Photo Credit: Rommel Manuel

Animals at the Manila Zoo are housed in cramped, barren cages that can't compare to their natural habitats. In the summer, they are forced to endure sweltering heat with little relief. Even animals who have been caged since birth feel the instinctive need to move around freely, stretch their limbs or wings, and exercise. All confined animals suffer from profound boredom—some so severely that it can lead to self-mutilation or other self-destructive behavior. Many literally go crazy from their confinement.

Recently, Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim announced plans to acquire more animals for the Manila Zoo. Lim plans to trade the zoo's crocodiles for elephants and giraffes from Africa as well as to acquire more animals from Thailand, India, and Puerto Princesa in the Philippines. Given the problems with the zoo's aging infrastructure—which have received widespread public scrutiny—it would be extremely cruel to subject even more animals to such miserable conditions. 
 
Zoos claim that they educate people and preserve species, but they rarely succeed on either count. Instead, they present visitors with a distorted view of wildlife. Many animals roam territories of hundreds of kilometers in the wild, but the entire Manila Zoo measures only 0.055 square kilometers. Even the biggest zoos cannot provide the space, exercise, privacy, and mental stimulation that the animals they hold captive need, much less fulfill the animals' other complex needs.

Please write to Mayor Lim and urge him to halt plans to acquire more animals for the Manila Zoo. Ask him to improve the lives of the animals already there instead or, better yet, to close the zoo all together.

You can also send comments to:
 
The Honorable Alfredo Lim
Mayor of Manila
Mayor's Office, Manila City Hall
Aroserros St.
Ermita, Manila

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