Zoo or prison....you decide?!

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I got to have the experience today of visiting the local zoo in the town which I have been living in for the past month...and let me just say - Oh My God!
I have never seen such conditions like this in my life! It looks like in its hay day it might have been an okay facility but now it is just run down and awful! It was so awful that I couldnt even bring my self to see the whole zoo and all its animals.
The only ones I saw were the lions/tigers and the baboons.
Unlike the many zoos that you and I are use to where the lions are keep in large enclosers allowing them to have room to run and walk and hide etc, these lions are kept in cages smaller than the average canadians bedroom. Not only is the encloser small but it is occupied in most cases by 3 or more lions. The tiger was lucky enough to be by its self, probably simply to avoid mixing the species. If it couldnt get worse, it does! When the families come to visit, the animals are then provoked with meat so that the lions jump up and look all "wild". Its more like a circus then a zoo.
Then I saw the baboons and other monkeys, most of which are kept in even smaller cages than the lions. They also all show all the behaviours of animals which are kept in horrible conditions with nothing to stimulate them and allow them to preform their natural behaviours.

The surprising thing is that the whole reason for my trip to the zoo wasnt even to see these "exotic animals"....I was there to vaccinate 3 dogs which are being rescued from the even worse conditions they are held captive in. When I was told that there are 6 dogs and over 20 cats caged at the zoo, I had to ask WHY?!
Apparently at least in the case of the dogs, when there were disputes over a dog (e.g. it was brought to the police for some reason) and they couldnt be solved, the people in power thought it would be a good idea to put them in cages at the zoo. 3 of the 6 dogs were vaccinated today and should be released from the zoo to better homes in the coming week. The worst part of all this, in order to get the dogs out and to better homes, a person had to pay a certain price for them to be released....as if she were buying their freedom. I have never heard of something so obserd in my life. I dont even think my words can even express all of this so as you can see I have included some pictures.

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Photos

Egyptian dog cage?
This dog apparently has been in this cage for over 2 yrs. In order to get out (which he is never allowed to do) he must exit thru that tiny square in the far right corner!

Bring in the circus
many families were standing around for the show....in this particular cage there were about 5 lions.

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[dad]

i love you
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