Zoos are the only prisons where its occupants wither away without committing any crime, says Shourove Hossain, who is unequivocally against such establishments.
Zoos should not exist in a civilized society, the 34-year-old said, demanding the authorities take immediate action to close all of them down.
He posted a photo of him on Sunday holding a placard before the national zoo in Mirpur to press home his demand.
The placard in his hand read: “I do not want this torture cell which we call a zoo [to exist]. Please shut it down immediately.”
Shourove said whenever he went to the zoo in his childhood, he always felt that it was inhumane. His protest had stemmed from that feeling, he told Dhaka Tribune.
In 2000, when Shourove was in grade six, he along with his friends went to the Rangpur zoo from Dinajpur.
“Upon entering I first saw some monkeys and birds. Then when I went to the bear cage a feeling of sadness washed over me. I could not stay there for long after that.”
“There was a foul smell emanating from that cage. The bear was lying in stagnant water around him on the floor. There were a lot of people in front of the cage watching the bear, some of whom were trying to draw his attention by throwing rocks at him. But he did not react in any manner,” Shourove said.
“I went to the zoo several times after growing up. I was a student of fine arts, so we had to go to the zoo many times for work. We drew pictures of animals there. But the feeling that I had every time was that zoos could never be a place of entertainment or education. Google is enough for education. People get wrong ideas about animals by going to zoos,” he continued.
Shourove said the animals at the zoos were unwell. “There is nothing new to say about the environment animals live in at the zoos in the country. There is little to no maintenance. I went to the Mirpur zoo on Friday, and my intention was to spread the protest among the public through social media. If not today, all these zoos should be closed down in 10 years.”
England shut its zoos after the light of civilization touched the country, he said. “Bangladesh is now a civilized nation, so there cannot be any zoos in our society,” he added.
He said he hoped that Bangladesh would be the first country in Asia to close down all its zoos, with cooperation between the government and its sensible people.
“I did not want to take to the streets for this protest. I want to spread awareness among people. Many others will take this demand forward as part of this protest.”