Labour to ban zoos

  • Thread starter Thread starter Ned
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I think you should vote for the best local MP you have. Angela Smith doesn't represent Labour on this issue, she is using her position to attract attention to her personal agenda. She won't be the first MP to have done this.

Angela Smith is well-known for her personal stance on zoos, and she has every right to have that stance but, as the Animal welfare points out in the article, her comments are basically hot air and really not part of her job as charities minister. As patron of CAPS, I assume she would be aware of the impact of making such public statment over the easter weekend when, in recent years, CAPS and other groups have protested outside the gates of some zoological collections.

I think it would be wise to look at the personal record of who you are voting for before voting conservative, or any party for that matter. I personally won't vote for a blairite shill over a conservative who is hot on civil liberties, but if I have a strong, rebellions labour backbencher, I'd favour them every time regardless of what the leadership does. Maybe you should contact your local candidates to see what they make of Angela Smith's comments and make a decision based on their responses, regardless of which party they are with. The false left-right paradigm really doesn't help us, it just keeps the puppet show going.
 
I wouldnt worry too much about this Bulls*** Itll never happen but it does make your blood boil reading such uneducated crap
 
I guess that's it Vulpes, it makes my blood boil and voting for the opposition is the only way I have of punishing Labour.

The puppet show always has and always will continue.
 
Do you even know what your local conservative candidate thinks about animals in captivity? Surely that would be a start. The puppet show will only continue if you allow it to. Encourage your MP to vote independently and not allow themselves to be whipped. Challenge them to express an opinion about an issue you care about and then go and hold them to that opinion. If they lie, you never vote for them again. If your local labour candidate supports zoo conservation, which is very possible, why would you then vote conservative just because one labour MP is expressing a personal opinion. I'm sure you can find plenty of tory MPs who are anti-zoo. It doesn't mean that the whole party would vote that way on a piece of legislation on zoos.
 
Of course you put forward a sensible argument but I’m afraid I don’t have any faith in British political parties, I’ve seen too many governments come and go and never liked one of them. I’m also not entirely sure I believe in democracy either.
 
Has anyone even heard of this Minister before? This is her way of her putting her name in the paper.

These are her views and she has a right to express them, plus the express will print any old S***!
 
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Ned said:
Of course you put forward a sensible argument but I’m afraid I don’t have any faith in British political parties, I’ve seen too many governments come and go and never liked one of them. I’m also not entirely sure I believe in democracy either.
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I think @johnstoni has offered an action you can take. If it is important to you, why dismiss that suggestion so easily? This is why the Nuts usually win...they don't talk themselves out of stepping forward.
 
Angela Smith is the MP for Basildon & East Thurrock for Labour - not Sheffield -
She is spouting a lot of nonsense which reading further in the article her own party thinks is a load of rubbish.
I personally think that she knows that she will not be an MP after the election and is trying to drum up a bit of controversy to get her name known.
If she had done any proper research at all she would know about all of the breeding programs in place that actually help animals - Yes we would all love it if Amur Leopards & Tigers and Oragutangs to name just a couple could go back to their native enviroments but unfortunately man has made this an impossible idea and unless we live in a perfect world this can't happen.
Angela Smith would do better to use her position to help causes such as the oraguntang / palm oil situation and other similar problems.
I will be emailing her with my opinion.
 
Zooplantman said:
I think @johnstoni has offered an action you can take. If it is important to you, why dismiss that suggestion so easily? This is why the Nuts usually win...they don't talk themselves out of stepping forward.
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I have taken action in the past, previously I've stood as an independent candidate in a local election. I used to campaign and march quite a bit and the amount of letters I write to various people is legendary amongst my friends but almost none of it makes a difference. Voting Tory would at least make me feel I was having a little revenge. In truth I’m going to spoil my paper as a protest against the expenses scandal. I don’t believe anyone with any self respect would vote for a bunch of people who have been shafting us.
Right now though, I just can’t muster the enthusiasm to do anything except moan. I shall try to make the effort to write in opposition to Angela Smith's views and email her, the labour party, my labour MP, or someone but there’s no point asking candidates their views as I’m spoiling my paper this year.
 
Little Lion Man said:
My fault. There are two Angela Smith's both in the Labour party.
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No problems - just as long as people know which one to write to with their views!!

Just emailed her - probably won't do any good but at least I've made my views clear and put concise points to her with regard to conservation.
She should learn some facts about what she talks about rather than just spouting out rubbish
 
To stop Zoo's in the UK would mean to stop the use of BIAZA and EAZA, as they are the groups that bring most animals in and out of the country.
To stop all movement of animals within the UK - What they mean is to stop the amount of animals imported from the wild (Which as is to common belief where we get them from). There is no way that EAZA and BIAZA are going to be shut down due to one pathetic Basildon MP who we all know is in contact with CAPS.
No county is going to want the zoos and safari parks to go, they do bring in tourists. Its not the zoo's fault people come to them, because afterall and it has been for years, Conservation is the big message from zoo's in the UK.
Those Pathetic protestors need to get an image of the past out of their heads.
This is enough i will say on this issue.
 
Much as I disagree with this article, it does raise some issues in regards to the conservation work of zoos which need to be addressed. Do they really do as much as people are saying here? It's no secret that the vast majority of animals in the vast majority of zoos are not helping their species one bit, zoos argue that these animals get people through the gates but places like jersey only have a few so-called "crowd-pullers" whilst still managing to survive. Furthermore, many give very little to in-situ conservation projects, didn't I read a while back that RZSS donates only about 5% of its funds to such projects? There is the argument that this is better than none at all but it is not, in my opinion, nearly good enough for such a well renowned organisation which is supposedly dedicated to saving species from extinction. I am not saying that zoos should be banned, not by a long shot. However, to keep bringing up those archaic examples of the przewalski's horse and golden lion tamarin does nothing to justify the continued existence of animals in captivity. In my opinion, organisations like BIAZA need to encourage zoos to do a great deal more than what they do currently, laurel-resting will simply encourage the sort of arguments which Angela Smith just gave.
 
I stupidly thought MP are also supposed to represent the people who voted them in!! Not their own personal views??

Anyway Basildon zoo has long since shut down (thank goodness) so at least she cant use this as an example Basildon Zoo
 
Why does every keep banging on about conservation? There’s nothing wrong with keeping animals in zoos. I once went on a safari in Kenya and the animals looked just as bored as zoo animals supposedly do. I also remember watching a TV program about the conflict between people and wildlife in rural African. A man being interviewed said something along the lines of “How would Europeans like to live with lions and elephants, having their crops ruined and lives put in danger? Animals belong in zoos.” I don’t entirely disagree with him.
 
As has been said, this is one particular individual's view and does not represent Labour as a whole. Although I'm too young to vote, I would vote Lib Dem otherwise, but if one Lib Dem MP said the same sort of things it wouldn't mean I'd view at as a party policy.

There is definately ignorance in her comments as we can all agree (ironically, she sounds more out-of-date than zoos) and she does not realise the greater role they can play as scientific institutions.
 
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