Zoos Dark Secrets

Much like the child in the poem Jaguar, by Edward Hughes, I was amazed with the animals at the zoo. When I was a kid, I was very excited to see exotic animals in person. What I didn't know back then was how dangerous and detrimental these places could be for the animals. In the video that I linked below, an investigator from The Humane Society of The United States documents the terrible conditions that animals had to put up with in Virginia at the Natural Bridge Zoo. Here, lion cubs were starved on purpose to make them easily controllable when they were forced to participate in contact sessions with guests. Many dead animals were stored in the freezer and there were too many animals for the number of staff employed. When female monkeys gave birth, their children were sold to the unregulated exotic pet trade. Injuries went untreated for months with animals suffering excruciating pain. Zoos make people believe that the animals are happy and well fed, but this is not always the case. If zoos want to continue operating, then they have to give animals adequate space and enough land for them to roam across.Linked here is the report by the investigator.