WITH reference to your piece “At risk creatures saved by the zoos” (Agust 14). A few comments are necessary in order to restore some semblance of balance.

The first question we should ask is, why these creatures are critically endangered in the wild? A number of factors come to mind, including habitat destruction, hunting, and of course the collection of wild specimens of mammals, primates and birds by zoos and theme parks.

A few statistics are necessary in defence of nature and wildlife which has suffered terribly at the hands of the zoo industry for many years now.

Zoos provide very little in the way of opportunity to express natural behaviour and lifestyle patterns in their restricted manmade habitats.

Many animals in zoos go insane from boredom and stress as a result of their incarceration.

Zoos are one of the main reasons why public perception of wildlife conservation is being steered down a narrow path towards a false dawn and a world where judge and jury zoo propaganda (on conservation and extinction) is misleading the public as to the reality of the situation.

Zoo breeding programmes do nothing to improve the quality and quantity of truly wild stock.

H O Griffiths, Main Street, Aislaby, Pickering.