Animals do not thrive in zoos, and time and time again these losses are proof that we should be focusing on protecting animals in their natural environments – not in enclosures built for humans’ entertainment.
DARRAGH McDONAGH: ‘A number of critically endangered and near-extinct species were among 55 animals that died at Dublin Zoo in 2016, according to internal records. These included both of the zoo’s male western lowland gorillas, a giraffe, three white-naped mangabeys, and an Amur tiger – of which there are only a few hundred still living in the wild. The latest figures show that over 11 percent of Dublin Zoo’s animal population died during 2016, bringing the total number of deaths at the popular attraction to 164 during the three-year period from 2014 to 2017.
Animal inventory records obtained under the Freedom of Information Act reveal that there were also 93 births at the zoo in 2016, however, one-in-four of these new arrivals died within 30 days. A scimitar-horned oryx, a species of antelope that has been extinct in the wild for almost 20 years, also died… A total of five of these animals died at the zoo between 2014 and 2017. Two adult waldrapp ibis… died in 2016, along with a citron-crested cockatoo, of which there are less than 5,000 left in the world… The most high-profile animal death in 2016 was that of Harry the Gorilla, who died following a stroke…
A representative of the National Animal Rights Association (NARA) said the latest animal-death figures were unsurprising… “We are very saddened to hear of the number of deaths at Dublin Zoo in 2016, but unfortunately, it is not surprising. Animals do not thrive in zoos, and time and time again these losses are proof that we should be focusing on protecting animals in their natural environments – not in enclosures built for humans’ entertainment,” she said’. SOURCE…
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