PrincessofPenguins, thank goodness you thought of that too! I just couldn't answer this post lest someone tattled on me to the editors again. :-$

Princess-----I mentioned the humor in the first line of this posting......

Neapolitan
I was having this discussion just today - we took a visitor to Woburn Safari Park - and we both expressed our dislike of the huge trade in such animals as pets. Wild animals just don't have a place in the home - it's not good for them - it's just selfishness on the part of their owners.

I much prefer the safari park to a traditional zoo - whilst the enclosures are still not the same as the animals' natural habitats they really do have space to roam and run and play. Instead of them being shut into tiny spaces the visitors are the ones shut into their cars while the animals roam around us.

There is a place for modern zoos in terms of conservation - their role in keeping genetic diversity alive in critically endangered species is well documented.

It's the older style zoos with small, stark, concrete enclosures that I find difficult.

I went to London Zoo last year and felt uncomfortable at the size of some of the habitats. I also went to Twycross Zoo and felt even more uncomfortable as they even had large cats in small spaces.