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Wild animals are not here to provide entertainment or amusement for people. To capture wild animals simply to cage and display them in this way is a cruel and heartless practice.
There was a time, of course, when the sight of strange creatures from exotic, faraway places was so unusual and new that people’s curiosity was understandable. It was in those circumstances that the tradition of putting animals in zoos or making them “perform” in circuses was established. But these sorts of outdated practices have no place in a modern world.
The “training” of animals to perform in circuses is done by conditioning them to abuse using whips, electric prods and bullhooks. How else could they be made to do such unnatural things? Wild animals have no desire to entertain human beings. What the audience sees when an animal is used in a circus act is not an animal that is trying to put on a performance - it is an animal that is trying to avoid the pain that they’ve been conditioned to expect if they disobey.
And when you view animals kept in small enclosures in zoos, don’t fool yourself that you are seeing anything approximating how that animal would be in the wild. Their captivity creates an enforced passivity - an ugly travesty of how they should live. In a world where everyone now has easy access to incredible footage of animals living naturally in the wild, it seems absurd that anybody would still want to see those same animals caged and tamed in zoos.
In 2020, the use of animals in circuses was outlawed in the UK, but in much of the supposed “civilised world” (USA, France, Germany and many more) this abuse is still condoned. And meanwhile, zoos continue across the world - profiting from the capture and abduction of wildlife and their resulting captivity. In these more enlightened times, they frequently try to portray their work as necessary conservationism. But, in truth, conservation work needs to be done in these animals’ natural habitats. In a sane world, zoos in the UK surely have no role to play in the protection and preservation of African lions.
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Animals are captured in the wild and physically restrained,
And then shipped halfway round the world to keep us entertained.
Taken from their natural habitat, with no right to choose,
To be put on display for us in circuses and zoos.
There’s no room for this in a civilised world.
It’s time to close them down.
I just can’t see the attraction of watching animals in cages.
This is the 21st Century, and not the middle ages.
The selfishness of people can so easily be seen
In this cruelty and barbarism, which really is obscene.
Is looking at animals behind bars really a pleasant sight?
Keeping them as prisoners simply can’t be right.
Docile, depressed creatures - don’t be fooled that they’re content.
Their lives have become a spectacle, so meaninglessly spent.
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