Zoos For Animals In Captivity

Zoos, rehabilitation institutions, and many other environmental centers provide opportunities for the public to witness animals that cannot be seen on a daily basis. Whether to keep animals in captivity is morally hard to decide, especially for me personally. In the essay, “Against Zoos,” by Dale Jamieson, he writes about the positives zoos provide, and then reiterates them; making positives turn into negatives. Jamieson makes statements about humans being superior over animals, and how we should not be thinking that we are better. We tend to take a lead role over other species, because of our “higher intelligence.” That should not mean that we treat wildlife as if they are something lower than us. In more ways than one, we as humans are

The first modern zoo founded was in Vienna, Madrid and Paris in the eighteenth century and later in London and Berlin in the nineteenth century. The first zoo to be established in America was in Philadelphia and Cincinnati in the 1870s. In today’s America there are thousands of zoos. Humans like to be entertained regardless of how they are being entertained, whether that is walking through the park, watching a show, listening to music or simply going to the zoo. There is truth behind zoos that many don’t see, for example, many zoos don’t show the death rates that many zoo animals have after being transported from their natural habitants or the experiences that the zoo keepers provide to the animals being kept in captivity. To what extent are we okay with animals being tortured or being aware that animals are being killed just so humans can be entertained? While there are benefits to keeping animals in captivity, scholars agree that there are more negative effects that are damaging to the animals. The purpose of zoos can be more than just keeping animals in captivity and creating significant health or mental problems, zoos also can have a positive outcome, zoos can help keep endangered animals safe from others who are trying to kill them for what they are worth. Jamieson explains and gives one example of when people started putting animals in captivity. The Romans is the example that Jamieson uses, the Romans “kept animals in order to have living fodder for

Animals should be given the freedom they deserve. They should not be held captive in zoos and we can help stop this insanity. If people stop buying tickets to look at imprisoned animals, zoos will be forced to stop imprisoning and breeding wild animals. There are many better ways of studying an animal, such as looking up about it online, or even watching an animal documentary which shows the animal in its natural habitat, with its natural behavior. The animals need to be happy to live the life they were put on earth

“Captive animals are abused and exploited in a variety of settings, including research and product testing, the entertainment industry, fur farms, and the exotic ‘pet’ trade” (Born Free USA). Zoos are holding animals all around the world captive. Zoos are not letting them live in their natural habitats and roam free. Captive animals are are not healthy and it's not good for the environment. For example bornfreeusa.org states “Every year, captive exotic animals are involved in incidents in which humans are injured or even killed.” Animal captivity should not be allowed. Captivity affects animals mental health, they can’t get enough exercise and food that they normally get, additionally, these animals that are in captivity can get many diseases and could die.

Animals that are confined to zoos are prisoners. They are ripped of their families, and robbed of their happiness and freedom. Zoos cannot provide the amount of space animals have in the wild. However, Animals should never be held in captivity unless they are candidates for breeding programs or rehabilitation. It is inhumane for us to keep large mammals like elephants, tigers or gorillas in zoos or theme parks. These are highly intelligent animals with complex social constructs that scientists have studied for decades and still have yet to fully understand. Captive wild animals should not be used for entertainment. Unfortunately, using animals in a theatrical manner is what brings in the crowds and most importantly, the profits. While some theme parks may try to incorporate education into the act in order to justify running these shows, using these majestic animals for laughs and gasps is disrespectful and abusive. Children should learn to appreciate how these animals behave in the wild as opposed to how they can do tricks for rewards.

There has been significant increase in the number of zoo-based studies exploring the relationships between visitors and captive animals, in particular non-human primates (Carder and Semple, 2008). Visitors effect on an animals can be classified in three ways either stressful, neutral (or no consequence) or enriching (Choo, Todd and Li, 2011) A considerable amount of research has been focused on the effect of visitor presence on the behaviour of captive animals (Hosey, 2000). Although studies have included other species including multi-specie bird groups (Downs, 2012) and other mammals, the majority involves research with primates due to their higher range of behaviours and susceptibility to change from external influences, this however is limited

Putting animals in captivity such as zoos has its benefits. It teaches kids about the different species from all over the world and makes it convenient for us to see the wildlife. However, the damage it causes outweighs the benefits. Keeping animals in their habitat is better than putting them in captivity because it is healthier for their mental health, physical health, and it is dangerous for people who work with them.

