By Camille Labchuk, Ottawa Citizen, August 24, 2017
Zoos can’t seem stay out of the news, but not for the reasons they would like.
Whether it’s the Ottawa-area Papanack Zoo, facing allegations of mistreatment of animals, the tiger-whipping Bowmanville Zoo re-opening under a new name or gorilla Harambe shot to death at the Cincinnati Zoo, the dark side of the zoo industry has seldom been more clearly illuminated.
(...)Inherent space limits mean zoos can never provide most animals with an environment that even remotely resembles the fields, forests, skies and oceans to which they are adapted. This lack of space can have horrifying consequences. Elephants roam dozens of kilometres every day to forage, bathe and socialize.
http://ottawacitizen.com/opinion/columnists/labchuk-if-zoos-didnt-already-exist-we-wouldnt-invent-them