BUENOS AIRES will close its 140-year-old zoo and turn it into an eco park after announcing that keeping wild animals in captivity and on display “is degrading.”

    The mayor of the Argentine capital, Horacio Rodriguez Larreta, said the zoo will gradually relocate most of its 1,500 animals to sanctuaries at home and abroad because they are not living in adequate conditions.

    He wants Argentina to follow the global trend of turning zoos into parks and sanctuaries and believes that animals should live in their natural habitats.

    He said, “This situation of captivity is degrading for the animals, it’s not the way to take care of them.”

    The new eco park will provide a safe haven for animals rescued from illegal trafficking.

    The mayor called it “a place where children can learn how to take care of and relate with the different species.

    “What we have to value is the animals. The way they live here is definitely not the way to do that.”

    The Buenos Aires zoo was inaugurated in 1875 in what used to be the outskirts of the Argentine capital.

    The zoo, now surrounded by the busy Palermo neighborhood, has been making a loss for years.

    The site is expected to close soon so work on the ecological park can begin.

    Animal rights lawyer Gerardo Biglia, who has long wanted the zoo to close, said, “The most important thing is breaking with the model of captivity and exhibition.”(SD-Agencies)