THE ANIMAL VIEW OF CAPTIVITY 



AN evening paper recently raised the question 

 whether the menagerie in Regent's Park did not 

 contribute as much to the unhappiness of its animal 

 captives as to the pleasure of their visitors? If 

 that were so, the enjoyment of the latter would 

 inevitably be diminished, though the sufferings of 

 most of our native birds and beasts in severe weather, 

 such as that which in the beginning of 1895 drove 

 the wild deer of the Highlands to the farmyards, 

 and actually caused hundreds to die of cold and 

 famine in Ross-shire, must suggest the reflection that 

 the comforts of captivity afford some compensation 

 for the loss of freedom. There is good reason 

 to believe that the surmise to which we have re- 

 ferred, though not unnatural, is wrong, and that, 

 though some creatures do suffer in confinement, the 

 balance leans rather towards an increase than a loss 

 in the sum of animal well-being. 



What makes the happiness of wild animals? 



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