Zoo management want the law changed to allow animals that have grown up with humans to be released into the wild.
RÚV reports that zoo management filed this request with Reykjavík City Council’s Sports And Leisure Committee. Such a change to the law could have saved a baby seal that had recently been executed and fed to foxes, following its capture during its escape attempt.
The story drew considerable anger and confusion, and not just from our readers. A Facebook group was formed by many Icelanders who vowed to boycott the zoo if the seal was put down. Susan C. Wilson, the director of Tara Seal Research (TSR) in Northern Ireland, said she had never heard of such a practice before, calling it “perfectly disrespectful towards the animals in the zoo’s care”.
However, the law apparently requires that animals that have been raised with and by humans be killed rather than released into the wild. For those wondering, the national law on this matter requires that any execution of an animal be done so painlessly, and that it be unconscious before blood is shed.
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