The chairman of the foundation which runs two Kent animal parks has said parents should not take children to zoos.

Damian Aspinall, who is behind Howletts Wild Animal Park in Canterbury and Port Lympne near Ashford, said he backs the idea of zoos being phased out within 30 years, in an interview with The Times.

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He admitted being hypocritical after saying he needed money from tickets to fund plans to send the animals back to their natural habitats.

He has already returned black rhino, Western lowland gorillas to Africa and clouded leopards to Cambodia.

Mr Aspinall said zoos exaggerate their benefits and hide the amount of disease within the attractions.

He added he will eventually turn Howletts into a rescue centre.

"Parents should not be taking their kids to zoos. I know that would hurt me as much as anyone else but that’s my honest answer," said Mr Aspinall.

"There’s no excuse for any zoo today. Because parents take their kids to zoos when they are young by the time those young grow up they are culturised that zoos are fine.

“I admit to my own hypocrisy. We have the same problems as everybody else. We have hybridised animals, we have animals that have been in-bred.”

He said only 5% of mammals in zoos around Europe were endangered and only three, the Eastern black rhino, gorilla and orangutan, were in a viable breeding programme.

“Millions of animals are kept in poor cages because a tiny number of people might become activists and take an interest in conservation,” he said. “I think that makes us barbaric as a species.”

He said zoos on the continent spent £15 million a year keeping elephants and rhinos and called for the funds to be used in tackling poachers in Africa.

Mr Aspinall says small zoos like London should close their gates in 10 years whereas larger parks like his should close in 25 to 30 years.

Tony Kelly, the managing director of the Aspinall Foundation, assures there are no plans to close either park and they “will continue as normal for the foreseeable future”.

He says visitors should be encouraged to go to parks which put animal welfare above commercial interests.

“The point being made is that all zoos in their current form should be phased out within 25-30 years and all small and urban zoos of less than 10 acres should be phased out within 10 years,” he added.

“There will undoubtedly be a place for rescue and breeding centres in the long-term future, for which we will be involved.

“As such, operations at our parks will continue unaffected.

“At both our parks we are justifiably proud of our conservation record and the manner in which we care for our animals.

“Our large enclosures enable them to roam much more freely; we mimic their diet and grow our own herbs and vegetables to feed them on, while also importing exotic fruits for those that would normally consume it in the wild.

“We will continue to promote our parks and encourage visitors to come to us rather than zoos where we believe animals are kept in small inadequate spaces and their welfare is secondary to the commercial interests of the owners. In raising this issue we want to help educate the public about the vital and wide ranging conservation work that we do but also encourage people to ask questions about the real value of other such facilities that may claim to have conservation as their motive.”

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