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Though severely injured, a three year old boy who fell into the jaguar pit at an Arkansas zoo on Friday managed to escape. The jaguars, however, weren’t as lucky.

Arkansas Zoo

Following is video animation of the incident, starting with the boy’s grandfather placing him on the railing from which he fell:

https://youtu.be/wfwu7jGQfzw

Just 18 days earlier, a man in India fell into the tiger exhibit at the New Delhi Zoo and died after being dragged away and attacked by the tiger shown in the photo below.

Both of these tragic accidents could have be avoided if the big cats weren’t being held captive in the first place.

Jaguars live primarily in the jungles and wetlands of Central and South South America. One jaguar is thought to remain in the Southwestern United States. In the wild, they carve out and mark their territories; they hunt; and they raise their young.

Zoos enclosures, such as “the pit” in Arkansas, cannot possibly meet jaguars’ instinctual needs.

Zoos are cruel, exploitive and unnecessary. They teach children that kidnapping and holding others captive are acceptable behaviors. Learn more about why holding animals captive in zoos is cruel. And take action.

The white tiger who, on Tuesday, killed a 20-year old man who jumped into his enclosure at the New Delhi Zoo should have not been there in the first place. That’s because he, like the others being held against their will, is a wild animal.

In their natural habitat, tigers hunt for prey, raise their cubs, swim long distances, establish territories and forge relationships. In a zoo, they pace back and forth, unable to perform any of the activities that make their lives worth living.

Wild tiger on the hunt

Wild animals are innocent; so why do we put them in jail?  They are also living beings, so why do we display them like exhibits?

Zoos are cruel; exploitive; and unnecessary. They teach children that kidnapping and holding others captive are acceptable behaviors. Future generations will assuredly look at the images of wild animals in captivity with the same disgust that we reserve for images of humans who were held against their will.

Learn more about why holding animals captive in zoos is cruel. And then speak out.

The Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF) is fighting to free Tony, a 550 pound Bengal tiger being held captive in a cage at a truck stop in Louisiana.  Though big cats are outlawed in Louisiana, lawmakers made an exception for “Truck Stop Tony.”  In an attempt to free Tony and relocate him to a big cat sanctuary in Colorado, the ALDF challenging the constitutionality of the exception: “When the legislature passes a law, it should have general applicability and not confer special favors on one person.”

Photo credit: M. Haik.  Truck stop Tony’s enclosure

Tigers are wild animals who hunt, travel long distances and live with members of their own species.  They should not be roadside attractions where they are deprived of everything that makes their lives worth living.   The Colorado Wild Animal Sanctuary could provide Tony with a 20 acre habitat to roam freely and interact with other tigers while receiving full time veterinary care, enrichment activities and a better diet.  To see how you can help, please visit Free Tony the Tiger.

Six months after a three-week old tiger drowned at the London zoo, three more tigers were born there. PETA has capitalized on the attention brought by the drowning and the births to call for a boycott of the zoo, which they describe as a “prison with living exhibits.” The zoo director, David Field, defends captivity, saying “The wild is just simply not an option for many species now, with habitats being destroyed and illegal wildlife trade soaring at unprecedented rates. Conservation breeding programmes are the only way to ensure a future for these animals.”

Tiger Cubs at London Zoo

By saying that the “wild is not an option,” the London Zoo director is suggesting that captivity is the only option for some animals. That message only reinforces the point of view that animals in zoos are money-making exhibits, not ambassadors who unwillingly sacrifice their freedom to help to conserve members of their species who live freely in their natural habitats. If we believe in wildlife conservation, then we should be supporting the work of groups like Sea Shepherd that are protecting animals and their habitats. To find out how you can help protect wild animals, please see this list of 10 other wildlife conservation groups.