Zoo animals deserve a better life.

Last weekend my family and I decided to go to Madrid (it may sound unbelievable but it was the first time I went there) since Monday and Tuesday were public holidays. Visiting a city as big as Madrid and managing to see almost everything you want to isn’t an easy task, however, we made it. For instance, we visited the Prado Museum; the Reina Sofía Museum; the Retiro Park, where I took a picture of the statue of the Fallen Angel; the Casa de Campo, which is five times bigger than New York's Central Park; as well as its zoo. I must confess that it was also the first time that I went to a zoo and I have no intention of going back there. It saddened me very much to see hundreds of animals living imprisoned, far away from their families and natural habitats. Those people who defend zoos assure that they are places destined to protect the animals which are in danger of extinction, but the truth is that in these sites there are also many species which, fortunately, are not endangered. Therefore, the main goal of zoos is to exhibit animals from all over the world, as if they were artworks. A visit to any zoo is enough to realize that the animals are stressed, unhappy and bored. I do not mean that the people in charge of looking after them do not do their work properly, I mean that these animals do not feel at ease due to the fact that they have been deprived of their liberty. They are living beings which, like us, have got feelings and therefore they suffer. I do not want to even imagine how awful it must be to live always into a cage. From my point of view, the best way of saving the poor species which are endangered is imposing financial penalties and putting the poachers in prison. Furthermore, I strongly believe that it would be better to create natural reserves in the zones where these animals live instead of zoos. In this way, they would be in their natural habitat and protected 24 hours a day at the same time. However, there are other animals, such as polar bears, which are endangered not only because of the hunting but also because of the global warming. In this case, I consider that it is appropriate that some specimens live in captivity so that the species do not become extinct. All in all, it is necessary to take measures to avoid that animals such as Sumatran elephants, polar bears, rhinos or Siberian tigers become extinct, since it would be a pity if within 30 years the only possible way of seeing these animals was through photographs.