Are Zoos Good or Bad for Animals?

One of the most fun, visually amazing functions to visit are zoo's. Growing up as a kid going to the zoo was so much fun and basically guaranteed a great day out. People have been complaining and questioning the role of zoo's for a long time now. Some claim that it actually kills the animals off faster. Others claim that zoo's actually help protect and preserve the lives of these animals. Only one can make a reasonable argument by studying sources, and finding out statistics. Based off of the articles, "The Stripes Will Survive", "The Zoos Go Wild", and "Our Beautiful Macaws and Why They Need Enrichment", we can truly get in-depth analysis about the role zoo's play.

Zoos are an enclosure that traps the animal. There are people out there who care about the animals in captivity. Craig Brokenshaw, an Australian surfer dedicated to saving the dolphins in captivity said, “I felt quite sad, quite disgusted. It looked like they weren’t happy at all. They just looked kind of lifeless and disinterested,” Zoos are businesses that surround breeding and buying wild animals. Around 10,000 zoos worldwide hold at least 3,000 animals each. All of these animals are in captivity when they should really be in their natural habitat, whether it’s the grasslands or the jungle. That means that millions of animals are locked in and suffering greatly. Zoos are an insalubrious

Zoos across the world claim to be safe, suitable homes that replicate habitats of animals that are usually found in the wild. However, there is no possible way for wild habitats to be replicated well enough for animals in captivity to thrive, animals are often separated and withheld from living as they would in the wild. Despite their argument of being educational for visitors, the only thing they are teaching the public is that it is ok to take animals out of the wild and lock them up for their own enjoyment. Regardless of these claims, zoos are inhumane.

Animals are deprived of their natural habitat when transferred from the wild open space of the wild only to be fenced inside a limited habitat. Peta.org explains “Elephants typically walk up to 30 miles in just one day, but Lucy, the lone elephant at the Edmonton Zoo, is locked inside a barn… spends most of her time indoors…”. This doesn’t only apply to elephants, but to many other animals. Preventing them from thriving, because of the limited space provided per animal. Additionally, this leads to health problems because of the restricted amount of movement, health problems like arthritis. However zoos are not only causing physical harm, but mentally making animals sick causing many cases of depression. Trapping animals in cages stressed them out and can make them unhappy taking matters into their own hands trying to kill themselves according to

Zoos play an important role in conservation. It is important to realize zoos have breeding programs that help restore threatened species. As a result of those breeding programs, the Los

"Zoos have improved a lot in the last 4,000 years. These days, most zoos create friendlier environments for animals. ... Now, however, they get their animals through captive breeding programs and other zoos." This is an understandable concern, however, but this is not the case. Animals are not meant to be kept in captivity for human entertainment, animals are meant to be wild, the artificial surroundings in zoos an cause Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Zoos take giant roles to protect animals. In the magazines I read, "The Stripes Will Survive", and "The Zoos Go Wild," and the video that I watched called "Behind the Scenes with the National Zoo's Lion Cubs.", there are ways that they help the animals.

As claimed in the LCA article, ”Animals in zoos are forced to live in artificial, stressful, and downright boring conditions”(User, Super). Evidence shows time to time that animals are being affected by zoos. There are many things hidden behind the facilities, that many people do not know about. The animals are being held in conditions that no animal should ever live in. Even though some zoos do focus on helping the animals, they are not as beneficial to the animal because they are not provided with the proper care and attention they need and zoos do not try to fix their problems.

Firstly, animals in captivity show distraught behavior and don’t have the same abilities as those in the wild. For example, in the article The Loneliest Elephant written by Tracy Tullis, it states, “With limited space and and no infants to care for, captive elephants can become catatonically bored. A great majority of elephants in American zoos -- as much as 80 percent according to a 2013 study by the Honolulu Zoo -- develop disturbing neurotic behaviors, such as repetitive swaying and head bobbing.” Furthermore, it is clear that some animals in zoos behave differently, in a negative manner, in zoos than in their natural habitat (Tullis, 3). Also, a wildlife behavioral biologist Toni Frohof talks about Happy, an elephant kept in isolation at the Bronx Zoo. His words in The Loneliest Elephant was, “She exhibits self-awareness, yet one of the most important aspects of her psychological and physical life, the ability to be around other elephants, she’s been deprived of.” This shows, elephants who are caged in seclusion don’t feel the same as other elephants who get to be around each other 24/7; Happy is forced to be alone for the rest of her life (Tullis, 3). Concludingly, elephants and other animals can form mental and physical issues while caged or isolated.

When people think of a zoos they are to think about all the cool animals and their trainer doing tricks with them right? No, that is totally wrong. Most of the zoos don’t even care about the animals, all they care about is their paycheck and more money. Zoos usually want babies in the zoo because that is what people are attracted to more. When they grow up and aren’t as cute they are sold to other places for big money. The reason why they would have to sell them is because when they are smaller they attract more attention and make them more money. When they grow up they aren’t as playful and enjoying to watch so they sell them to get money to get other baby animals so they can make more money.

Zoos across the world claim to be safe, suitable homes that replicate habitats of animals that are usually found in the wild. However, there is no possible way for wild habitats to be replicated well enough for animals in captivity to thrive, animals are often separated and withheld from living as they would in the wild. Despite their argument of being educational for visitors, the only thing they are teaching the public is that it is ok to take animals out of the wild and lock them up for their own enjoyment. Regardless of these claims, zoos are inhumane.

Every year almost 175 million people visit a zoo, yet the mistreatment of animals in zoos goes almost completely unnoticed. This mistreatment is constantly swept under the rug by issues that society deems more relevant or impact us more. For example, issues like climate change receive more attention. However, this mistreatment is relevant and is constantly impacting society. These animals that are left malnourished, fatigued, and constantly fighting bacterial infections, are important. Every time an animal is pulled from the wild and put into captivity it impacts the mental health of the animal and endangers everyone and everything around it. Zoos are to blame for this endangerment, yet so is the public for overlooking mistreatment such as enclosures that are too small, surplus animals, and mental illness in animals.

Since visitors love seeing baby animals at zoos, several zoos breed animals to make more babies, and, as a result, create more profit. When these babies grow up, though, they aren’t as popular. Zoos often trade, loan, or sell adult animals who aren’t making them as much money as when they were younger. Can you even imagine someone getting rid of you just because you weren’t a baby anymore? These sad, unwanted animals may end up in roadside zoos or traveling circuses. Others are simply bought to be killed. For example, when baby animals who were displayed in the Minnesota Zoo’s farm exhibit grew up and didn’t attract as many visitors, the zoo took them to livestock auctions, where many ended up being sent to slaughter. When people go to zoos they have no idea of these things.

For instance, Gus the polar bear faced weird and unhealthy side effects from being in a zoo. He would compulsively swim figure eights in his pool, occasionally he would do it all day. Sometimes he swam like that for twelve hours! The reason he would swim like this is because he was depressed and anxious from living in a cage all his life. Gus belonged in the wild just like all other animals do. According to PETA kids, animals in zoos will develop “zoochosis”. Animals with “zoochosis” can develop many unhealthy habits. These can include biting themself or their enclosure, pacing, repetitive swaying, repetitive head-bobbing, impaired brain development, and/or a loss of appetite. Animals can also become unsocial.

In the past few years, a lot of controversy has been going on about whether zoos should be banned or not. Zoos should not be banned as they play a major role in preventing the extinction of some of the species help and in the protection of the animals. “In 1962 a campaign to catch three of the last living Arabic Oryx served to begin a breeding project at the Phoenix Zoo in Arizona.”[1]