Why we must save animals?

I had been thinking over this issue for quite some time now. i couldn't  reach in a position where i could recommend that this and this are true and such and such are false. It seems very much intertwined, humans, animals, their rights everything. It is true that we are very much wretched in our attitudes towards our fellow beings, whether it is other species or our own species. It is deep inside us, it is our primatial genealogy that makes us addicted to power and control. But in our case, as we are special in lots of ways like self awareness, thinking, language etc.we cannot afford to succumb to our instincts. We
created  restrictions in our society, set moral standards, defined right and wrongs. We are very much ahead of our fellow primates in evolution. We understood our position in this nature, what are we (at least partially),how we understood nature and even evolution process and thus we became  the enlightened ones. With this came responsibility, only because we are beings which believe in morality, righteousness, right and wrong, good and bad, and virtues. And why wrote all this blah blah, just to remind ourselves that we have strong logical reason to protect our nature.

We all heard of PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), they have gained more attention recently by their weird way of advertising, using nudity and porn. i am not sure whether they are getting right kind of attention but what they stand for is a strong cause, i.e. rights of other animals in a Homo Sapien dominant world. We can't ignore other living beings as,

1. We are part of food chain, even though it looks like we are independent of normal hunter- pray food link, we are still bonded. 
2. Second is we are not producers (like plants), we can't process food directly from sunlight, that's a pretty big reason i think you all agree with.

Concept of a "Zoo" is totally unacceptable in a civilised society like us. It stands for everything against "cultured" and "moral". It reminds me of our Dark Ages of Slavery. Zoo is living hell, most of the animals are not allowed to move freely as they do in their natural habitat. Zoo is for the fun of human beings. In zoos they are denied of their freedom to roam around. Most of the animals like lions, tigers monkeys etc are territorial animals. Snakes and crocodiles are cold blooded, but the condition of snakes in zoos are contemptible, they need sunlight to get energy to maintain their temperature. Lying inside a glass cage with lights on is not at all OK. We can't keep them inside this jail to fulfil our own kind of pathetic sadism. Researches show animals living in zoos shows problem in identifying their own species. They also shows premature deaths in zoos. Using animals in circus is another example of our sadistic behaviour. We are using them for our own pleasure without their consent. Using animals in festivals are also a big issue in India, especially in Kerala, where elephants are used in almost all festivals and they are used to stand in hot daylight for long hours.

As it is not possible to go all the way back and redo everything that has been done already. So it would be a good idea to get rid of zoos and protect animals in sanctuaries, where unnecessary human interventions are prohibited. Wild life sanctuaries and national parks would be a solution for zoo. They need a habitat where they live like as they are supposed to, not controlled by humans. Do we like the idea of some one controlling our lives other than ourselves, hell no.

Two days before i happened to saw the movie "Rise of Planet of the Apes" i think we should think of such a situation, not that it is going to happen but still what if they overtook us? what if they kept us as slaves? like we do to dogs and others in the name of petting. i think, the theme of the movie is relevant, may be not everyone but if some one might think about it and consider to change that would be a big leap towards the cause.

If we can't stop this we are proving the fact that we are  just masks outside, where inside we are still that barbarians who happened have a big brain. All our civilisations, knowledge we accumulated would be irrelevant, if we can't portrait a simple emotion, "affection". So lets hold our hands together for them.