Quote:
Originally Posted by N-E-B
Sorry but you're never going to convince me that a warm place to sleep at night with a constant source of food, clean water, and health care is better than the wild. Not a chance.
You make it sound as though these animals are tortured. They're not.
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I'm pro zoo but arguing that animals are happier in a zoo is probably false. The big animals in particular are stressed. You can see the cougars and the wolves pacing. Elephants in small herds get depressed. Polar bears get depressed.
So some animals are not that well suited to zoo life.
I also think that when you take something captive or breed it in captivity you have more responsibility than better off than in the wild as a standard of care. If as humans we create a foreign situation for an animal it's our responsibility to ensure its safe. And that means taking all reasonable percaution not just marginally better than the wild.
The much more relevant arguement is a comparison to other zoos our size which I unfortunately don't have info on. But the Calgary zoo is an accredited organization and therefore will have responsibility to have procedures audited, training programs in place, and proper independent reviews of their procedures.
The most recent review led to the decision. To remove the elephants as the space wasn't appropriate despite the elephants being a main attraction at the zoo. I think you need real statistics or evidence from the zoo accreditation bodies if you wish to criticize the Calgary zoo but let's not set the standard at didn't get hit by a train or eaten by a grizzly so the zoo had a good day.