Zoos are Going for the Boo
When zoos claim to show ‘’natural animal behavior’’ the zoos actually are not showing natural behavior because the animals have nowhere else to go then what they are enclosed to. If the animal is not acting like they would in the wild, they have been in an enclosed area for too long and are most likely to not be used to what happens in the wild. Even though zoos can help with building up a population of an animal, animals should be put in a large fenced in area in the wild where they can still get the help they may need. Zoos should only have animals in for a limited amount of time because if they are in for too long they will not survive in the wild on their own. Animals will not be able to choose their mate, animals are doing the same things over and over, and the placement of animals are not ideal for what a person would see in the wild. When animals are enclosed with only a certain amount of males and females, they could only choose from what the zoo has provided and not from what is found in their natural habitats. When forced breeding has been issued male and female fail to have offspring. Even though offspring can fail, it can help bring the population of the endangered species back up.
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In zoos water animals are stuck swimming in circles, birds have groomed themselves till they have no feathers, large cats and other mammals are forever stuck pacing back and forth against the glass. Animals do need to be able to run, swim, fly, roam, and climb. Even though these animals do have the ability to do all of these things, they do not have much room to do these things. Birds can only fly so high, cats, monkeys, and bears can only climb to a certain point, and water animals can only swim so
When it comes to the view on the amount zoos spend on different functions, conservationists and experts have ranging opinions. Although the ideas all revolve around the same thing, money, the main trains of thought are how zoos spend it, how useful it is in the facilities, and what it is spent on. Gretchen Wyler, vice president of the Hollywood, California, office of the Humane Society of the United States, subscribes to the idea of how useful money is in the facilities zoos spend it on believing that for a zoo to spend $38 million on 3.7-acre elephant enclosure is too little for too much money. Her solution to the problem is disbanding the program. A retired general curator at the Los Angeles Zoo, Leslie Schobert, agrees with this train of thought as well; however, he believes that the funds should be spent on creating an elephant sanctuary in the American South. As before mentioned, almost all the experts agree that the money spent on these programs are not spent well; nevertheless, they have varying ideas on the solution to this problem. Each idea having downfalls that do not fix the overall problem of how the money is spent. Nikia Fico, the director of Save Tucson Elephants and a law student at the University of Arizona, focused in what zoos spend their money on. She believes that “‘...zoos should keep only those animals that they can take of.’” (Cohn). Therefore, if zoos slim down their animal populations by giving them away to other zoos, they can have more money to
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.
Zoos may seem fun to visit and exciting to see the animals; but what you don’t see is the suffering and depression that lies in these helpless creatures. There are many arguments whether or not zoos are good or bad, and if they should be removed or kept. Several think that zoos should be abolished or at least very much improved, due to animal cruelty. While, others want zoos to stay because it is beneficial for the animals and people. I strongly believe that zoos aren’t good for both the public and animals for numerous reasons.
The third reason why there shouldn’t be any zoos is because the animals become separated from their original family. When the zookeepers need to get an animal, they get it from a big group of that type of animal. If this happens, the animal gets separated from its original family. When animals get separated from it's original family, the other family members get sad. And that is another reason why there shouldn’t be any
Zoos in America are often seen as a part of the “American dream” but they hold a deeper tragic truth behind them. When you think of zoos you probably envision visiting one with your family and seeing animals that you may have never seen in person in your lifetime but what you fail to think about are the factors in zoos. Many zoos are unfit places for animals to live and this needs to be changed. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the authority holder on all zoos regulations and to make zoos fit places for animals to live we must force them to make a change. The USDA needs to increase regulations in zoos to decrease negative health effects in animals, improve integration processes to release animals back into the wild and to reconfigure habitats to get animals closer to their natural environment.
First of all, keeping animals in zoos adds to an animal's loneliness. Humans hate loneliness and animals hate it too. The first reason why animals should not be kept in zoos is because they will suffer from loneliness. For example, the animal will miss its family in which it was separated from. Another example is that it will not have friends that will accompany it.
