Skip to main content
NEU Senior Regional Support Officer
Wild about wild animals’ prisons  
PETER FROST sticks his trunk, his fins and his paws into the dirty business of keeping wild animals in captivity
Anne the elephant at Longleat faces an uncertain future

AMAZINGLY, it was only a little more than a year ago that having wild animals like lions, tigers, elephants and sealions became illegal in Britain. 

At the moment a similar law is being introduced to make the keeping of those same animals as pets in private homes also illegal.

At present there are over 50 elephants being kept in captivity in Britain. As they die it will be illegal to have any more unless they have been bred in captivity in Britain.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
Erhai lake
Climate Crisis / 9 October 2025
9 October 2025

One of the major criticisms of China’s breakneck development in recent decades has been the impact on nature — returning after 15 years away, BEN CHACKO assessed whether the government’s recent turn to environmentalism has yielded results

Maiwene Barthelemy and Clément Faveau in Holy Cow
Cinema / 10 April 2025
10 April 2025
The Star's critics ANDY HEDGECOCK, MARTIN HALL, MICHAL BONCZA, ANGUS REID reviews Holy Cow, One to One: John and Yoko, King of Kings, Panda Bear in Africa
(L-R) Day of the Fight; Twiggy; Marching Powder
Cinema / 6 March 2025
6 March 2025
The Star's critic MARIA DUARTE Reviews of Twiggy, Mickey 17, Day of the Fight, and Marching Powder
David Lynch pictured in 2007
Features / 7 February 2025
7 February 2025
David Lynch’s classic 1980 film The Elephant Man has some cruel parallels with Britain in 2025, argues STEPHEN ARNELL