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Dear John,
 

“I could hear Troy, the silverback, banging on the glass as hard as he could, pan-hooting in absolute terror, desperately trying to reach his partner. While on the other side of the glass, we shot his partner Alice with a dart gun, drugged her, loaded her into a crate, and then drove her away in the back of a van. While all Troy could do was watch on.” 


These words come from an ex-zookeeper. A person who had worked directly with animals in captivity and couldn't stay silent any longer. 

They told us how they joined the industry because they cared so deeply about animals and wanted to help them, and they thought the zoos did too. But as the years went on they discovered that wasn't the case.

They have come forward now because they want to tell their story and the story of the many animals who were in their care. 

“Daily occurrences included having to tell people not to bang on the glass of an enclosure, and to some extent you would expect this. But what you don't expect is to have to tell the staff too.

I distinctly remember a member of staff mocking the silverback gorilla. He was standing at the windows, puffing his chest out, shouting at the silverback “come on then!”. The silverback stood up and banged on the windows, but he was of course behind glass.  This is the disrespect I witnessed staff members showing the animals.”
“I also remember how the zoo would buy animals from exotic breeders despite denying this in public and how animals were fed to other animals when they had died.”
 
“And I will never get the screams out of my head, from the many times keepers caught rats with glue traps. It is a sound that will haunt me forever. And it wasn't only rats that were caught in these cruel traps, many birds and other wildlife were caught and died too.”

We must take action and we must keep campaigning to end this cruel industry that normalises such appalling actions, cruelty and suffering.

But we need your help to continue. Will you send a gift today so we can continue to be here, campaigning for an end to this horrendous cruelty?  
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Sadly, the story of Troy and Alice is not unique, and it happens to so many individuals in zoos. Animals are ripped from their families, the place they call home and everything they know.
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But what happened to Alice? She spent weeks broken and crying for her family. It wasn’t just her partner that Alice had lost forever, she also lost her child, a son - who would never see his mum again.

Imagine the utter helplessness you would feel if this was you and your family, the fear, the terror.

BUT WHY is this happening? The simple answer is, to add animals to other ‘collections’ and to force them to breed so that they produce babies that bring in the public. 

I am so grateful to this ex-zookeeper for coming forward. People and lawmakers need to see what happens behind closed doors at zoos. And you can help stop this from happening to any other animals. Thank you.

For the animals,


Laura Walton
Campaigns Manager
Freedom for Animals

P.S. Please, will you send a gift of £10 or more today to help ensure we can continue the fight to end the cruel imprisonment of animals.

*All names changed to keep the identity of the whistleblower confidential. If you want to read their full account, you can do so here: www.freedomforanimals.org.uk/blog/insights-ex-zookeeper 
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Funds raised from this appeal will support our campaign to end the keeping of animals in zoos and other forms of captivity. Thank you.

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