A group of animal right activists campaigning for conditions at the East London Zoo to be improved, or for it to be closed down, were buoyed by a productive meeting with BCM officials at City Hall on Friday.
The group, comprising concerned citizens and Khoi and San activists who represent a collective under the banner of animal rights lobbyists Ban Animal Trading (BAT), met BCM senior officials and handed over a memorandum detailing reasons, solutions and ideas for improving conditions at the zoo.
The zoo has come under fire from political and civil groups insisting conditions are unacceptable and the animals’ enclosures are too small. A number of protests have been held to highlight the issue.
But the mood lightened at City Hall. “We are so grateful to have been given this opportunity to put forward our ideas for the zoo and we just wanted to urge officials to make the zoo and the animals a priority. We’ve come out of this meeting feeling hugely positive about the way forward,” said the spokesperson for the group, Robyn Rohm.
Khoi San activist Joseph Kreeling said: “I’m excited to see how far we have come from where we started. We have opened up the opportunity for conversation and negotiation and I can see a willingness to collaborate.”..