Regular readers will know that I don't like zoos. I include so-called safari parks. I regard them as little better than prisons for other species where humans go to gawp just as our ancestors in less enlightened times used to visit asylums. By and large, I think zoos tell a lot of lies to people about what they do.
A popular argument for zoos is that they help conserve endangered species, but how many actually really do this? Anyway, most animals in zoos are not endangered, and of those that are, few get rewilded. Worse, it's said that captive animals are prone to suffering from inbreeding and the spread of disease.
I was amazed to discover, c/o an article in The Times, that the UK has about 300 zoos. 300! Most of these are not the sort run by the Zoological Society of London [ZSL] but by what the Times termed "amateurs".
We British like to think we have high animal welfare standards, but that seems lacking when it comes to some zoos. Just search "south Lakes safari park scandal" to see for your self. Here, the Guardian reported that "486 animals had died between December 2013 and September 2016, many of them in cruel circumstances".
What I also fail to understand is why the "good zoos" out there don't campaign to clean up the industry's image.
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