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Zoos fail to meet the needs of elephants and other animals in their care
Posted By DP Opinion On June 22, 2013 @ 5:01 pm In Letters | 2 Comments
Thank you to Professor Marc Bekoff for revealing the true plight of Billy, the new “pachyderm heartthrob” acquired by the Denver Zoo. As this majestic animal’s sole purposes are to donate “brand-new genetic material” and be a spectacle for the zoo’s guests, his story is nothing short of heartbreaking.
If zoos truly exist to promote education and conservation, why don’t they do more to educate the public about how animals naturally behave in the wild? By not having their social, emotional and physical needs met in captivity, they exhibit signs of stress behaviors for conditions like depression, boredom and psychosis, which zoo guests accept as “normal” behavior. Additionally, why do zoos spend millions of dollars on breeding programs in the name of conservation when they can be spending that money to actually protect the animals in their natural habitats?
I will continue to boycott zoos and advocate, instead, for sanctuaries for those animals already imprisoned.
My heart goes out to every captive animal, especially Billy.
Heidi Cies, Denver
This letter was published in the June 23 edition.
Article printed from eLetters: http://blogs.denverpost.com/eletters
URL to article: http://blogs.denverpost.com/eletters/2013/06/22/zoos-fail-to-meet-the-needs-of-elephants-and-other-animals-in-their-care/22920/
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