IT'S disheartening but not surprising that Blackpool Zoo refuses to discuss animal welfare issues (Citizen, April 4).

The zoo is not designed to be an animal welfare organisation. Neither is it designed as an educational centre or a haven of conservation.

It was built as a "tourist attraction" in the mistaken belief that tourists leave their animal welfare concerns at home.

The zoo has discovered that we are not gullible enough to believe that seeing animals caged in unnatural social groupings is "educational", or that elephants performing circus tricks is "an extension of natural behaviour", or that the zoo's primary purpose is to return animals to their wild habitats.

So it responds with a cheap and tawdry attack on the Captive Animals Protection Society in a futile attempt to undermine the society's excellent track record in exposing the suffering of animals kept in circuses and zoos all around the world.

Those who support the society know the depth of real public concern about animal welfare -- particularly among young people, thousands of whom turn to CAPS and other organisations because they NEED to know the truth. Strange that the truth is something we never seem to hear from Blackpool Zoo.

Jacqueline Sheriden, Salisbury Avenue, Knott End.