Margaash the Snow Leopard Shot Dead for Behaving Like Wild Animal
The BBC reports that the snow leopard who escaped from Dudley Zoo has been captured and killed.
First harambe now margaash! Will zookeepers ever learn 😔 pic.twitter.com/H3LoeL0dkw
— Daniel Murray (@DanMurray11388) November 30, 2018
Reports say that Margaash made the escape because a zookeeper left his enclosure open.
Snow leopards, like all animals – humans included – want to be free. When those who have been imprisoned, like Margaash, see an opportunity to escape their dreary lives, they often take it.
Sadly, these acts of self-liberation are often their last, as many once-captive animals who attempt to follow their natural instincts are killed. Zoos are in the business of misery and death – from taking wild animals from their homelands and disrupting their familial bonds to subjecting them to unnatural living conditions.
Holding them captive is one tragedy that often leads to another – and the days of facilities that charge people to see depressed and deprived animals behind bars are numbered.
Captivity is a living hell for animals, who are meant to be free. Enclosures in UK zoos and safari parks are on average 100 times smaller than the minimum home range for animals in their natural habitats.
In zoos, their every decision – including what to eat, when to sleep, and who their mate is – is controlled by humans. They can’t roam vast distances or do many of the other things that are natural and important to them. Often, they aren’t even allowed stay with their families, as young animals are commonly transferred to other zoos.
The daily stress and lack of stimulation often leads to abnormal and self-destructive behaviour – for example, pacing, walking in tight circles, rocking, swaying, and self-mutilation – a condition known as “zoochosis”.
This type of behaviour is almost unheard of in their wild counterparts. Zookeepers sometimes give the animals antidepressants, tranquilisers, or antipsychotic drugs to try to conceal their distress.
Forced to live a miserable existence in the name of entertainment, a life behind bars is no life at all for wild animals.
What Can You Do?
Animals in zoos, travelling shows, and circuses are forced to spend their lives in captivity just to entertain the public. Take action for them by signing our petition calling on the Welsh Assembly to ban wild-animal circuses and mobile zoos so animals aren’t subjected to a lifetime of suffering:
