Tuesday June 9, 2009, Malaysia

Zoos are torture chambers for animals

I FELT a tremendous sense of sadness and helplessness as I read the letter “Save Zoo Negara and the poor animals” (The Star, June 4). I, too, would like to relate my experience at the zoo.

My first encounter was of the elephants that were kept in a sunny and heavily cemented enclosure with very little vegetation. There was barely any water for them to splash about on that hot day.

Big birds like the hornbills were put in small enclosures. Giraffes were pacing up and down in a narrow strip. Hippos were given a small pool that can barely fit them.

Monkeys were housed in a small cage with hardly enough space for them to swing about.

The aquarium glasses were dirty and mouldy. Birds were placed in a dingy and pitifully small area. The orang utans were kept in a small enclosure and they looked pretty sad. Tigers and the rest of the cat species were equally not spared.

The animals at the mini zoo in Jabatan Perhilitan, Termeloh, are going through even worse conditions than those at Zoo Negara. Animals are not given food or water when it’s the worker’s day off. This is being really cruel towards the animals and is absolutely insane.

It hurts to see these animals suffering. There is no religion which condones torture of animals.

I wonder why WWF, SPCA, Malaysia Nature Society and Sahabat Alam Malaysia are not putting in enough efforts to check on the living condition of these animals in the zoos?

Zoos and other animal “sanctuaries” are no more than “torture chambers” for the animals. They exist only to earn money from the sponsors or the operators.

HAVE MERCY,

Kuala Lumpur.

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/6/9/focus/4074433&sec=focus