A Great Grey Owl

Not taken in my back garden as you may have guessed ;-))

The photo group are organising an outing next week to a large commercial zoo and sadly, my conscience forced me to decline the offer to go with them - I don't like the idea that animals are kept in cages for our entertainment and to line the pockets of zoo owners. However, I recently heard about this small scale rescue centre that rescues animals from zoos and the like that are forced to close down and the only other option for the animals would be to be put to sleep. All the animals were originally bred in captivity not taken from the wild and therefore are too 'domesticated' to be released. All money that is made from entrance fees etc is put into the upkeep of the animals and any 'profit' that is made is donated to various conservation projects. If there is a suitable pair of animals, they are allowed to breed once or twice to try to increase funds for the conservation of that species in the wild. This eased my conscience enough for me to visit and get some relevant photos so that I can contribute to the group at the next meeting. I was still not very comfortable with the fact that they were caged but I guess it's better than the alternative - the jury is still out on that one :-)
There were so many photos it was really hard to choose just one so I put together a collage of a few others and if you don't say "Ahhhhhh" when you see the zebra foal, you have a heart of stone, I hope you enjoy them :-))