Urges Other Zoos to Follow Lead
Lucknow - People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) are celebrating today following the announcement of the release of Happy, a baby crane, whose fate had been unclear after officials at the Prince of Wales Zoo claimed they wanted to keep her imprisoned for 'entertainment', denying the bird the freedom she deserved. PETA's campaign to encourage officials to free the bird was just getting into high gear when the announcement of her release was made. Only this week, PETA received a petition with more than 1000 signatures from Tamil school children and had been receiving telephone calls, letters and e-mails from people all over the world who agreed that Happy should be freed, responding to the posting of an Action Alert on PETA's Web site PETAIndia.com.
In a letter to Uttar Pradesh Chief Wildlife Warden R. L. Singh, Poorva Joshipura, PETA's director of investigations in India, writes, 'On behalf of millions of concerned people from all over the world, I thank you for deciding to allow Happy to fly to freedom. Birds are meant to be free to fly and play in the sky. A cage could never have given her that … Please consider the letters you have received as a request not only for the freedom of Happy but for all of the animals kept jailed at the Lucknow zoo. As you know, Prince of Wales has become infamous for the mysterious deaths of "inmates", including the recent deaths of a monkey, a black buck, a stag and a squirrel in just one week. Lions and tigers have also died untimely and poorly explained deaths. An elephant named Jaya, died after being improperly transported earlier this year. Jaya suffered numerous broken bones and other painful injuries. Another elephant, Damini, died from depression and starvation just more than a year ago. Zoo insiders have reported that sub-standard food has been given to the animals on numerous occasions, and other reports indicate a lack of veterinary care. Zoo authorities themselves have admitted to the media that the animals at the zoo live in dire conditions.'
Sadly, other animals kept imprisoned in zoos across India also continue to suffer. Recent visits by PETA investigators to Indian zoos has revealed that many of the animals suffer from zoochosis, a debilitating psychological disease caused by severe stress in confined animals. Joshipura especially noted the conditions at Mumbai's Jijamata Udyan zoo after learning of its plans to acquire two white tigers claiming, 'The elephants, so intelligent, social and majestic in the wild, were kept chained by two feet and in solitary confinement. These animals displayed psychotic behaviour by engaging in repeated head-bobbing, swaying and showing a strange obliviousness to the people and the world around them. The monkeys showed signs of the illness by repeatedly biting and licking cage bars, pacing and overgrooming themselves, one of them to the point of self-mutilation. The big cats, although social in the wild, were all kept in separate, tiny cages, causing them to pace pathetically with nowhere to go. The bear, trapped behind a fence laced with spikes and barbed wire, pitifully walked in endless circles. … Prisons like the Jijamata Udyan Zoo claim that they exist for education and conservation, but we must question what is to be learned by watching tigers and other animals mentally and physically deteriorate in their barren cells.'
Specifically, PETA is asking zoo officials across the country to adopt a 'no new animals' policy and stop breeding programmes so that no more animals are born 'only to live a life of hell'. Says Jason Baker, PETA's India campaign coordinator, 'Conditions at Indian zoos are so poor that immediate steps must be taken to release the animals who can be freed back into their natural homes or place them in wildlife sanctuaries where they can live their lives out in peace.'
American actress Sheryl Lee and British model Mola have joined PETA's campaign to free animals from zoos by appearing in PETA's latest zoo ads, caged and calling for freedom. For a copy of these ads, PETA's correspondence or more information, please contact PETA.
