Chimpanzees Shot Dead at Swedish Zoo After Escaping Enclosures
Four chimpanzees who escaped from their enclosures at Sweden’s Furuvik Zoo have been shot dead, revealing a glaring lack of preparedness at the facility. Apparently, the animals were shot because the Swedish zoo didn’t have enough tranquilizers on hand to sedate them safely. This tragedy should never have occurred.
Furuvik Zoo is located inside an amusement park—a stressful, loud, and unnatural environment for the animals it displays. Pictures apparently from the facility show that it allowed unsafe direct contact between human caretakers and adult chimpanzees.
These chimpanzees shouldn’t have been killed just for trying to escape a miserable life.
Exploitation of Great Apes Ended at U.S. Theme Parks
The Universal Studios parks in Hollywood, California, and Orlando, Florida, were the last exhibitors in the U.S. to force chimpanzees and orangutans to perform on stage. Thankfully, they officially removed all primates from live shows in 2014, after five years of PETA campaigns.
In early 2023, Universal Studios Hollywood will finally end its “Animal Actors” attraction. The show forces dogs, birds, and other animals to perform tricks in front of a crowd and to live at the theme park.
The closure of the attraction reflects the fact that audiences no longer find the use of live animals in shows acceptable or entertaining, likely due to the many investigations into the suffering inflicted on animals in the entertainment industry and stories like those of the chimpanzees shot at Furuvik Zoo.
