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Kangaroos cruel prison |
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Thursday, 08 July 2004 |
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A RED kangaroo living in a cage the size of a garage at a
Canadian zoo is about to change the animal cruelty laws of its adopted
home.
Nicknamed Tyson, the tired and
sick-looking Australian native has been languishing in a cage thousands
of kilometres from home since 2001.
Normally able to travel at speeds of up to 48km/h and leap up to 9m
in a single bound, the kangaroo has been restricted to hopping just a
few metres in its small, dusty enclosure at Lickety-Split Ranch &
Zoo in London, Ontario
Locals
say the roadside zoo's animals have suffered through an eight-month
Canadian winter of snow storms and sub-zero temperatures.
But Tyson has only a metal shed for protection against the cold.
Donna O'Donnell, who lives nearby, said all the animals were kept outside in tiny metal cages during London's bitter chill.
"It snowed so hard one day, the weather closed down the whole city," Ms O'Donnell said.
"The conditions those animals survive in is just dreadful. I cannot go there. I would break down in tears."
Canadian animal activists are outraged at the kangaroo's appalling living conditions.
"For
the past six years, Tyson has lived in a small, barren cage the size of
a single-car garage, with just a patch of dirt and a metal shed to
sleep in," Toronto-based World Society for the Protection of Animals
campaigner Melissa Tkachyk said.
"There is absolutely nothing in the exhibit for stimulation and Tyson does not have enough room to hop like a normal kangaroo.
"Unfortunately,
Tyson will probably have to endure these conditions for the remainder
of his captive life, because Ontario has the weakest animal cruelty
laws and zoo regulations in the country."
The kangaroo's
plight has been the catalyst for a bill before the Legislative Assembly
of Ontario, which would force zoos to close if they did not provide
appropriate living conditions for the animals they kept.
More than 13,000 people have signed a petition in support of the bill, introduced last year by Liberal Party MP David Zimmer.
Locals
and tourists – including one Australian – had contacted animal
protection groups on numerous occasions concerned about Tyson's
predicament, Ms Tkachyk said.
But when we rang zoo owner Shirley McElroy at her home, she sighed and hung up before any questions could be asked.
She
did not answer numerous subsequent calls and had previously
disconnected the direct line to the zoo after negative press coverage
in the local media prompted a flurry of concerned phone calls.
The zoo has been closed over winter and will re-open next Thursday.
Ms Tkachyk said Ontario had 45 zoos, most of which were substandard.
Roadside
zoos, in particular, kept animals in poor conditions and lacked the
trained professional staff needed to care for them, leading to
psychological and physical health problems.
A spokesman for
the Canadian Association of Zoo and Wildlife Veterinarians said none of
his vets had any business with Lickety-Split.
Red kangaroos, known by their scientific name macropus rufus, are the world's largest marsupial.
They are common in Australia, particularly in Queensland, live up to 18 years, and survive on grasses.
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