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Acclimatisation Societies of New Zealand

10,000 Birds

There are the endemics, which are odd in their own way, and then there introduced species, which are so varied in their type and origin that you get the feeling you’ve arrived at the aftermath of a small zoo that escaped. Brush-tailed Possums were brought from Australia to help start a fur industry.

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When conservation and animal rights collide

10,000 Birds

Animal rights is concerned with preventing the suffering or even use of animals by humans. One of the first examples I ever encountered was in the books of Gerald Durrell, the famous conservationist who was an early pioneer of the roles of zoos in conservation.