large, brown bear, called Paddy, was separated from the visitors with a high bar fence which I thought was absolutely unnecessary — the bear looked very friendly to me.
Then I grew older and could read the information table near the bear enclosure. It said that the animal was the East Siberian Brown Bear, born in the zoo. The bears of that species are large and skillful. They can hunt reindeer and elks and they also fish in the great Siberian rivers. So sad, I thought, The bear has never seen the great environment he belongs to. That actually made me look at the zoo from another angle: it seemed large but the giraffes didnt have enough space for running, the seals were kept in a pool that was far too small for them, and the leopards were pacing up and down the length of their cage. They felt nervous with the visitors eyes on them all the time but there was no shelter on their territory. Should zoos be abolished?
Im still in two minds over that. On the one hand, life in the zoo is like serving a life sentence — theres no hope of the animals returning home. Thats definitely unfair. On the other hand, zoos are a place where children can be taught about different animals and where they can see animals from other parts of the world. Its also true that zoos can save some species from extinction. For example, three Sumatran tigers were born in our zoo several years ago. Its very unlikely that all three cubs would survive in the wild but in the zoo all of them turned into mature, healthy animals and now the staff are happy to take care of the eight new cubs of the rare tigers. The media said that when the tigers are old enough they will be returned to the wild.
A7 The admission to the zoo was free for pensioners.
1) True
2) False
3) Not stated
A8
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