Manila (DPA) - A group of animal rights activists on Tuesday rallied in the Philippines on Tuesday to convince the government to become the first zoo-free country in Asia.
The members of the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), wearing prison suits and monkey masks, picketed outside the Manila Zoo.
One of their placards read, ''Zoos: Cruel Animal Prisons.''
''PETA is urging the first democracy in Asia to again lead the way by becoming the first zoo-free country in the region,'' the group said in a statement.
The group noted that animals in zoos are often separated from their mothers as babies and are ''sentenced to an eternity of boredom, crippling loneliness and even abuse.''
''Zoos claim to educate people and preserve species, but they fall short on both counts,'' said PETA Asia-Pacific Campaigns Manager Rochelle Regodon.
''Zoos present us with a distorted view of wildlife,'' she added.
"Even the biggest zoo is nothing compared to the vastness of the wild. Animals in zoos are serving a lifetime sentence with no parole.''
PETA urged that zoos be made instead into sanctuaries for animals rescued from circuses, marine parks and other ''exploitative forms of entertainment.''
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