London Zoo Loses Elephants
Posted by Aureth on Mon 5 Nov 2001 - 20:17
After a tragic accident in which a zookeeper at the London Zoo was crushed by an elephant, the zoo has announced that all three of its elephants will be moved to a country location. This ends a nearly 200 year presence of elephants in London, and has sparked a controversy over urban zoos and whether retaining large animal displays in them is humane and appropriate.
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Aureth — read stories — contact (login required)an agronomist and Cornwuff from Northern Illinois, interested in sf, homebrewing, photography and running
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Sorry to hear about London Zoo losing its elephants there. Sorrier still for the poor zookeeper's family.
On the ethics of animal displays, I'd have to say yes as long as the habitats are kept clean and roomy. Of course, considering the meager finances most zoos are forced to hobble along with, just making sure the cages get washed down can sometimes be a problem (or so a friend who has worked in several zoos has informed me).
Though the real problem zoo safety more often revolves around the sadists and nimrods who go to zoos and spend their time tormenting the animals. It doesn't matter how much cash and care the keepers lavish on their charges, all you need is one cretin who tosses the animals some food laced with lye or raw meat roled around some barbed wire or fishhooks and bam, good bye to the zoo tiger. You folks wouldn't believe the litany of horror stories I've heard and read.
Ardashir
Urban zoos huh? I can only picture what that means, and it aint pretty. The zoos around here are roomy, like San Diego Wild Animal Park, where the animals have room to move. I can only picture London Zoo as concrete and steel bars now. Is this the case?
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