‘OUTDATED’ |
“What I do think should happen is all the large exotics in zoos should be phased out over a period of time”
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Dublin Zoo could become a “wonderful sanctuary” in the Phoenix Park, an animal rights activist has argued, as zoos are “unsuitable” for large animals.
Animals Behind Closed Doors Animal Advocate founder Gerry Boland said that all zoos are unsuitable for large animals
While acknowledging that they are not going to “go anytime soon”, he said the concept of zoos are “certainly outdated”.
“What I do think should happen is all the large exotics in zoos should be phased out over a period of time,” he told Newstalk Breakfast
“They shouldn’t be bred again. Urban zoos, really any zoo, is unsuitable.
“You can’t recreate the wild environment for large exotics.”
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News in 90 Seconds – Wednesday November 19
Mr Boland suggested that zoos should be turned into sanctuaries for native wildlife.
Dublin Zoo in the future could operate as a “wonderful sanctuary” in the Phoenix Park, he said, “where it’s taking in sick, injured or endangered species in Ireland, then releasing them back into the wild.”
biologist Éanna Ní Lamhna told the programme that the purpose of zoos in the past was to show people what these exotic animals looked like.
However, the situation had changed in recent decades and now zoos are “centres for conservation of species that are endangered in the wild”.
“Dublin Zoo is a centre where they breed the Golden Lion Tamarin monkeys, which is a small monkey from the Atlantic rainforest of Brazil,” she pointed out.
Ms Ní Lamhna added that all zoo animals are captive bred and that “putting them back into the wild is the problem”, partly because of habitat loss.
“With orangutans, they come from tropical rainforests – most of which are being cut down so they can grow palm oil and things like that,” she said.
“The zoos are very much stopping animals from becoming extinct.
“This is a really important role that zoos play all over Europe.
“They have a studbook, they share animals with each other to get as much genetic availability into them as possible.”
Campaign group Freedom for Animals has called for all elephants in zoos to be returned to the wild, insisting the world’s largest land mammals cannot live fulfilling lives in zoo enclosures.
