Manila - Scantily-clad women demonstrated Tuesday in front of the Manila Zoo in the Philippine capital against cruel treatment of animals in the 50-year-old, government-run facility. The activists from the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) carried red heart-shaped placards reading "Love the Animals, Boycott the Zoo" and "Have a Heart, Boycott the Zoo" amid watchful eyes of police officers and news photographers.

The group lamented that animals in zoos are "sentenced to lifetimes of boredom, loneliness and abuse, which often leads to self-mutilation and other abnormal and self-destructive behaviors."

"Animals who are bred or captured for zoos suffer lives of loneliness and misery," PETA director Jason Baker said. "Although animals at the Manila Zoo haven't committed any crimes, they are forced to live like prisoners."

Baker urged the public to stop patronizing zoos such as the 5.5-hectare Manila Zoo, which is currently home to about 500 animals, including several endemic and indigenous species of animals such as the bearcat, long-tailed macaque and crocodile.(dpa