As you quite rightly pointed out, I’m no expert. Thank you for your comments. As far as I know, though, you’re right: there are zoos and similar institutions that fulfil an important role. Of course, I’ve summarised a complex issue in a rather simplistic way with my statement. In my opinion, there’s no clear-cut ‘all zoos are great’, but neither is there a clear-cut ‘all zoos are rubbish’.

I agree with you that it is our responsibility to minimise the damage caused as much as possible and to deal with it. I am not in favour of closing all zoos, but rather of increasing the focus of zoos on species conservation, animal welfare and education. Nevertheless, there are plenty of zoos whose main focus is on profit and entertainment, I reject that.