Zoo Barcelona Barcelona municipal council and Zoo XXI initiative

Alright, first off, the plan of action I propose is to send this email to this address: info@eaza.net
Title/Subject: Save the Barcelona Zoo:
Dear European Association of Zoos and Aquariums.

One of your centers is in dire danger from being closed down by zealotry and ignorance. The so-called "animalists" (so-called animal lovers), with their anti-zoo platform, "Zoo XXI", is convincing the mayor of Barcelona, and her cabinet, to overhaul the Barcelona Zoo in the worst way possible; by reducing the number of species to reproduce from over 300 to merely 11, all small, "autochthonous" birds. They want to move out or even neutre a huge array of endangered animals, some of which currently in international breeding programs, including:

- Western lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla)
- Galapagos giant tortoise (Chelonoidis nigra)
- Rothschild's giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis rothschildi)
- Nicobar pigeon (Caloenas nicobarica)
- White-naped mangabey (Cercocebus atys lunulatus)
- Visayan hornbill (Penelopides panini)
- Giant anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla)
- Chinese alligator (Alligator sinensis)
- Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris sondaica)
- Komodo dragon (Varanus komodoensis)
- African bush elephant (Loxodonta africana)
- Bali myna (Leucopsar rothschildi)
- Sri-lankan leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya)
- Edward's pheasant (Lophura edwardsi)
- Dorcas gazelle (Gazella dorcas)
- Mountain chicken (Leptodactylus fallax)
- Bornean orang-utan (Pongo pygmaeus)
- Siamese crocodile (Crocodylus siamensis)
- Western chimpanzees
(Pan troglodytes verus) and Central chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes troglodytes)
- Amboina box turtle (Cuora amboinensis)
- Scimitar-horned oryx (Oryx dammah)
- Humboldt penguin (Spheniscus humboldti)
- Pygmy hippopotamus (Choeropsis/Hexaprotodon liberiensis)

Pairs and groups, large and small, of these species and more are in danger of being evicted or mutilated by a minority movement that's brazenly anti-science and merely destructive under a guise of good will and protected by lies, rumors and other dialectic malpractices that they pass for arguments, that have taken a foothold in the mayor's office. If action isn't taken soon, the Barcelona Zoo will enter a decadent, agonizing path to its closure, killing its work in ex-situ conservation, its constant and neverending progress and improvement of animal care, its scientific and educational role, and a zoo that has done so much in 127 years.

This is a request, a plea for you, the EAZA, to intervene into this situation, to stop this folly, so that the zoo may optimize the collection and exhibits, but stop it from being utterly destroyed by this foul and insincere initiative. This is a request from all of us who know what the Barcelona Zoo truly is: conservation, animal welfare, education and so much more.

Thank you for reading,
Sincerely,
The autonomous defense task for the Barcelona Zoo.
 
Ned said:
Does this mean that they won't be reducing the number of species?
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The section that limited the number of species to 11 was a last-minute addition right before the voting, so nobody really knew it was there. That part has now apparently been removed.
 
As of right now the petition has over 870 signatures, we still need to get it to a thousand! Keep spreading it around and doing as much as possible to help stop this atrocity. Common sense, science, and logic needs to prevail.
 
Good news, everyone! I just got a reply by the EAZA! It reads:

Dear Madam/Sir



Thank you for your email regarding Barcelona Zoo. We are aware of the situation and will be responding in full to the ill-considered and unscientific proposal tabled by the IC2017 consortium.



Regards and thanks again.



David Williams-Mitchell

EAZA Director of Communications and Membership
 
The Change.org petition, which I am sharing again below for those who may not yet have signed or seen it, has now been signed over 2,800 times and is also being actively shared amongst zoo-related groups on Facebook.

https://www.change.org/p/ajuntament-de-barcelona-el-zoo-de-barcelona-que-volem

It is great to hear that the EAZA is now also aware of this and will hopefully be doing something.

I'm not sure there is much more to stop this devastating idiocy besides drawing attention to this and calling out this policy for the utter lunacy it is.
 
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Just coming here to say I signed the petition but also wouldn't it be beneficial for this to be its own thread with the petition as I'm not sure how many people regularly check this thread, I only just heard about this but if it was its own thread I'm sure the forum would give something of this importance the attention it deserves.
 
