
Europe had human zoos in 1958 - babuskov
http://www.theplaidzebra.com/human-zoos-one-europes-shameful-secrets-ended-50s/
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cm3
This is a sad and impossible to justify action, but I think we haven't
improved yet. Outside of preserving species, animal zoos we have now are, in
my view, equally wrong and unjustifiable. The recent death of a kid in a zoo
showed how irresponsible humans are with their dominion over most things on
this earth. In the opposite scenario we wouldn't shoot a human baby that's
trying to, say, eat a bird, would we? I've heard most arguments for zoos and
the only one that makes sense is to help the population of species. Anything
else like "but this reduces safaris" are bogus.

To give the simplest possible example: what gives us the right to cage a bird
and disallow it from flying, which arguably is its primary purpose in life?

To be clear, I'm not following any pro animal rights, or against meat or
whatever ideology. I just cannot logically make sense of holding animals in
captivity with the sole purpose of having humans visit them. There are good
ways to do this as well, like reservations in the open nature, where it's not
a zoo, but still it's a compromise and ideally we wouldn't have to fence
lions, etc. in because human settlements have expanded into their space.

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jhbadger
If you think zoos exist for "holding animals in captivity with the sole
purpose of having humans visit them" then you don't understand how zoos work.
There's a lot more going on beyond the scene. Zoos employ numerous Ph.D-level
scientists who are involved in conservation work. Many more animals would be
extinct today without the breeding programs in zoos.

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cm3
Maybe you missed the exceptions I've included above:

    
    
        Outside of preserving species, animal zoos we have now are...
    
        ...only one that makes sense is to help the population of species...
    

Maybe my wording was bad, but your argument is exactly what I accept as a
valid reason for zoos to exist.

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stirner
Saying "a Congolese female" in this context seems inappropriate. "Woman" would
be a more humanizing term.

(Also, the rest of the article seems to suggest Ota Benga was a man, not a
woman. My point still stands.)

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greydius
Society is a human zoo.

