This post is not about dogs or shelter animals, but instead about a very sad day for a lone Asian elephant at the LA Zoo. I will state here that I oppose zoos for all the reasons that anyone in their right mind opposes them. They are prisons to house wild animals for human amusement. The reason they are called wild animals is because they are not captive. Tigers that get out of their cages or confines and kill people are not to blame, the zoo and the people are.
Last week LA City voted about Billy, the lone elephant who lives at the LA Zoo. Their vote was based pure selfishness, Billy STAYS. Whether you are an animal lover or not, you've got to see that this is purely wrong. Elephants are roaming animals who suffer under captivity. Facts who that since the elephant exhibit opened 12 elephants have died. The program opened in 1968, and elephants live beyond 70 years in the wild. This is clear proof that these animals are not meant to be kept in captivity and that they suffer greatly.
Personally I do not understand the need for zoos nor do I like them. To see rows and rows of animals from various territories and climates all crammed together in a small park for humans to walk through and observe seems to be one of the cruelest things I can imagine. To what have we evolved as humans if only to place other animals in exhibits for us to observe? Do we have no respect for other living creatures but to remove them from their homes, transport them thousands of miles, build fake environments for them and look at them?
Furthermore, in our current financial environment more than $30 million is slated for the exhibit of one elephant. If this money was dedicated to our shelter system hundreds and thousands of animals that are in dire need could be saved. Instead LA City opts to confine the last elephant in pure misery.
It is a sad day for Billy, but yet a more shameful day for those who approve his imprisonment.
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