In one of his books, Gerald Durrell described in vivid detail how he extracted a particularly evil parasite living in an animal’s tail. The parasite lived inside and gradually ate the tail, and at the smallest alarm, it would hide deep inside the tail. Durrell added—I wish all those protesting to animals living in zoos and claiming animals lead far happier lives in the wild—I wish they all saw this!
I have my own cat shelter so I know too well how many risks cats are facing. In my cat zoo, there are for example a three legged cat and another cat that was hit by a car—if I did not happen to be nearby purely by chance and take her immediately to a clinic, she would have died.
Of course, people are unable to stop suffering of their own kind, not to mention other species. But it does not mean that we don’t need to do anything about it.
Durrell added—I wish all those protesting to animals living in zoos and claiming animals lead far happier lives in the wild—I wish they all saw this!
I agree we shouldn’t assume that animals lead far happier lives in the wild; but I don’t think that means we should support zoos (which unlike sanctuaries exist for the benefit of humans rather than the benefit of the animals, and typically rely on breeding animals).
In one of his books, Gerald Durrell described in vivid detail how he extracted a particularly evil parasite living in an animal’s tail. The parasite lived inside and gradually ate the tail, and at the smallest alarm, it would hide deep inside the tail. Durrell added—I wish all those protesting to animals living in zoos and claiming animals lead far happier lives in the wild—I wish they all saw this!
I have my own cat shelter so I know too well how many risks cats are facing. In my cat zoo, there are for example a three legged cat and another cat that was hit by a car—if I did not happen to be nearby purely by chance and take her immediately to a clinic, she would have died.
Of course, people are unable to stop suffering of their own kind, not to mention other species. But it does not mean that we don’t need to do anything about it.
I agree we shouldn’t assume that animals lead far happier lives in the wild; but I don’t think that means we should support zoos (which unlike sanctuaries exist for the benefit of humans rather than the benefit of the animals, and typically rely on breeding animals).