Costa Rica is home to only two zoos, however, it is one of the first nations to attempt to close all of their zoos within their country and release their captured animals back into the wild. Costa Rica was also the first country within their region to ban sport hunting completely. However, the government set the Simon Bolivar Zoo and the Santa Ana Conservation to close in March of 2014, which the zoos claimed was not enough notice to end their contract. Because of this, the zoos took it to court, where it was decided that the government did terminate their contract early, so the zoos have been granted more time. Now, they have ten more years until they will be forced to close in 2024 (Laylin). CNN writer Rafael Romo describes that the “most recent dispute over zoo animals has already made its way to the courts, and much like the animals at its center, it’s already getting wild.” The Simo Bolivar Zoo will be turned into a botanical garden, and as for the Santa Ana Conservation, it will be turned into a park.
Zoos are important for animal education. According to Agnew, zoos are an amazing way for people to learn about wildlife without having to travel far distances (2). If we had to travel far distances all the time then people would be less interested in learning more about them. More money would be spent on your traveling than on you simply driving to the zoo.
Zoo programs such as (AZA) and (SSP) help conserve endangered species; they capture the animals, breed them, and then let them
Some people agree that animals should be kept in the zoo. They said it would be safer for the animals and they won’t be extinct. The amount of possibilities of them dying, shot by hunters or any other reason, still higher than the chances of their survival. Food and shelter are provided, medicine, and their breeding is being controlled. And many of the wild animals in zoos are ones that are on the endangered list as their amounts are rapidly diminishing. Letting them loose and returning them to the wild is not necessarily a safe option. (Mylot, 2007) In fact, zoo can be one of the educational studies for children and people who are interested with animals. Zoo is the only place that we can have an opportunity to see animal’s life really close and sometimes we can touch them. Zoos also provide lots of information about certain animals, children can have chance to get out of the classroom and learn so they can see natural beauty from different species of animals. Even children can see them from discovery channel but that’s really different if you see animal in real world, for an example, if you see crocodile, snake or shark in the movie, maybe you won’t afraid than you see the real one. According to Tudge, (1992, p.56) Zoos are the place where people can study animals and their habitat, even scientist don’t need to go
They operate in that way, but like I previously said due to the fact that the animals are forced to live in an altered environment that tends to change animals features, behavior, and levels of activity. Their behavior changes for several reasons including boredom from force of going to specific places. Behavioral changes are also caused by stress and loneliness put onto the animal over time. These changes make an animal seem completely different than they would be in the wild. This miserable reaction isn’t an accurate lesson to learn. If anything, zoos are normal it is to treat these animals like
Zoos hold animals in confined spaces compared to the wilderness that may be only a few miles away. What makes it more fun and amazing to go find animals in the wilderness is the adrenaline rush. Humans are taking away that rush when we place animals behind glass or inside electrified cages and so many other forms of containment. Some zoos even treat their animals like they are Death Row inmates in max security prisons. Sure the caretakers and owners of the zoo try to make their enclosures and as close to the wilderness as possible, but if there is a rifle pointed at the animal, they would hardly even show.
Most zoos also take part in breeding programs. Since there are a lot of restrictions on catching wild or ‘exotic’ animals and it is very expensive to buy them from other sources, zoos choose to breed already owned animals. This causes a lot of issues, such as loss of natural reproduction practices for the animals and even miscarriages due to
If you’ve ever been to a zoo, you know that the people there know about the animals they take care of. You know that the animals are in excellent condition, as a result of being treated royally. You know that zoos are not seen as an animal prison, rather an effective and efficient modern way of preserving the life of endangered species. For centuries, people have kept animals in captivity in order to awe at their beauty. In the beginning, zoos were simply iron cages, and animals were mistreated, however, now this has changed, animals are treated wonderfully and cared for daily. Yes, being in a zoo limits the animals’ roaming space, and causes them to lose their survival instinct, however, zoos are an appropriate way to protect wildlife and endangered animals, as they care for, and protect endangered species, zoos provide everything the animal needs, and they have a positive impact on the citizens’ opinions about animals.
Forced breeding is probably the worst thing you could do to an animal. Most of the time, animals spend their entire lives searching for a mate and sticking with them, but these programs are forcing animals to breed with each other when the other animal doesn’t want to go through that process. However, this process is bring in more of the animals offspring, most of these animals fail to have this happen. These animals are being forced to do something that takes time and caution, and we humans are pushing our own luck by thinking that we can make them do it at any passing moment. Take this moment into consideration and just think for a moment and imagine yourself in their place, it’s not very pretty on the other side of the wall, is