It is good news the last three elephants have been removed from the brutal concrete confines of London Zoo to enjoy the somewhat friendlier surroundings of the Whipsnade Wild Animal Park (The Argus, December 6).

But how sad that years of concerns expressed by animal welfare campaigners were ignored by the zoo "experts" and it has taken the death of a keeper to make the authorities acknowledge a city-centre zoo is no place to keep elephants.

Zoos do not exist for the benefit of the animals imprisoned in them but for the entertainment of humans.

Although the confinement of animals in zoos was acceptable 170 years ago, in these more enlightened times the very existence of such establishments needs to be brought into question.

-Peter Allen, Chute Avenue, High Salvington