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  3. Talking of campaigns by our charity to phase out the keeping of animals in captivity, Dartmoor zoo owner Ben Mee says: "Actually

Talking of campaigns by our charity to phase out the keeping of animals in captivity, Dartmoor zoo owner Ben Mee says: "Actually

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问题     Talking of campaigns by our charity to phase out the keeping of animals in captivity, Dartmoor zoo owner Ben Mee says: "Actually, I can see their point; I don’t particularly like looking at animals behind wire either." He then adds the usual caveat(说明): "But, as a zoo director, I understand that it is absolutely essential that we keep them there."
    Are zoos really essential? Ben talks about them "protecting as many endangered species as possible". Yet of the 51 mammal and bird species at his zoo only seven are classed as threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
    Zoos claim to be safer places for animals than their natural habitats. Mee questions whether it is "fair" to reintroduce a jaguar(美洲豹)to Central America, because of not only the dwindling(逐渐减少的)rainforest but also the impact "on the people who live and farm there". This view is highly dangerous for conservation, and many field scientists consider captive breeding to give a false impression that species are safe and that natural habitats don’t need protecting.
    Despite its claims, Dartmoor zoo itself has been responsible for killing animals — deer, as a result of "overpopulation", and a wolf who was excluded by the pack, for example. More dangerous is the line pushed by international zoo bodies that hybrid animals should be killed — such as three tiger cubs at a German zoo recently — because they use resources that could be spent on purebred animals. The Mee family bought the zoo without any prior experience, so not surprisingly Ben found it "harder than I thought" — so hard that its operating company is closed despite a TV deal and a planned Hollywood film. Let’s hope they haven’t started a trend for wealthy people with no experience to buy zoos in trouble — Anna Ryder Richardson followed in their footsteps by getting a TV series based on her buying a zoo in Wales.
    Mee talks about the alleged good work of members of the zoo-trade body, the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquaria(Biaza). Twice in the past year, we have exposed the practices of member zoos. One had a tiger-breeding programme with the owner of the country’s most controversial animal circus. The other was locking lions inside for up to 18 hours a day. Biaza revoked membership of the zoo connected to a circus but not the one keeping lions confined in a building that, according to government inspectors, had "no visible environmental enrichment" and "clear signs of substantial fighting". So how can Mee say we have "some of the highest standards of farming anywhere in the world"?
    We need to urgently recognise that conservation means the protection and restoration of natural habitats, not keeping animals in cages. If we phase out zoos, and end captive breeding, resources can be used to protect habitats for the benefit of all fauna and flora(动植物).
The message the author intends to convey in this passage is that______.
选项 A、zoos play an important role in protecting endangered species
B、captive breeding helps increase the number of rare animals
C、the safest place for an animal is its natural habitat, not a zoo
D、keeping animals in cages harms them physically and psychologically
答案C
解析 本文首先提到达特穆尔动物园的老板本·梅伊认为动物园可以保护濒危动物这一观点，接下来通过举例说明动物在动物园遭到杀害和虐待，指出对动物来说，动物园并不是一个安全的地方，最后作者指出保护动物就要保护动物的天然栖息，而不是将它们关在笼子里。由此可知，本文主要说明了对动物来说，最安全的地方是自然栖息地，而不是动物园，故答案为[C]。[A]和[B]是本·梅伊的观点，故排除。[D]只是文中举的狮子的这个例子说明的问题，并不是本文的主旨，故排除。
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