Tell Mayor Lim to Improve Zoo Animals' Lives
Animals at the Manila Zoo are housed in cramped, barren cages. In the summer, they are forced to endure sweltering heat with little relief. Even animals who have been caged since birth feel the instinctive need to move around freely, stretch their limbs or wings, and exercise. All confined animals suffer from profound boredom—some so severely that it can lead to self-mutilation or other self-destructive behavior. In short, they literally go crazy from their confinement.
Recently, Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim made comments in support of the Manila Zoo and proposed that the aging facility acquire more animals from a preservation in Palawan. Given the problems with the zoo’s aging infrastructure—which have received widespread public scrutiny—it would be extremely cruel to subject even more animals to such miserable conditions.
Zoos worldwide are beginning to recognize that the needs of many species simply cannot be met in the close confines of zoos. Just last week, officials at the Alaska Zoo made the decision to retire their elephant, Maggie, to a sanctuary that is better equipped to handle the complex emotional and mental needs of this species. Almost two dozen U.S. and U.K. zoos are in the process of doing the same or have already closed their elephant displays.
Zoos claim that they educate people and preserve species, but they rarely succeed on either count. Instead, they present visitors with a distorted view of wildlife. Many animals roam territories of hundreds of kilometers in the wild, but the entire Manila Zoo measures only 0.055 square kilometers. Even the biggest zoos cannot provide the space, exercise, privacy, and mental stimulation that the animals they hold captive need, much less fulfill the animals' other complex needs.
Write to Mayor Lim and urge him to improve the lives of the animals at the zoo, rather than subject them to more atrocious conditions.
Personalized letters always work best. Feel free to use the following text, but your message will carry more weight if you write your own customized message and subject line.
