The Zoo

wonderboysam

Lads I can't decide whether the zoo (specifically Dublin) is unethical or not, I'd love to go but I'd hate to support something that imprisons animals against their will. My moms always telling me how good they are in Dublin Zoo and how its not cruel at all. Thoughts?

Tar.Aldarion

That is a really complex question to answer. Some people say that they are essentially prisons for wild animals, no matter the care taken. And are just for entertainment. Others say there are some zoos with great standards, conservation work, etc. And that a lot of the animals in them are rescue animals or were in huge danger of being poached. It goes on and on. There are very different zoos, some small crap ones that are disgusting, some very large open ones like san diego, and some places that are just wildlife reserves, which are the best and not really zoos. Some are for profit, some are not for profit. A lot of zoos have accreditation that means they have minimum responsibilities and duties of care, need to do conservation work etc. Dublin zoo has the following ones: EAZA, BIAZA, WAPCA. you can always look into these and see do they sit well with you. For me it's hard to see animals like Gorilla looking depressed in a zoo and don't go to them. I can't imagine them not being stressed out by the people, noise etc and lack to free roaming. It's still not as cut and dry as all that as some zoos do give a ****. I'd prefer to visit/donate to a wildlife reserve, sanctuaries, etc. Or better yet watch a documentary and just donate to those places.

livedadream

wonderboysam wrote: »

Lads I can't decide whether the zoo (specifically Dublin) is unethical or not, I'd love to go but I'd hate to support something that imprisons animals against their will. My moms always telling me how good they are in Dublin Zoo and how its not cruel at all. Thoughts?

would you prefer to make a trip down to Fota wildlife park in Cork? it might be a trek but animals roam freely and they do some excellent conservation work.

uck51js9zml2yt

Dublin zoo do excellent conservation work. They have also revamped sever areas and are currently working on the area for the big cats, many of which are endangered.

Caoimhgh1n

Would you like to be kept in a quite a small room compared to the animals, and have strange creatures looking in at you and shouting screaming all day? I know I wouldn't.

wonderboysam

livedadream wrote: »

would you prefer to make a trip down to Fota wildlife park in Cork? it might be a trek but animals roam freely and they do some excellent conservation work.

Am from Cork and have been many times! its great alright!

thesandeman

There was an interesting discussion on this subject on Mooney on Radio 1 earlier. It started off about the Orcas in SeaWorld and ended up discussing Dublin Zoo.
I presume it's on the Player.