THERE has been a great deal of correspondence on the subject of Blackpool Zoo recently, with many people defending the zoo's standards of animal care.

I would suggest that all these people walk around the outside fence of the zoo on East Park Drive near the De Vere Hotel.

There are some deer and some ostrich-like birds being kept in abysmal conditions.

Over the last few years these areas have become worse and worse and now look like a muddy swamp.

I have watched deer struggle through the mud unable to walk normally and almost getting their mud-encrusted legs stuck.

I am sure the natural habitat of the birds is not the muddy swamp that they are forced to live in at the zoo. Anyone passing the zoo regularly, as I do when visiting my auntie and walking her dog, can see this.

If we kept our dogs or horses in this state the RSPCA would intervene.

Why do zoo bosses pay for American elephant trainers when they cannot keep their animals in decent conditions?

L. Horton, Stricklands Lane, Penwortham, Preston.