The photo of the deer is amazing! And I've actually never been to this park, but parks alike in Germany. I don't really like that animals are kept like that just so people can look at them. Aren't the national parks in the states better in that way? As far as I know they roam freely, so it's a fun (or scary) surprise to see them.
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I'm torn on the issue of zoos. One the one hand I think it's awful to take a creature from the wild and put him in a cage for his entire life. I think most of the animals would choose to run free if given the option.
On the other hand, it's a pretty good life for many of these creatures. They are cared for and fed and safe from poachers and natural predators. Some of them don't have much of a natural habitat left in the wild, so need someplace to be.
This particular park did a nice job of providing plenty of space for the critters, with the exception of the wolves and big cats. Those guys need 50+ square miles to roam in the wild, and they certainly didn't have that in the Wildpark.
As for the national parks in the States, yes, the animals are wild and roam freely, but that also means they get hit by cars, shot by humans sometimes, and typically are rarely seen by visitors. Yellowstone National Park is a big exception to this. Herds of buffalo are frequently seen hanging out near and in the road. Traffic stops and waits for them to cross. It's pretty neat actually. But the wolves and bears that once lived in the area are being slowly squeezed out due to human encroachment.
I think that zoos which focus on providing healthy habitats for the animals and don't source them from the wild are probably ok. Some zoos accept animals that would not be able to survive in the wild due to injury or abandonment. I think that's a good thing. But zoos that are paying money for wild-caught creatures just to profit from them and are fitting in as many as they possibly can are not so ok in my book.
That's true, some zoos keep animals that are just away from extinction and stop that process.
I've been to Yellowstone, so maybe that's where I got that idea :)
That makes sense. Yellowstone is probably the only park where you can consistently see animals 'interacting' with the tourists. I've been to bunches of National Parks here, and it's just not very common elsewhere.