Boston Zoo May Close and Kill Animals

I'm not a fan of zoos on principle. But I know there are good zoos and bad zoos. Unfortunately I think there are way more bad zoos than good ones.

But even for a bad zoo, this is awful. From the Boston Globe online....

The Franklin Park Zoo, a Boston institution that has drawn generations of city and suburban families, might be forced to close its doors and possibly euthanize some of its animals as a result of the deep budget cuts imposed by Governor Deval Patrick, zoo officials said Friday.

Without more state funding, those zoo officials said, they will run out of money by October and have to close both the Franklin Park Zoo and its smaller counterpart, the Stone Zoo in Stoneham. They would lay off most of their 165 employees and attempt to find new homes for more than 1,000 animals, the officials said.

The zoo officials, in a written statement that echoed a letter sent earlier to legislative leaders, said they would be unlikely to find homes for at least 20 percent of the animals, “requiring either destroying them, or the care of the animals in perpetuity.”

Isn't the fact that they'd mention euthanizing a mockery of the vaunted principles upon which zoos are always promoting themselves? That they care for the species and animals? Examples like Franklin Park's just create cynics among us.

Who would they euthanize? It doesn't say. It could be a ploy to pressure the State government, but still...that's not just not something you should pose as an option or throw around as an idle threat. It's contemptible and shows you for who you really are.

PS. Look at the comments at this. A lot of the comments are just about keeping zoos open for families and children. "Where will our kids go to see the animals?" Uh, your kids will at least be alive while the animals are the ones who die. That kind of sucks for the animals, don't ya think?