Hippo’s death
Re: “Heavy penalties not likely in hippo’s death,” Nov. 5 Thanks for focusing some attention on the scarce protection afforded to animals used in zoos. By their very nature, zoos leave animals vulnerable to a variety of dangers from which they have no defense or opportunity to escape.
Many animals have paid with their lives while being transferred from one zoo to another. In this year alone, an impala being transferred from the Toledo Zoo to the Milwaukee County Zoo was found dead after a “slow recovery from the anesthesia;” two of the three giant elands sent from the San Diego Wild Animal Park to the San Francisco Zoo were attacked and killed by the third giant eland while the animals were quarantined in a cramped barn; a rhinoceros at the Delhi Zoo died as the result of a heart infection caused by a tranquilizer needle that broke off inside her body during sedation at the San Diego Zoo prior to her being shipped. The list goes on.
Animals in zoos have been poisoned, left to starve, deprived of veterinary care, and burned alive in fires. Many have died after eating coins, plastic bags, and other items thrown into their cages. They have been beaten, bludgeoned, and stolen by people who were able to gain access to their cages. Animals in zoos are far from home, and far from safe.
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Sadly, many animals are not safe in their natural homes either, but leave it to PETA to ignore that fact. The simple fact is zoos are essential at this point to the perpetuation of some species, and will become more important in the future. But that wouldn't fit with Lisa's dogma, as a representative of one of the least ethical organisations around.
Posted by on November 9, 2007 02:53 PMLets not forget PETA has euthinised more animals last year and this year then any other organization in the world.
Posted by on November 10, 2007 07:58 AMOprah died?
Posted by on November 12, 2007 10:53 AM