Antelope Escapes From Zoo, Only to Be Captured and Killed
The BBC reports that the lechwe antelope who escaped from a Devon zoo has been captured and killed.
Paignton Zoo said that he made the escape after fighting broke out between males, which would have made it untenable to reintroduce him to the herd.
While antelopes may sometimes fight one another in their natural habitats, they have the opportunity to seek new territory – something that this antelope was denied in captivity. It’s impossible for these animals – who, in nature, would roam vast distances and run at speeds of up to 50 miles per hour – to express their instinctual behaviour when they’re locked up, so it’s hardly surprising that he seized an opportunity to escape.
Animals born in zoos are destined to endure a life of misery, so there was no good option for this antelope. Had he not been euthanised, he would’ve spent the rest of his life behind bars, thousands of miles from where he truly belonged.
Captivity kills the spirit and often the body, and it’s time to stop supporting animal prisons.
