Imagine one minute running freely on the vast green terrain surrounding you, then the next locked up in a cold, hard, cage. It sounds horrible, right? Who would want to be locked up with minimal area to stretch your legs, and have people staring at you constantly? I for one, would hate that. I imagine that most animals locked up would share the same feelings. I personally, am against animals being caged. They do not deserve that kind of lifestyle and should not have to live with it just because humans pay money to see it. Animals are suffering greatly from being locked away. When an animal is bought, traded or given to a zoo, the animals rights are stripped away from them.
Many people believe that the zoo is a positive experience, but they are not aware of what happens behind the scenes. Animals cannot physically live in zoos due to the unnatural habitats. These man-made habitats, often cause animals to suffer due to their physical and mental needs not being met (Zoos). Most animals are put into tight and filthy cages that often cause them to go insane. Some of these animals resort to destroying themselves by chewing on their body or by pulling out their hair (Zoos and Other…). “Lions in zoos spend 48% of their time pacing, a recognized sign of behavioral problems” (Ten Facts…). No animal should have to spend their life stressing about their wellbeing. They shouldn’t have to worry about their cage not being clean, or whether they’ll make it another day. No species on this planet should have to endure the physical and mental pain that animals, held captive in zoos, have to go
Imagine you are an animal trapped in a cage, stuck there, away from your home, for the rest of your life. This is what animals in zoos feel everyday. Zoos have been around since 1874. Several people are ready to make a change in a world and banned zoos. Many zoos out there are corrupt, and animals in them have never even seen there natural enviroment. Although most zoos try to keep animals happy and safe, zoos can make animals loose skills such as hunting, affect there normal sleep schedule, and no zoo can replicate animals natural environments perfectly.
Think about having to live your whole life in a cage, where you are surrounded by people you are not familiar with. Would you like that? But this is how live is for animals in the zoos.
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.
Imagine being a zoo animal. Wouldn’t the animal want to be free, and not in captivity? There should not be zoos. From outside of a cage it is barely noticeable, but what is happening to the zoo animals is not right. There should not be zoos because animals cannot exercise which leads to health issues, they have little to no space which causes depression, and there are other places that help animals in a safer and more productive way. The history of zoos is that animals would be in tin cages, now, they live in fake terrain, so none of these habitats are appropriate for animals. Zoos say that they are helping endangered animals, but really they are killing them.
According to the passage “The Impact of Animal Protection” it says “In the wild, animals share territory with other species, and the idea of survival of the fittest is very apparent.” it also mentions that the innate instincts they have to survive can be hurt and sometimes gone if they are kept in captivity for too long. The animals are more likely to be hurt by predators because they forget the their natural ways from when they were wild and untouched by the human kind. Others may say that it’s great for many of the to be in the animals to be in zoos mainly for the entertainment to them when they go to see the animals. However I still feel that it is not necessary for them to be locked away in the captivity of zoos for human needs they have their own needs to you
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
The zoo is packed with children, running everywhere. They laugh and smile as they watch the animals at the zoo sleep. What these children do not realize is that these animals are dying on the inside. Animals that live at the zoo are extremely depressed. These animals can suffer severe psychological disorders from being out of their natural environment. But others argue that keeping these animals in captivity will help keep endangered species alive. However, the disadvantages of keeping animals in captivity are becoming more and more serious, and more people are beginning to believe that animals should not be held captive. Animals should not be kept in captivity because of the negative impact it can have
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.
Feeling trapped, in a cubicle with bars on all four sides, being taken away from your home, and not knowing where you are. That's what animals that are enclosed in the zoo feel when they are taken away from their natural habitat. Some animals start to act out and do what they do best, by being the exotic and wild animal they were born to be. That is until there is human interactions involved with the animal. Such as the gorilla Harambe, he was in his enclosure when a little boy fell into the pit. The gorilla then went to the child and was interacting with him in the way he knew how, which lead to him being shot.
An animals life in a zoo is dreadful.”A 40 year long study showed that polar bears - along with lions, tigers and cheetahs- exhibit great evidence of stress in captivity.” Zoos have replaced crowded cages and poor diets with spaced out cages and well-researched
Zoos sometimes even take endangered or hurt species and nurture them back to health, but the amount of human interaction animals get in the zoo environment can be extremely harmful in the long run. By becoming more comfortable with humans, animals a lot of the time become more vulnerable to poachers and predators (Cite). Also, students at Oxford University studied the effects of zoo captivity on species and found many animals suffer reproductive, health, and behavioral problems after being held in captivity (Evans). And on few occasions animals, such as snow leopards and ring-tailed lemurs, adjust well and can even thrive in captivity. However, a lot of the time the only reason we keep them in captivity is for the education of humans, maybe it’s time to educate another way, perhaps with some of the technology we are loaded with
It is referred to as a repetitive locomotion stereotype. During the progression of the behavior over time, the intensity changes. When the animal initially begins the pacing, they may be easily distracted by sights or sounds. However, after some period of time, the animal may appear in a “trance,” unable to break their pace or gaze. This is what we so often see in zoos – the apparent detachment from their environment” (Di Lamont). This fact is stating how captivity could affect animals’ mental health very strongly. Also, “Zoos, contrary to what many people believe, often cause great suffering and stress to the captive animals. Animals in zoos are caged for life and deprived of the opportunity to develop and fulfill the full range of their interests and needs. They lose control over their lives and the environment they live in. Social animals are often forced to live in the misery of solitary confinement. Animals who would prefer to live alone are often forced into close contact with others” (“Zoos”). Animals suffer because of how different their