Chinese Zoo article... - Nightly.Net
I was curious what the general opinion of the content of
this article (and the subsequent comments) was on this forum.
Quote:
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The smiling children giggled as they patted the young goat on its head and tickled it behind the ears. Some of the more boisterous ones tried to clamber onto the animal's back but were soon shaken off with a quick wiggle of its bottom. It could have been a happy scene from a family zoo anywhere in the world but for what happened next. A man hoisted up the goat and nonchalantly threw it over a wall into a pit full of hungry lions. The poor goat tried to run for its life, but it didn't stand a chance. The lions quickly surrounded it and started tearing at its flesh. "Oohs" and "aahs" filled the air as the children watched the goat being ripped limb from limb. Some started to clap silently with a look of wonder in their eyes. The scenes witnessed at Badaltearing Safari Park in China are rapidly becoming a normal day out for many Chinese families.
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Click the above link for the full article.
I'm definitely against the inhumane treatment of animals, I don't think the conditions
some of these captive animals live in are good or reasonable and I don't support children watching violence of this nature, particularly young children as in this case - but that being said, a lot of the comments on that site act as though 'live feedings' don't happen in the wild or like that is the egregious transgression against animals rights.
Generally speaking, I think there's a big disconnect when it comes to many animal rights groups and individual supporters and the reality of what goes on in the natural world in predator/prey relationships. Infant goats and other mammals are savagely murdered and killed by lions in the wild all the time, so to me, I'm at a loss why any true and honest naturalist would have issue with a human feeding a hungry and predatory animal a creature that's still alive and might normally be on their diet otherwise. Does an animal in the wild feel less pain than it would if it were being devoured in captivity? Is the act of feeding a live animal to its predator 'sinful' when human's do it, but reasonable and understandable when Mother Nature does it?
Another thing I'm surprised, at least partially by, is the emotional response of these individuals commenting on this article who act as though China doesn't have a history of injustices and cruelty toward human beings. It seems odd now that they would start protesting Chinese-made products only when an 'INNOCENT' (sic) animal is fed alive to lions; decades of Chinese brutality, inhumanity and poor treatment of human life never spurned such a response. And what criteria makes an animal innocent anyways?
Again, I'm not stating I support anything they're doing at these zoos, but I find the opposing arguments to be somewhat contradictory and confusing. Could someone explain this to me?
Thoughts?
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they just treat em all the same way. At least the lions aren't starving
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