The Argentinian capital has hosted a zoo for more than 140 years. But that's coming to an end, Buenos Aires Mayor Horacio Rodríguez Larreta announced this week, as he unveiled plans to transform the facility into an ecological park. "This situation of captivity is degrading for the animals, it's not the way to take care of them," he said Thursday, the Guardian reported. "Animals have to live in their habitat, not in the middle of buildings," the mayor tweeted. Most of the Buenos Aires Zoo's 1,500 animals will be relocated to Argentinian sanctuaries and to locations overseas, according to the Associated Press. Some of the birds will be released in a riverside ecological reserve spanning 864 acres in the city. The zoo has had its fair share of problems that have attracted international outcry. Last year, two sea lions died within three days of each other. [Elderly elephant collapses and dies after giving rides to tourists in Cambodia] Zoo workers protested what they said was mistreatment