Case 06/2015: Surabaya Zoo

ACT ON JYLLANDS PARK ZOO

Dear EUROPEAN ASSOCIATION OF ZOOS AND AQUARIA (EAZA),

Through this act, on December 25, 2016, we communicate in order to perform an International Repudiation to JYLLANDS PARK ZOO, which follows the directive of its association. This repudiation is not only due to in the Judgment of the Case of Surabaya Zoo it is stated that every zoo is intrinsically violating Buddhist Spirituality, but also because the JYLLANDS PARK ZOO is an organization that has carried out public killings of the animals which it should protect, since recently this zoo has killed a giraffe so that future giraffes have better genes. In fact, there are evidences that this zoo carries out several animal killings per year in order to maintain a genetically healthy population, which is clearly analogous to the eugenics and selective breeding programs of Nazism where those subjects who carry supposedly defective genes are eliminated. In addition, not only did they refuse to accept hundreds of petitions to save the animal’s life, but also the way to kill this healthy young giraffe was a spectacle of huge cruelty in presence of children, when murdering and dismembering that animal to finally give it to the lions. Paradoxically, months after this episode, this same zoo carried out a murder of four lions for reasons of space.

At the same time that NGOs around the world have considered these facts to be unethical, the Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights certainly affirms that the behavior of the JYLLANDS PARK ZOO – with the endorsement and complicity of the EUROPEAN ASSOCIATION OF ZOOS AND AQUARIA (EAZA) is violating the most essential Animal Rights, such as the right to life, health and freedom. Although every zoo is nothing but a prison for animals, the JYLLANDS PARK ZOO resembles to the Case of Surabaya Zoo on the levels of cruelty and indifference to the sacredness and intrinsic dignity of every sentient being, which seems to be a norm in Europeans zoos where thousands of healthy animals are killed each year for genetic reasons or for reasons of space. In this way, it is requested that this zoo immediately ceases its illegal activities which violate Ethics and International Law.

In conclusion, there appear to be mammals with a higher level of feelings and sensitivity even greater than those human beings who run zoos around the world, which are nothing more than perverse circuses or illegal detention centers that should be closed and transformed into sanctuaries for protecting life. If life and integrity of animals are not protected, there will never be world peace.

Always with a reconciling spirit,

Master Maitreya

President of the International Buddhist Ethics Committee & Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights