This is an interesting thread. It's generated a different question in my mind: do zookeepers (I know, I know, they're not perfect either, so we can agree to disagree with their practices, but I suspect it's fair to say they're generally better-informed than the average reader on this forum) ...so, just for insight, do zookeepers* routinely feed their big predators live food? Is the general practice to routinely give the big cats, for example, live pigs, sheep, whatever, so they can practice their natural behavior of stalking, pursuing, capturing and killing, before eating? Or are they fed--for want of a better word--pre-killed food?

Whatever the answer--I'm really open to whatever it is--what are the implications for our discussion here?

*--maybe i should limit this question to practices at the zoos that have more natural exhibits, and not ones that merely have magnificent felines in cement and steel-bar cages. I'm anticipating FR's antagonism to that insensitivity to the animals' natural environment, and Frank, i agree with you completely. Though the question would still remain, "ok, if we fail in the physical environment the zoo provides, does that mean it shouldn't strive to do better in other aspects of the captives' lives--for ex., always feeding live food to animals that are natural predators, even if they're housed in those unfortunate cement "homes"?

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