General Chat

...........there out dated and cruel, I do I hate them, we have one that comes round here every year and I have made my opinions known, with alot more people, its about time these places were shut down for good!!! we fight on,in hope!!xxx

I have never been to one for the same reason's Roxanne! X

I totally agree Roxanne.. I dont like zoo's either... Animals are not meant to be caged!! Safari parks are a better option in my opinion Maz x

Me too Maz!!zoos are also on my hit list!!x

They are Debby, But infortunatly there not in Spain, but they will be one day!!xxx

Im off to colchester zoo tomorrow They do a brilliant job regarding conservation, and breding programmes. the animals are well cared for and the enclosures are big enough. I dont like circus's with wild animals in, used to like the performing dogs though when I was a kid. Elaine x

Debby, Im convinced bull Fighting will come to an end soon, its already been banned in certain Provinces which is a real step forward, thanks to education there are so many Spanish people against cruelty these days, real progress!!! xx

Elaine... Afraid we have to agree to disagree on this one babe! LOL! My personal opinion is that no zoo, (I have ever seen!) has enough enclosure for these animals. Maz x ;o)

Hi Roxanne,I have two sons,they are 42 and 39yrs old ,they have never been to a circus in their life I just would not take them.Too cruel! They don`t feel that they have missed out on anything either.

i with Maz 100%, Animals need space in a natural enviroment, conservation should be about conserving their enviroment not making a false one for them, these places are selfish and do nothing for the issues of conservation!!!

i'me with you on this one roxanne,and i wish you well with your campaign. some of our zoos,are excellent,and they're very proud of their breeding programmes...but a few need modernising. i prefer safari parks,where you just drive around,and see the animals in a more natural environment. bryan.

Marwell Zoo does a remarkable job looking after, breeding and releasing endangered Tigers. All the animals have large enclosures with plenty of food and water and protection from predators. I do not approve of animal acts in circuses.

Hi Roxanne I hate the old outdated Circus's that use Animals for people's entertainment there is absolutely no need for them. There are a few GREAT circus's doing the rounds that don't use animals and they are far more entertaining than the old fashioned ones. I never brought my children to a Circus that had Animals in them and although I have brought my children to Zoo's I would prefer if Wild and exotic Animals have to be kept in captivity they could be kept in Wild Life Parks. Maz you are right there is no Zoo that can cope with the space these animals need a few years ago I joined the Born Free Foundation to petition for the release from a horrific enclosure two Polar Bears they had been kept for years in a concrete pit, if anyone has seen the reports of Eastern European Zoos well thats the way these bears were kept, it was pitiful to see them walking up and down the same way all day long they had worn a huge amount of the path they had made down, no interest in anything whatsoever. They were not the only ones to be kept in appalling conditions. The Zoo's excuse NO MONEY well they shouldn't be allowed to have the Animals then. Conservation is always better where the Animals come from not taking them away and putting them behind bars!!! The Bears found a good new home but the Penquins all died along with the Seals. Please check the Born Free Foundation website there is a ZOO CHECK section. http://www*bornfree*org.uk/index*shtml Pat x

Thanks for adding that Pat!! the bornfree foundation is a very good charity and does EXCELLENT WORK!!!xxx

LOL. Sorry Roxanne I didn't mean that to be quite so long, that's the second thread I have rambled on a bit too much in the past couple of days. You can see some things do set me off, don't they? Thanks for putting the thread up it gave me another chance to mention Born Free Foundation ;-))) Pat x

Well, whilst down in Cornwall last week I took my son to the Moscow State Circus ......... NO ANIMALS. Brilliant night ! Weird, just 5 minutes ago I was watching Gerry Cottrell on 'Flog It' BBC2 and found out he own Moscow state Circus .... and now this thread comes up... Am I missing something here or is someone upstairs trying to get a message through to me ??? I saw a documentory a few years ago now - filmed secretly at a travelling circus. The animals were badly treated, neglected and starved to make them do the tricks they needed to learn. Heart Breaking to see what goes on behind the scenes away from public eye. Its a shame that todays children will probably not see a seal with a ball on its nose, or an elephant climbing up another elephants back etc etc, but to be quite honest I would rather see animals in a zoo rather than a circus .... but I don't really trust zoo's that much either. Elaine :-)

Elaine, i have to say I wont be happy until all 'Animal Circus' and 'Zoos' are closed, wild animals are just that WILD!! If we wish to see them we should visit them in their natural habitat not enclosed!! we have alot to answer for, we are destroying their natural habitat daily, something that i feel very strongly about, Penguins in Florida??????????

