Misuse of Animals in Zoos in what seems like good causes

Greetings Gentle Readers!
I was reading an article about how visually impaired children were able to get up close and touch an anesthetized tiger. At first, I thought how nice for the children, but then started to think about the tiger......he was not "anesthetized" specifically so that the children could touch him......he was "put out" for a "physical exam" and while out, the kiddies got to stroke his tongue, mess with his fur, etc.....Gentle Readers, imagine if you were anesthetized for surgery and found weird, unfamiliar smells or stuff on your tongue?? Or someone else's perfume on your body?? ...coming out of surgery and discovering yourself having been sprayed with an overwhelming dose of Chanel no. 5???  I think this is an invasion of the tiger's privacy to the point of abuse....I'm sorry that visually impaired children can't get up close and personal with a tiger under better conditions....but tigers are not designed so that humans can get up close and personal and those that try, end up being dinner or "road kill" to the tiger. Damn it!! Give the tiger some respect.
While this riles me, it isn't as bad, IMHO, as when a SF zoo gorilla was dying of heart failure, and instead of letting him die of natural causes, or "putting him to sleep"....a policy I don't agree with.....the zoo allowed cardiac surgeons from UCSF to operate on him.......this sounds just fine and lovely with roses to be given to the MDs for trying to save him from death......EXCEPT....in big capital letters.....the surgeons had no, zero, zip, nil, nada gorilla blood for transfusions....ANY operation on the heart, most operations on anything, require blood for transfusion in case of a problem......as the surgeons had no gorilla blood for transfusions, nothing they did could HELP that gorilla live a longer life. They were just having a fun time playing doctor with a strange "to them" species.
I believe in respect for all living things (except maybe mosquitos and crab grass...and maybe cock roaches..) . I am not a member of PETA, and do see reasons why animals are used in scientific experiments where the results might help mankind or other living kind, and I am a carnivore. But this use of zoo animals as toys for human amusement reminds me of the bad old days of the circuses .....Let's stop this nonsense!!!! Respect our fellow creatures!! Don't use zoo animals as nothing but "things".