Lockdown is how some zoo animals feel all the time – Hayley Matthews

The past few months have left me feeling reflective about us all as human beings. Have we been the best we can be these past few years? Probably not I’m sure many will agree. We’ve made too much plastic, filled our planet with crap and built over just about every green space there is. Add to the list the unnecessary caging of wild animals and I’d say it’s about time we started reversing some of the damage.

With lots complaining about being in lockdown, moaning about being bored, unable to go anywhere etc just think of the millions, probably billions of animals that we’ve needlessly caged over the years.

I’m not talking about sanctuaries or places like the Five Sisters Zoo that actually rescue and help animals, I’m talking about the circuses, the supermarket zoos and also the cash cow that is the marine park.

All of these animals and mammals, should they be able to talk to us, would most probably tell us they’d like to be free.

At least we have the knowledge that there will be a return to some sort of normality and even though we don’t know when, there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

For the animals in zoos where there is little care for their welfare, there is no knowing, just depression and sadness.

I think we have fairly good standards of animal welfare in the zoos here but it still saddens me to see animals caged who are only kept to make money. Think of how you’re feeling just now the next time you go to glare at an animal in a cage, staring back feeling a hundred times worse than your darkest days in lockdown.

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