The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : PETA activists stage protest

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jul 12, 2007
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Kerala

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

PETA activists stage protest

Staff Reporter

Against alleged laxity of city zoo in following Central Zoo Authority guidelines

— Photo: S. Mahinsha

For Better treatment: Activists of the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals staging a protest in front of the city zoo on Wednesday against the recent death of animals there.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Activists of the animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) held an hour-long protest in front of the city zoo on Wednesday against the death of animals there as a result of the foot-and-mouth disease (FMD).

While one activist, dressed up as a blackbuck, stood inside a ‘coffin’ with a wreath in his hands, two others were dressed up in ‘bio-hazard’ suits and held placards that read ‘Zoos are Deathtraps’ and ‘Zoos are Hazardous for Animals.’

A crowd of curious passers by soon gathered around the activists as they stood in the scorching mid-day sun to press home their argument that life for animals in the zoo is one full of pain and suffering.

“The Central Zoo Authority(CZA) has asked zoos that have cloven hoofed animals to regularly vaccinate them against the foot-and-mouth disease. Zoos are also expected to have a quarantine facility so that it can immediately isolate an animal that shows signs of infection. The Thiruvananthapuram zoo does not have a quarantine facility. Also, it does not regularly vaccinate its hoofed animals. We are asking that zoos follow the guidelines of the CZA,” N.G. Jayasimha, PETA’s campaigns manager, told press persons.

According to Mr. Jayasimha, the CZA has indicated to PETA that the FMD outbreak in the Thiruvananthapuram zoo is probably owing to the fact that the zoo did not act as per the CZA guidelines.

“Zoos have become prisons and the animals there live life like a prison sentence without parole,” Mr. Jayasimha added.

PETA has written a letter to the zoo officials asking them to run the zoo as per the stipulations of the CZA. However, the zoo is yet to reply to this letter, he added.

Pamphlet

A PETA pamphlet given to press persons claims that a recent study by British scientists has recommended that wild animals be altogether phased out of zoos. The study’s recommendation only reflects what is commonsense; animals that are used to roaming free in the wild suffer enormously in captivity, the pamphlet points out.

Zoos try to justify their continued existence on the grounds that they breed endangered species, the pamphlet adds.

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