In response to recent news about a lion who was shot dead after escaping his enclosure at a Canadian zoo, we have released the following statement:
Born Free USA is dismayed at the tragic and unnecessary death of an African lion at Ottawa’s Papanack Park Zoo yesterday. The potential for “human error,” as the zoo explained to be the cause of the lion’s escape, exists whenever exotic animals are kept behind bars. Indeed, it is an error of judgment to keep them in captivity at all. Unlike a life lived freely in Africa, this lion, like so many others in captivity, suffered day in and day out under the gaze of visitors. He had no natural existence due to the greed of the zoo industry, and paid the ultimate price this past weekend. His death—and his lifetime of exploitation—were avoidable, and we hope that this incident can serve as a powerful example of why lions never belong in captivity.