Vets are debating whether caged animals
should be kept alive longer than in the wild – or be allowed to die
Tom Bawden Environment
Editor
Friday 11 March 2016
He is one of Blackpool Zoo’s best-loved
residents, famed for his sexual appetite as much as his gentle demeanour. And
at 94 years of age, Darwin is proving there’s
plenty of life left in the old tortoise yet.
But the creature’s longevity is not
welcome news for everyone. Darwin
is one of a growing breed of geriatric zoo and aquarium animals that are
beginning to fill up UK attractions
after significant advances in medicine, diagnosis and care have extended their
life expectancy.
Illnesses such as cancer, arthritis,
osteoporosis and kidney failure, long associated with ageing human beings but
rarely detected in animals, are cropping up in zoos with increasing frequency.
This is because animals have typically not lived long enough before for these
symptoms to afflict them.
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