A sad mandrill.

I visited Singapore Zoo today. While it was by far the best zoo I have ever visited, and most of the animals seemed exceptionally well cared for, I still found it a bittersweet experience.
The solitary polar bear, attempting to sleep in the tropical heat was the first thing to prick at my conscience. The second was more difficult.
I have seen primates only a few times before, and only really in the wild.Singapore zoo houses numerous primate species including new world monkeys, mandrills, orangutans and our closest relative, the chimpanzee. To me the minute fraction of DNA that differentiates these creatures from ourselves is plain to see. Their mannerisms and appearence are so (for want of a better word) human that I found watching them, alongside hundreds of my own species, from the far side of the thin wall that seperates us nothing short of disturbing.
Regardless of your opinion of zoo's or my comments so far, I hope those who have any care for the environment, or moral fibre in general will feel the same dismay as I did upon my last observation.
As most of you hopefully know, deforestation is a global crisis. To give one of many examples, over 50% of the rainforest in Sumatra has been logged. One product generated by the destruction of this particular rainforest is paper packaging for KFC. After a short time at the zoo I was horrified to realise that it contains not one, but two KFC's.
Meters away, the exhibit containing Sumatran Orangutans, who are rapidly nearing extinction, personified this hypocracy.
I have debated with myself for a long time over my opinion of zoo's on a whole. I have to say I am still not entirely decided and am still hoping to discover a way in which zoo's can serve a genuine and necessary purpose in the name of conservation. Although Singapore zoo did not provide me with this, as someone who has seen some truly dismal zoo's, it was far better than most. But it seriously needs to get rid of it's fried chicken.