Letter of the Day | Animals deserve care and respect

THE EDITOR, Madam:

I hope that the horrible recent episode with the zoo employee tormenting the lion and getting his finger bitten (off?) will help to underline the fact that a zoo is not a circus or a place where people can get to harass, annoy and torment animals because they are locked in cages and cannot (most of the time!) retaliate or get out to defend themselves against the abuser.

How animals are to be treated is actually demonstrated very nicely at our beautiful, good old Hope Zoo in Kingston, and I am proud and glad that the Hope Zoo is there to represent the love and caring that we Jamaicans feel, or should feel, for any animal under our care.

Having seen evidence of the conditions in which the animals at this ‘Jamaica’ Zoo are forced to exist, I fail to see any cause for us to be proud of the name ‘Jamaica’ Zoo. The said zoo does not in any way represent anything good about Jamaica, and the name of our country should not be associated with this ‘Zoo’ at all.

I suggest that the name of this ‘Zoo’ be changed, say, to something like ‘Cruelty Zoo’ just before being permanently locked down, and the animals housed elsewhere to live out the rest of their lives in peace and a little comfort at last.

Let’s now see if anything meaningful and lasting is done by the owner, during this (presumably temporary) lockdown, and the necessary changes made and maintained if and when it is reopened again, including a radical change of attitude towards the animals by the keepers that are supposed to care for and respect them, and to demonstrate this care and respect in front of the visitors.

DISGUSTED