Re: "Mall zoo prices Thailand's last caged gorilla at B30m", (BP, Oct 21).
Whilst legally sound, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment's argument regarding Bua Noi, the gorilla held captive at the Pata Pinklao Department Story for decades, that they "could not take any action other than buy the giant ape, because the gorilla was private property" bought before Thailand signed the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, under which such a purchase would now be illegal, ignores justice and the wider moral issues at stake.
Prior to 1860, it was also legal to own human beings throughout most of the USA. That did not stop President Lincoln from emancipating much, albeit not all, of that private property on Jan 1, 1863.