JigerofLemuria said:
- Western lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla)
- Galapagos giant tortoise (Chelonoidis nigra)
- Rothschild's giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis rothschildi)
- Nicobar pigeon (Caloenas nicobarica)
- White-naped mangabey (Cercocebus atys lunulatus)
- Visayan hornbill (Penelopides panini)
- Giant anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla)
- Chinese alligator (Alligator sinensis)
- Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris sondaica)
- Komodo dragon (Varanus komodoensis)
- African bush elephant (Loxodonta africana)
- Bali myna (Leucopsar rothschildi)
- Sri-lankan leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya)
- Edward's pheasant (Lophura edwardsi)
- Dorcas gazelle (Gazella dorcas)
- Mountain chicken (Leptodactylus fallax)
- Bornean orang-utan (Pongo pygmaeus)
- Siamese crocodile (Crocodylus siamensis)
- Western chimpanzees
(Pan troglodytes verus) and Central chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes troglodytes)
- Amboina box turtle (Cuora amboinensis)
- Scimitar-horned oryx (Oryx dammah)
- Humboldt penguin (Spheniscus humboldti)
- Pygmy hippopotamus (Choeropsis/Hexaprotodon liberiensis)
Click to expand...

Reading this list of animals that will be unnecessarily castrated and sent to shady sanctuaries is like reading a list of innocent people who are about to be executed. I am having an image in my mind (that is considerably graphic to describe here) as I reread it.

I also signed tge change dot org petition.
 
PossumRoach said:
Reading this list of animals that will be unnecessarily castrated and sent to shady sanctuaries is like reading a list of innocent people who are about to be executed. I am having an image in my mind (that is considerably graphic to describe here) as I reread it.

I also signed tge change dot org petition.
Click to expand...
Shameful that those people consider themselves heroes to these animals, when all they want to do is hurt them for their own personal beliefs.
 
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PossumRoach said:
Reading this list of animals that will be unnecessarily castrated and sent to shady sanctuaries is like reading a list of innocent people who are about to be executed. I am having an image in my mind (that is considerably graphic to describe here) as I reread it.

I also signed tge change dot org petition.
Click to expand...

It's really upsetting to think about the impact of the proposed measures on endangered species breeding programs (and some of these are pretty seriously endangered species or species with low captive or overall populations too), not to mention on individual animals and animal groups - and would the animals even be better off at some questionable sanctuary than at Barcelona Zoo, or other decent zoos for that matter? I'm far from convinced.

JigerofLemuria said:
Shameful that those people consider themselves heroes to these animals, when all they want to do is hurt them for their own personal beliefs.
Click to expand...

They are a dangerous group with no true love, nor for animals, nor for people (apart from those like them). All these animal rights extremists are after is having power and making people (and animals) miserable.

I really, really hope this movement can still be stopped somehow - not just in Barcelona, not just with regard to zoos, but in general. Zoos are far from their only target. Most animal-related industries see themselves being targeted by these people.
 
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JigerofLemuria said:
- Western lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla)
- Galapagos giant tortoise (Chelonoidis nigra)
- Rothschild's giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis rothschildi)
- Nicobar pigeon (Caloenas nicobarica)
- White-naped mangabey (Cercocebus atys lunulatus)
- Visayan hornbill (Penelopides panini)
- Giant anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla)
- Chinese alligator (Alligator sinensis)
- Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris sondaica)
- Komodo dragon (Varanus komodoensis)
- African bush elephant (Loxodonta africana)
- Bali myna (Leucopsar rothschildi)
- Sri-lankan leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya)
- Edward's pheasant (Lophura edwardsi)
- Dorcas gazelle (Gazella dorcas)
- Mountain chicken (Leptodactylus fallax)
- Bornean orang-utan (Pongo pygmaeus)
- Siamese crocodile (Crocodylus siamensis)
- Western chimpanzees
(Pan troglodytes verus) and Central chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes troglodytes)
- Amboina box turtle (Cuora amboinensis)
- Scimitar-horned oryx (Oryx dammah)
- Humboldt penguin (Spheniscus humboldti)
- Pygmy hippopotamus (Choeropsis/Hexaprotodon liberiensis)
Click to expand...

Drill seems to be missing from this list. I'm presuming they still have them, and possibly Mandrill also?
 
Pertinax said:
Drill seems to be missing from this list. I'm presuming they still have them, and possibly Mandrill also?
Click to expand...
They have drills (the breeding male passed away from old age recenly, though...), And the mandrills were all sent to the Lagos Zoo in Portugal about 3 years ago. Since their enclosure was turned into the orangutan enclosure, and after a short while in the current drill enclosure, they were phased out, and the old drill enclosure is very occasionally occupied by the talapoins.
 
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I find the EAZA post quite usefull because it shows some of the errors of the anti zoo activists quite clearly. There position is too clearly ignore scientific evidence when it does not back their claims. Instead positions based on relative valúes are used. For example so called happiness of animals in zoos versus happiness of animals in the wild. These anti zoo activists want to close a major European zoo, that is their motive, not the actual welfare of the animals at Barcelona zoo.
 
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