I have to ask: does Sweden legislate the minimum size of a human habitation? I know I would greatly prefer living in a small apartment with a terrace, ocean view, nice kitchen, radiant heat, flat screen TV, plants and and comfortable bed than in a 3000 square foot developer-built suburban box with none of those amenities. Pure area is not nearly as important as the quality and composition of space--for animals of all kinds, including us.
But according to your wishes I will refrain from ever again adressing you and your arguments here at ZooChat, although I can´t promise not to ever refer to Swedish legislation again.
I am just saying you should stop relying on Swedish laws on exhibit requirements to determine what the best exhibits are. Would you be surprised to learn that Jaguar Cove, the spectacular jaguar exhibit at WPZ doesn't meet Swedish requirements on cat exhibits because it is 4000 square feet, yet it is perhaps one of the best jaguar exhibits in the world (And I have heard all about Chester's)
Let´s just you and I give it a rest BlackRhino! We are both zoo lovers but we seem to end up in tiresome and unproductive debates. We will both contribute to ZooChat but we will not annoy each other anymore, OK?
A clever piece of sarcasm and I get your point (though I am somewhat surprised to recieve this sarcasm from you, reduakari...). Never mind: difficult question and I have tried to debate it on numerous threads here at ZooChat. "Bigger is not always better" etc. I know.
Anyway, the Swedish laws also regulates many other factors than the mere size of the enclosures. You are probably already familiar with the thread in which I introduced this subject.
I think it is great in principle that the Swedish government is enlightened enough to legislate to improve/protect animal welfare. But I question whether there is any truly objective way to determine a minimum threshold for how much room an animal "needs."
@Dan: I love the fact that Sweden is such a progressive country in terms of animal welfare, as well as reportedly one of the more developed nations in the world in many other areas as well. The idea of immersion exhibits seems to have bypassed Sweden, but that does not mean that there are numerous spacious and naturalistic enclosures in many of the country's zoos.
@reduakari: you need to delete some of your private messages, as no one can send you any because to your "in-box" being full. I'm a ZooChat supporter and that allows me to store something crazy like 1,000 messages, but I'm not sure how many you are capable of keeping if you are a regular member of the forum. Since you and I have exchanged a number of messages in the past I'm sure that a few of them are from me.
I think it is great in principle that the Swedish government is enlightened enough to legislate to improve/protect animal welfare. But I question whether there is any truly objective way to determine a minimum threshold for how much room an animal "needs."
No, of course not, but isn´t it a pretty damned good start to set minimum requirements that far exceeds those obvious atrocities that sometimes are documented here at ZooChat? In Sweden it is illegal to keep, for instance, an elephant bull in an outdoor enclosure less big than 4000 sq. meters (about one acre). Again and again: there are several other requirements that must be upheld than the the minimum size.
And again and again: I am - really - genuinely surprised that so many people here at ZooChat have problems with these simple arguments of mine... I really, really am!
No, of course not, but isn´t it a pretty damned good start to set minimum requirements that far exceeds those obvious atrocities that sometimes are documented here at ZooChat? In Sweden it is illegal to keep, for instance, an elephant bull in an outdoor enclosure less big than 4000 sq. meters (about one acre). Again and again: there are several other requirements that must be upheld than the the minimum size.
And again and again: I am - really - genuinely surprised that so many people here at ZooChat have problems with these simple arguments of mine... I really, really am!