The public have always been a lover of zoos and safari parks, as they allow people to get closer to beautiful and exotic animals that they typically wouldn’t see in my day to day life. Though, as children become older, they often become more aware of the darker truth of animals in captivity. Now, going to the zoo has always made people happy, but that happiness is only temporary. You gain maybe three to five hours of happiness from going to the zoo. Yet, the sadness that animals in captivity have to deal with is not temporary. It could potentially last their entire lives. Is it worth it to have these wonderful animals suffer so that we can get brief enjoyment out of them?

Firstly, wild animals in captivity is inhumane. Animals in zoos are often thought of as objects instead of living beings with feelings and emotions. An example of a situation that was inhumane and proves that zoos care more about income than animals took place at the Copenhagen zoo where an 18-month-old, healthy giraffe was killed because it was considered useless for breeding. According to an article by www.peta.org “Even large, well-known, and popular zoos engage in unscrupulous practices, such as dumping unwanted animals or taking animals from the wild.” Because most of these animals were raised or born in captivity, they were not able to develop the necessary survival skills needed to survive in the wild.

I think that animals should not be in captivity. First, we spend too much money on animals in captivity. According to Hanna, “millions of dollars had been spent to ensure the health of animals.” Food and shelter for these animals already costs millions of dollars so we don’t need to spend more money on them. Second kids aren’t getting animal education when they are studying animals in captivity. According to Robert, he said, "We're not getting an educational benefit from zoo-going or from circus-going.” That shows that even though you are seeing animals walking around and doing their regular everyday things you aren’t learning how they act in the wild. Although some people think that animals should be held in captivity because if that species

Did you know that a giraffe was killed in a zoo and fed to the lions because it had outlived it’s “usefulness”? This giraffe was only two years old! Animals in zoos suffer. How would you like to be held in captivity and be abused for the rest of your life? I know that I wouldn’t like that at all. Zoos are harmful because the animals have poor habitat, the animals get abused, and zoos are hardly educational.

Animals need their natural habitat because that is where they thrive. If you lived in an ice, cold tundra for 15 years and then you suddenly move to a desert you probably wouldn't like it. You would probably want to go back, that is what many of the animals in zoos want to do. Even though some zoos help animals, they never released them. They keep them even when they're fully healed. PETA.org.uk says that, “Zoos would have you believe that they are all that stand between many of the species they house and extinction, but animals are almost never released from UK zoos – and those who are rarely fare well since being reared in captivity leaves them ill-prepared to cope with life in the wild.” Zoos also say that they help endangered species, but only about 15% of the animals are really endangered. The rest of them were probably captured and sold to the zoo. Theguardian.com interviewed Ben, a zoo owner, “Ben talks about them “protecting as many endangered species as possible.” Yet of the 51 mammal and bird species at his zoo only seven are classed as threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.” Some animals living in captivity live longer, but they aren't happy and they only live 5 to 10 years longer. Animals such as elephants and orca whales live about 20 to 30 years, or even over half their “normal age” in captivity. Animals were made to live in certain places and nothing can change

Modern zoos have an important role in the conservation of many species. Each of these species have their own requirements to be able to live a healthy life in captivity. In this husbandry manual, the focus will be on the gorilla species (Gorilla gorilla) emphasizing the subspecies Gorilla gorilla gorilla, known as western lowland gorilla. This animal is in the list of critically endangered species; therefore the conservation programs performed by the zoos are very important to keep this species among us. In order to keep the health and welfare of gorillas, a series of requirements should be followed. This includes, nutritional, reproductive, and housing requirements, which will be discussed throughout this assignment.

Imagine walking through the zoo as a child, thinking how awesome it is to see all of those big interesting animals you would never get to encounter in the wild. Now think of walking through the zoo when you are older seeing these same animals in a very different light. Instead of seeing animals happily living their lives you see animals wandering aimlessly around their small enclosures looking bored to tears and depressed. Is it fair that we keep these animals cooped up specifically for our own entertainment? What right do we have to capture, contain, and breed these precious animals as we please? Why should we get to control their lives when they could obviously be living a better life elsewhere? Often these questions are meet with responses of conservation and education, but in reality those defenses have little backing. No animal should be forced to live in captivity for its whole life, which is why zoos should be banned since they are truly unjust to the animals living in them.

For the average person, a day at the zoo consists of walking through exhibits, admiring for a few minutes, maybe taking a picture, and moving on. All a person sees is perhaps five minutes into a zoo animals actual life, and they aren’t exactly concerned with the quality of care they are receiving. Is a few minutes of temporary entertainment really worth risking an animal’s life? Traditional zoos in America should no longer exist because of the poor quality of life they experience versus in wildlife, the little to no education they provide, and how they are not worth the damage they truly cause to animals.