatures have feelings that are valuable.

Many of the animals in zoos were born in captivity, or there are not many of their kind left b/c of habitat destruction. I think zoos can play a valuable part of teaching children respect for animals and nature, in addition to parks and the like.

We won't even so much as kill a spider in our home. We capture them and take them outside for some relocation, relocation, relocation.

Now circuses with animals we just won't patronise.

but expat how do you explain that the animals are there because someone caught them (or their relatives long ago, or whatever) despite their feelings? how do you explain it all to your children? apart from the ones that are there possibly because if they were in the wild they would be extinct

im just asking because im not sure what to say to dd's if they/when they ask

I have explained to my kids that farmers raise animals so that we can eat them. They kids took it just fine and still have no probelm eating meat and animal based products.

I have also explained to dd (8) that when we die the atoms that make us become part of lother living thins. As the Lion King puts it 'It's a circle of life thing'

Well I love the zoo in colchester. My girls seem to learn a lot form there and they are always talking about conservation and breeding programmes. It is not ideal sometimes, but as more and more animals become extinct zoos are doing a job in this country investing in the future. Some zoos are dodgy and keep animals in less than perfect surroundings, but it is changing. I know colchester are spending loads on new larger enclosures and are breeding animals. My children realise that tigers are meantto be in teh jungle, but sometimes zoos are safer for them.

Heres they're website it is full of conservation news and activities colchester zoo

iT is there because it's parents were captured and it was born in captivity. if it had been in the wild it might well be a rug by now. neither is perfect, but life isn't perfect. Learn from it and lets move on and make things better.

I like it but dh hates it

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i love the zoo and in many cases they do have exibits as close to there natural home as they can get also i figure ds is never going to see animals like them again, did go to one zoo that was horrible and i told the owner exactly what i thought of them.

We occasionally take DD to Chester Zoo, which does seem quite a nice zoo. We always contribute extra for their conservation work.

I don't think any zoo or safari park here can compare to animals living in safari parks/enclosures in their own countries, but without modern zoos I also think we would no longer have some animals alive (or in the same numbers) as we do know.