Nikita has the face of a soldier who could win 20 battles in a day and it wouldn’t make any difference because she has already lost her war. She has lost her freedom and her natural habitat. Animals should not be held captive in zoos. No matter how you “enhance” enclosures, they do not allow for freedom, a natural diet or adequate exercise. Animals end up stressed and unhealthy. Zoos are just glorified cages. It is past time for them to yield to wildlife refuges.
Sadly, Nikita’s cubs will likely also live in a zoo. Zoos speak of conservation. But these tigers are unlikely to be returned to the wild. Rather, they will exist only as an insurance policy for the zoo and for public viewing.
Hopefully, we will look back at this time in history and wonder how we failed as human beings to take a stand for those who are still denied the basic right to be free from captivity and abuse and to live in their native and natural habitat.
