Giraffes. Down with Copenhagen Zoo.

[Carruthers]

I remember Victor the Giraffe who fell at Marwell Park Zoo, near Winchester, in 1977.

The poor chap tore a muscle and essentially did 'the splits'. They eventually lifted him but he died of a heart attack shortly after and the girl who looked after him was absolutely distraught.

I know that zoos do a lot of good work in wildlife preservation, but wild animals shouldn't really be kept in captivity.

Just my two penn'orth.

[Griff]

Originally Posted by Carruthers

I know that zoos do a lot of good work in wildlife preservation, but wild animals shouldn't really be kept in captivity.

This, exactly this. That baby gorilla pic killed me. What a horrible life he has in front of him, but his species in in trouble in the wild.

[Carruthers]

I haven't been to a zoo in years, but I have an abiding memory of many visitors seemingly being there for the sole purpose of ridiculing the animals.
Quite honestly, it was akin to a Victorian freak show. It must be said that the animals conducted themselves with rather more dignity than did the humans.

A few days ago this picture was in the Daily Telegraph:

Kirno, a 14-year-old male orangutan smokes a cigarette inside his enclosure at Jurug Zoo in Solo, Central Java, Indonesia. Visitors are throwing pre-lit cigarettes to the ape and then laughing as he smokes like a human. Management at Jurung Zoo have yet to stamp out the practice and the orangutan is now said to be smoking dozens each day.

It doesn't appear to be an isolated case. Googling the subject found this:

Zookeepers said on Friday that they plan to move Tori away from visitors who regularly throw lit cigarettes into her cage so they can watch and photograph her puffing away and flicking ashes on the ground.

The primate mimics human behaviour, holding cigarettes casually between her fingers while taking long drags and blowing bursts of smoke out her nostrils to the delight of visitors.

Taru Jurug Zoo director Lili Krisdianto said the move was aimed to protect four endangered orangutans at the 14-hectare (35-acre) zoo in the Central Java town of Solo.

Results of a medical test are expected Saturday to determine how much Tori's smoking has affected her health, said Hardi Baktiantoro of the Borneo-based Center for Orangutan Protection, which is helping to coordinate the intervention. A mesh cover will initially be placed over Tori's cage, and later she will be moved to a small island away from the public, he said.

Several Indonesian zoos have come under scrutiny following animal deaths, including a giraffe that died in the long-troubled Surabaya Zoo in March with an 18-kilogram (40-pound) ball of plastic in its stomach after years of ingesting trash thrown into its enclosure by visitors.

Indonesia is also one of the last remaining countries where tobacco companies face few restrictions on selling, advertising and promoting products long banned elsewhere.

More than 60 percent of all men light up and a third of the country's entire population smokes.

Daily Telegraph.

What can you do but throw your hands up in the air in despair?