Any animal being used as a prop for entertainment is suffering behind the scenes. Taking children to a zoo or aquarium ultimately imparts the view that animals are entertainment and ours to imprison at will. Animals are here with us, not for us.

Of 1,200 zoos surveyed by @world_animal_protection, 75% of them engaged in at least one cruel protocol, including Canada’s zoos.

It may be entertaining for humans to take rides on elephants or take selfies with tigers, but these activities are not natural to these beautiful animals. Especially not when they are subjected to this treatment daily, hundreds of times.

The @africanlionsafari in Cambridge, Ontario has been criticized for its treatment of elephants, who are expected to carry tourists on their backs for rides, dress up in costumes, paint pictures with their trunks, and other stressful activities.

#JungleCatWorld in Orono, Ontario also made the list as one of the zoos that subject animals to cruel, attraction oriented activities. Tigers are mainly nocturnal animals who love to roam free, but they are forced to constantly be awake during human daytime hours so that they can be photo props for hundreds of people. The report says that tigers are often put on leashes during these demeaning daily visits, and cubs are separated from their mothers in order to participate in attractions.

Any activities where direct contact with elephants is used, more than likely requires the trainer to establish dominance over the elephant in order for these majestic creatures to comply. Painful and traumatic training techniques are often required, resulting in physical and psychological suffering. They also die much younger. The lack of regulation makes it easy for zoos to exploit animals, while unsuspecting tourists support it.

Zoos are not ethical. They are profiting from animal confinement for human entertainment. Good animal sanctuaries are ethical, zoos are animal prisons.