All zoos should be closed - other species have rights | Philip Hoare

When nearly 500 animals die in less than four years in one zoo, surely it's time to reconsider this anachronistic way of showing our children that the world is full of beautiful animalsWhat does it take to close down a zoo? The death of nearly 500 of its captives in less than four years? The tragedy of South Lakes Safari Zoo in Cumbria is measured out in those losses - inconsequential or unlucky as they may be seen in the eyes of some, pathetic and terrible in the eyes of others. It is a tragedy that is both human and animal, one in which our emotional investment in, or disconnection from, the natural world plays out. It is the paradox with which we have to live, if we live with animals. And it is one in which there will, it seems, always be one set of losers - those who do not possess our language or our culture with which to protest at their treatment.For the vast majority of us, a zoo is our first and perhaps only introduction to a living "wild" animal. The power of that communion is not to be understated. I asked a friend if he felt visits to a city zoo with his five-year-old daughter and four-year-old son were valuable - or even valid - as educational experiences, beyond the obvious moral questions that underlie them. "Yes," he replied, without equivocation. "But we don't have the right to see all animals. [They] not should expect to be able to see a tiger." Continue reading...