For Steve Robinson--I believe it is all about "perception", and the agenda you are wanting to push through.

Cramped: One of the small cages in Oradea Zoo, western Romania, where the lions were being kept, is how this picture is captioned. Any photo's of the lion building, inside or out, in Yorkshire are going to be very hard to come by. Their agenda is freedom, big, big open plains, ideally in the wild, never again to suffer the hell of captivity. Some in our industry Steve, would claim that, "remove the panel that is laying against the wall, and that is a heck of an exercise cage." We both know some who wouldn't bother removing the panel. If I didn't know better, I would think the above photo was taken at a place where I spent much of my career, which was revered in our industry as "one of the greatest in the world." I removed all the "walls" from 5 20'X20' cages, so that I could put 10 animals in one 20'X100' cage, as it has been proven that the best exercize is a straight run, complete with stock tanks for bathing. I was severly chastized for that action, and the "walls" were put back up, so that 1, 2, or 3 could be kept in a 20'X20' side by side. I have forgotten how many tails were lost or damaged over the years. In regards to the "straight run," it has been learned through scientific study that lunging/conditioning/working young horse's under the age of two in a traditional "round pen" of a standard 40' size, can and will sometimes damage joints, tendons, and ligaments. The trend now is to "free lunge" young horses by chasing them up and down a pasture or large paddock, staying away from the torque of a round pen. Some round pens have been "adapted" with two straight walls, and two curved walls to avoid any problems. As no studies have ever been done on anything other then equine, a concerned individual has to wonder if leg problems from running in a 40' circle is "exclusive" to only young equine, or is there a possiblity it is also damaging to young felines, elephants, camels, etc. etc?

The lion above is named Johnny Senior, and is reported by Oradea zoo staff to have been born in 1983, which would make him 27 years old. Longevity and old age is often reverence as an example of how there is nothing wrong with a situation, and it is just the activist's trying to cause trouble. I have been chastized, both on this blog and the "history channel" for pointing out that longevity is no indication of a wholesome, healthy life or enviornment, and is nothing more then an exception. Here is the description of the facility in Romania, from MAIL ONLINE

"Their rusty metal cage was no bigger than 3m by 4m. Its concrete floor was filthy and, but for a makeshift wooden bed shoved into the corner of the enclosure, it was entirely bare." Yet Johnny Senior has survived for 27 years in the enviornment that we have looked at the past two day's. Was it a good enviornment or a bad enviornment. I gotta assume the answer would depend upon your knowledge and agenda. Let's look at more quote from the same MAIL ONLINE story and see if we can ascertain their agenda:

The pride was weak and hungry, covered in sores and unable to move within the confines of their tiny cells. The state-run zoo itself was condemned under European Union legislation.
With no money to renovate or feed it's animals Oradea Zoo was left with only two options: they would either have to relocate the 18 lions elsewhere or have them "shot dead."(I suggested uthenasia which is defined in the human vocabulary as ending a life in a manner which relieves pain and suffering, yet they are suggesting "shot dead.")

But after a massive fund-raising campaign, 13 of the 18 lions were flown to the UK to start a new life in a 19 acre enclosure within Yorkshire's Wildlife Park.

The lions-including a cub just eight months old-flew from Budapest on a specially chartered jet and touched down at Doncaster Airport shortly before midday in what has been described as the 'biggest ever big cat rescue'. They are now settling into their new lives where they will be nurtured back to full strength.(Sounds an awful lot like the Hawthorn, Davenport, Ramos, Ringling etc. with elephants and Von Uhl, Hoffman etc. with felines deal to, without the British pomp and circumstance. But there is one glaring difference, the situations mentioned above the folks all said, "over my dead body" while the Oradea Zoo Director Daiana Ghender put out a plea to the world wide zoo industry for someone to take the lions. If you wonder why there were no takers to the offer from the likes of say a Bronx Zoo, here is what John Minon of Yorkshire Wildlife Park describes 'Quite a few of the lions have developmental problems and arthritic conditions.'

From the Yorkshire Wildlife Park exhibit graphics:

Johnny Junior-Born 1998 As the only male in this group of females, he is easy to spot as he is the only lion with a mane(can you believe that bit of educational insight!!!) Also most of his tail is missing.

Freida-Born 2003 Mother of Carla, Crystal, and Julie. If you look closely her left ear is set further forward on her head then the right ear so that it looks like she has a slightly crooked face.

Cezar-Born 1998 Father of Ares and Adel The tip of his tail is missing.

Alis-Born 2003 She was very thin on arrival and in relativly poor health but soon improved after being fed a proper diet and vitamins.(you have to wonder at an imbreeding deficiency instead of vitamin deficiency)

Adel and Ares sons of Alis and Cezar-Born 2008 The terrible twins. It is difficult to tell Ares from Adel as they are similar in appearance and charecter. From the beginning rangers described them as 'quite feisty.'

Dani-Born 2009 Son of Johnny Senior(27 years old) Unfortunatly Dani has some physical problems, so shortly after arriving Dani had an MRI to check him out. This appears to be due to a deformity of the spin from birth(at least it wasn't a vitamin deficiency like Alis above) and it affects the way he walks.

Recall that 13 of the 18 Oradea lions were flown to England. What of the remaining 5?
Quote "three have been returned to the wilds of Africa and two remained in Romania."

Steve, I gotta believe there is only one "agenda" that gained and made out with this quote, 'biggest lion rescue operation in Europe.' 150,00 lbs was used to fund the quote, 'mercy mission' with another 25,000 lbs still needed to be raised to fully equipt the lions new home in England. That is well over $250,000.00 yank dollars for the lions described above. I firmly believe that money could have been used for a greater good for lions.

Oradea Zoo was built 37 years ago under the communist regime of Nicolae Ceausescu. It is still home to 800 other animals and has recently launched a modernisation programme to comply with European legislation.

My point in posting the photos of the Oradea Zoo and any other wretched facility is simply this, maybe it is not the fault of the director,keepers,staff,trainers,grooms working stiffs etc. etc." for the conditions, old facilites, or how the animals are kept and cared for, as is normally projected to the world. Maybe "owning" an animal does not give you a right to do what ever it is you want to do with it? What people want to do with their car, truck, house, equiptment etc. etc because they "own it" and are the "owner," is one thing and that is "your right". Maybe, what an animal deserves is a different thing, and I am staying as far away from "their right" as I philosophically am able to.