Zoos may be cool places of entertainment. It can be an ideal fun outing for the family where you can view all your favorite animals on display. But!! That’s just your perspective of a zoo. From an animal’s perspective it can be a house of horror and a place of suffering and inhuman treatment not intentionally but out of lack of consideration. Once its closing time, that picture perfect zoo turns into a nightmare for animals. Take a look at 15 pictures Zoos don’t want you to see.
If you take a closer look you may see several cages filled with litter. This image particularly shows a crocodile beneath a pile of garbage which is pathetic. Tragedies often happen when animals mistake garbage for food leading to poisoning, illness and physical injury.
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Exotic animals aren’t what they seem and may be an eyewash. Zoos are habituated in painting animals to make them appear exotic or resemble other species. In the image below, it is a donkey painted to look like a zebra. Humans are tricked but it is the animals which suffer the harmful reaction to toxic chemical dyes.
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When animals experience severe illness like zoochosis, they aren’t treated for the cause but given antidepressants and anti anxiety medication. The penguins in this image have been given medication but such practices make the animal’s condition worse. Anti-depressants cause unusual behavior and it’s sad to know they are prescribed such stuff all because of trauma from confined small enclosures that have no similarities to their habitat.
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To maintain a zoo isn’t easy and because of the huge overhead costs involved, authorities try cutting down on expenses which negatively impact animals. As a result, animals aren’t fed properly, their enclosures aren’t cleaned regularly and the overall health and hygiene aspect is poor due to a lack of infrastructure and staff to ensure the same.
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Animals need extensive care because they are living in captivity away from the natural resources of their natural habitats. Nutrition, hygiene, maintenance and even care are imperative in ensuring good health, But! As you can see, that isn’t the case. The camel in this image is starving and totally stressed out from lack of care.
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You’ve never gone stir crazy or else you would know what’s living in a cell like. Zoochosis is the condition experienced by animals as a result of living n captivity. Confined cages and enclosures aren’t the natural habitat of animals and as such, they suffer from mental trauma of having lost their freedom. The bear in this photograph is trying its best to escape which is obviously the prime symptom of zoochosis that takes a huge toll on animal health.
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Among pictures, zoos don’t want you to see are such images like the one below. In most zoos, the custom is to put down old animals who cannot reproduce or are too old to be an entertainment factor. In certain countries, animals are sold off to lesser zoos which could have a potentially worse environment. The giraffe in this image is that of Marius a young and healthy giraffe in Copenhagen zoo who was shot by a vet and dissected in public view and thrown to lions. His problem? He was useless for breeding because his genes were too common.
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This is a classic condition in zoos in third world countries. This is an image taken of Surabaya zoo in Indonesia which was a hellhole for animals. A report on the deplorable condition of animals in the Zoo was highlighted last year and shocked the world. As you can see the tiger is emancipated and in severe pain.
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Animals suffer the most. Even if a human falls into the enclosure and wanders into one, the animal may get shot if keepers perceive a threat to the human. Sometimes, a wrong perception ends in the animals life instead which was in the case of Harambe the gorilla that set the internet on fire.
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Where cleaning time is concerned aquatic animals face the worst treatment such as these dolphins who can be seen lying helpless in extremely less water as keepers clean their enclosure. That can be extremely traumatic for the animal. Judging from these 10 pictures zoos don’t want you to see, it can well be said that a zoo isn’t a fun thing at all and is extremely harmful to the emotional and physical health of an animal, But we humans need entertainment don't we? But on a positive note, there are zoos around the world with open air enclosures who are more responsive to animal breeds. Hopefully such examples will bring about a worldwide change.
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