I hate Circuses that use Animals - they are not put on this earth purely for our entertainment. However, I am not opposed to Zoos as such. I have been to many Zoos and Safari Parks that are brilliant and clearly have Animal Welfare at their heart. However, there are still many that keep Animals in tiny enclosures which is wrong. I agree with the comment about Safari Parks - I do hate to see Big Cats caged particularly. I do also agree that Animals should ideally be kept in their natural habitat and do feel that more should be done to keep them in the wild, but sadly we do not live in an ideal world and at least the really good Zoos and Safari Parks keep many species from becoming extinct. Some Zoos have really good, successful breeding programmes - this wouldn't happen if the Animals weren't happy. Glad to see the Spanish are finally loosing their appetite for Bull Fighting - I do think tourism has helped that. I went to Portugal a couple of years ago and the Reps told us that the only people who go to see the Bull Fights now are the Germans! Kaye x

Close down the Zoos? OK Where are rescued and traumatised primates going,if not to somewhere like 'Monkey World' and once there ,are they not going to be allowed to breed? How unnatural. Many of these animals were smuggled out as babies after the mother had been shot and now couldn't survive in the wild. The people there have just been to Asia to help and advise in setting up reserves (similar to a National Park) Secondly who is helping to save the habitat of the Orang Utang Which the locals are destroying for crop cultivation.No one, and a few locals there are having to rescue survivors with no financial help, except from your despised Zoos Nuff said (I've probably said too much anyway) Jane

In an ideal world, all wild animals would stay wild....and die in the wild But many of these animals in their natural habitat are killed by the people living alongside them through fear, or mainly greed for ivory, fur etc. Wild animals steal and kill their livestock so are shot. If we emptied all the zoos in the world and let the animals back in their natural habitat, many would die and species would die out. Many animals in zoos are the offspring of zoo animals going back generations. So releasing them into the wild often would mean certain death. There are not enough wildlife 'Safari' parks to accomodate all those animals in zoos. Colchester zoo, as some other zoos mainly take in animals from other zoos or rescued animals, they rarely take in an animal straight from its natural habitat. However they are very conservation minded, this is from their website. Copyright colchester zoo. Colchester Zoo has announced plans to create a wildlife reserve in South Africa. Negotiations are currently underway to purchase three adjacent cattle farms in an area of Kwazulu Natal in South Africa. The land which covers more than 20,000 acres will cost more than £1 million. Once the cattle have gone to other farms a huge perimeter fence will be constructed and it will be possible to rehabilitate the land with wildlife including rhinos, giraffes and kudus as well as 3 types of small antelope; bushboks, oribis and duikers. Long term it is possible that cheetah and wild dog will be introduced to the reserve due to their critical conservation status. A research programme will be initiated to determine the species currently within the park as well as to monitor the impact of the new species that are introduced. It is also likely that some of Colchester Zoo?s keeping staff will go out to train at the reserve to give them knowledge of the wild species that they care for at the zoo. In addition, an education programme will be set up to keep Colchester Zoo?s visitors and school children informed about the project. It is also hoped that the local Zulu communities will gain from the development creating employment for the construction of a road, the perimeter fence and sewage and water systems. In addition, the local communities will be assessed to see if the reserve needs to become involved in creating more facilities for the villagers. It is likely that it will take 3 to 4 years for the project to be fully up and running but it is the start of the realisation of a dream that has been many years in the planning. To enable us to create this reserve we have formed a sister company - Colchester Zoo South Africa PTY Ltd. As far as we know this will be a first for the UK to have a zoo that owns land in Africa and is therefore directly involved in saving wildlife.