In Brazil, Children’s day is celebrated on October 12th. And at SalvadorBotanicalZooPark, in Bahia state, children had a great surprise. Instead of lions, bears and jaguars, they found humans inside one of the cages of the zoo. “My God, mother! Why are they locked inside this cageω Did they do something wrongω”, asked Lara Souza, 7 years old.

But the objective was not only making people to get surprised, but also aware children and adults about the imprisonment of animals. “We want to show people that the zoo should not be a place only for fun and entertainment, but a place of rehabilitation and preservations of animals”, says President of Animal Abolitionism Institute, Heron Gordilho, who, together with university students of several areas, promoted the awareness activity on Children’s Day.

On the opinion of the law student from Salvador Catholic University, Gilmar Freire, the animals should be kept in their habitats. “Once recovered, the animals should return to their habitat, because, just like us humans, they also have their rights”, says Freire, who is part of a team that promotes animal defense activities.

The activity promoted at the zoo was supported by a lot of parents, like the seller Dinaldo Rodrigues, 32 years old. “It is important because it demonstrates that all of us are the same. We are not better than any of these animals that are inside the cages”, said. But there were people who disagreed. “This is a joke of these students who do not have anything to do”, said a gentleman who did not want to identify himself.