An extensive discussion has been happening in the last few days in Brazil due to a resolution of the Federal Council of Veterinary Medicine, which prohibits pet exposure for sale in “PET Shops”, in cages or showcases.The public ends harassing the innocent beings, who have no idea why they are subjected to that torture.

However, if the Veterinary Council is concerned about this and does require an on-call veterinarian in such establishments to take care of the integrity of marketed and displayed animals, why do not extend this to zoos, which are also giant showcases, where thousands of animals are exposed for a lifetime, to be disturbed, observed and teased by an audience that enjoys the misfortune of all those unfortunate beings.

Isn’t it a thousand times worse to be displayed in a zoo for a lifetime, than in a showcase of a “PET Shop” for days or weeks? So what the Board of Veterinary was thinking? Both are showcases that generate torture, disorder and disease in exposed animals and that the veterinarians responsible for both establishments – Zoos and “PET Shops” – should be concerned about?

It is an absurd hypocrisy that a veterinarian worries about exposing a dog or a cat in a showcase for a few days, and has not the same, or a thousand times greater concern, with the exhibition of wildlife – which have nothing to do with humans, nor can never live with them – and the suffering that this cause to them?

All environmentalists await a new Resolution of the Veterinary Council banning the display of animals in zoos windows and showcases, which are the enclosures, and also to prohibit that these beings are imprisoned 15 hours a day in small cubicles without ventilation and space to work out during the night.

There cannot be two weights and two measures, which applies to one must be worth the same or even more for others, because they are wild animals and will be for a lifetime in those conditions.

The Federal Board of Veterinary Medicine in Brazil has the word!

Dr. Pedro A. Ynterian

President, GAP Project International