Bear killed after several animals escape flooded zoo in Germany.

​worldanimalnews.com/heartbreaking-news-the-escape-of-5-big-cats-a-bear-from-a-flooded-german-zoo-results-in-the-killing-of-an-innocent-animal/

5 large cats and 1 bear seemingly escaped their enclosures after a devastating flood hit the German town of Lunebach where the Eifel Zoo is located. While the large cats were found huddling in their enclosure, the bear had wandered out after the flood destroyed the fence of its enclosure. Once discovered, the bear was shot dead wandering on one of the public paths of the zoo in what I can only assume was their attempt to keep people safe. 

NO OTHER OPTIONS?

When it comes to keeping people safe, I can somewhat sympathise with the officials who decided to kill the bear but it also begs the question, was this the only option? 

Considering the responsibility of the zoo to keep the visitors AND the animals safe from harm, I'm confused as to why these officials had no other options. Why was the bear not tranquilized and returned to another enclosure where it would be safe? This innocent animal who has spent however long in captivity innocently walks away only to be slaughtered. The bear is NOT at fault in this situation yet it paid the ultimate price.

This also raises the question of whether this is proof that animals don't belong in captivity under these pretenses. I support any zoo that is using its facilities to help rehabilitate animals or aid in the conservation and repopulation of a species but this is not the first instance of an animal being shot or killed due to human error. I've reported on several zoos in the last year that have had incidents with people getting in to enclosures or animals escaping and inevitably being killed, so why is nothing changing?

In my opinion, the educational value of a zoo is greatly diminished with each tragedy like this. It's getting harder and harder to argue in support of zoos when stories like this are repeatedly coming up. These stories remind us that these facilities are sorely lacking in the safety department. When animals can escape or people can get into enclosures inevitably putting these animals at risk of being killed, can we really continue to support them?

Hopefully at the very least, this zoo recognizes its lackluster security measures and secondly, recognizes that there HAS to be other options when dealing with these situations because immediately slaughtering these animals shines a very negative light on the safety of the animals. All I can think is that poor bear innocently wanders off, likely scared, only to met with bullets. It's so disturbing and sad to me.

What do you guys think? Can you still support a zoo when these stories are repeatedly popping up? 

HAPPY VEG