Manila Zoo's Lone Orangutan Dies

Manila Zoo is bad, the one legged parrot still alive? But I also remember pigs beeing transported on pick-up trucks on the motorway hanging upside-down from their feet...

Zoos arn't bad but its when these animals are shoved into tiny bare cages with metal bars its gets wrong. I'm all for a trip to a grassy area zoo with large semi open spaces and trees. But people seem to think all zoo are just iron bars. I support good zoos but bash the bad.

How to tell a good zoo as if there were any from a bad zoo Is the animal in a cage or a habitat that at least looks like the area the animal is native to? Is the creature doing something similar to what he or she would be doing in the wild or is he or she pacing endlessley back and forth or walking in circles? Are there sufficient barriers around the exhibits or are visitors able to throw things into the cages drop leftover food within reach or tease the creatures captive in their cells? Are baby animals left with their mothers if the mothers are able to care for them properly in their own way or are they dragged out to let hoards of human children manhandle them or have their pictures taken with them? Having been across the country and seen many United States zoos and aquariums I have seen everything from zoos that make the visitor feel they have been on a genuine safari tour to roadside horror shows. Some guidance If you can smell the exhibit area before you see the animals leave. Be sure to ask for your money back...whatever you paid is not helping these animals it's only encouraging the owners to keep this hellhole open. If you see one of the employees abusing an animal report it. Ask to speak to an official or owner and ask them what they are going to do. If not satisfied call the Humane Society and the local police department. Then there will at least be a complaint on file. If you see a visitor abusing an animal report the abuse to the caregivers or owners. If the abuser is a child sometimes bringing the parent's attention to the situation helps sometimes not. In my preminister bad girl days I once dumped an entire cup of soda the size of a Big Gulp over the head of a kid who had just thrown a cup of soda at the lemur cage at the Santa Ana zoo. I do not recommend this but it was sure worth it. Of course the best thing to do is simply refuse to go to zoos or aquariums at all...

Horrible. This is not how children should learn to respect their fellow living beings on this planet.

What a hellish zoo to place such a magnificent creature in. Some quality zoos are safe havens for species that are beng massacred in their native homelands. Conversely bad zoos are nightmares for animals.