Essay on Zoos and Animal Rights

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.

As the animal rights movement has developed and grown substantially in recent years, there has been an increased focused on the welfare of captive animals. A popular institution that has received much attention for keeping animals captive is the zoo. Because of this focus, zoos have responded by publicizing their positive benefits for existence in order to justify keeping these animals on display. Since the term “zoo” can have a wide variety of meaning and characteristics, it is important to define what constitutes a zoo in this essay. Zoos are defined as a facility in which animals are confined within enclosures, displayed to the public, and

In the article “Zoos Are Cruel and Unnecessary,” Earth Times posed a question, “With the internet, as well as DVDs, 3D TV, etc., are zoos really necessary to teach people about animals in the 21st century?” In the response given by Liz Tyson, director of the Captive Animals’ Protection Society, she argues an animal and its environment in a zoo is “out of context” and there is no substitution for an animal’s natural habitat. Therefore, viewing animals in such environments distorts the message that a zoo’s primary purpose is to conserve these habitats in the wild. By focusing solely on the artificial habitats, Tyson fails to mention the educational opportunities that zoos and zoological parks can provide, such as interactive visitor programs, breeding and rehabilitation programs, and up-close animal encounters.

Zoos have become a very visited place over a person’s lifetime, whether it be for an educational school field trip or for a day of fun. It’s a wonderful experience to be able to see animals up close in a controlled environment, keeping visitors safe from these animals, however do visitors think of what the animals are going through? Zoos are not providing enough space for captivated animals to live causing numerous problems not only involving the animals, but some visitors as well. Zoos should not be allowed to hold animals in captivity unless they significantly increase the size of each cage (change cage into something else).

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 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.

Zoos present a certain blend of nature and culture. They have always provided a way to bring natural wildlife and urban Americans together as a means of entertainment. Yet, throughout the years the role of zoos have changed. Though once used for amusement, zoos are now being used for education on preservation and the welfare of endangered species. One may wonder where and how the idea of zoos started and just how they, and the environment around them, have changed throughout history.

Moreover, zoos help to repopulate endangered animal species such as the California condor, a vulture. As it says in the article “Zoos: The Historical Debate” after ten years of working

Since their very beginnings, zoo’s around the world have been at the forefront of ethical debates. Animal ethicists, animal liberationists and proponents of the land ethic raise considerable questions about the nature of zoos in a moral and ethical context. Drawing on animal rights claims, the questionable moral status of animals and the land ethic, this essay seeks to argue that zoo’s; a place in which wild animal’s are held in captivity, are inherently unethical. Though animal liberationists tend to include domesticated animals and agriculturally farmed animals, the scope of this essay will focus solely on the ethics of zoo’s and those animals within. Citing experts in the animal ethics

People think that animals want to be in zoos, but they really do not. In some zoos the owners or zookeepers see how the environment is making the animals feel bad or good and they try to change it by giving the animals a similar habitat to where they came from. All three stories “The Stripes Will Survive”, “The Zoos Go Wild”, and “Our Beautiful Macaws and Why They Need Enrichment” deal with protecting animals but they all do so in different ways.

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 first modern zoo to be founded was in Vienna, Madrid and Paris in the eighteenth century and later on 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 are 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 games.” Jamieson continued to explain how over the years the use of animals historically grew in popularity and how the idea continued to “thrive until at least the eight century.” Jamieson also mentioned that keeping a large amount of animals showed who had power.

There are animal preservation groups that don’t require putting these wide ranges of species in captivity. Their sole purpose is to help injured animals or species that are going extinct, and release them back into the wild where they belong. I think that zoos should be abolished unless they change into sanctuaries where injured animals are taken in, helped, and released back into the wild immediately. Zoos would still be allowed to do this in front of public eyes. Animals should never be held captive and “research” is never an excuse. Animals can be researched while in the wild where they are in their most natural and happy state. Zoos do not do this. Zoos claim that they are helping animal species when in reality they’re hurting them and torturing animals to the point of depression and insanity. There is no justification for shooting animals when they act up because they shouldn’t be in those situations in the first place. Animal instincts should not change. Wild animals aren’t meant to be ‘tamed’ in order to provide entertainment to the public. Most zoo visitors say they don’t take away any real connection afterwards so zoos really don’t have any righteous or moral

Zoos are a dynamic educational source that enhances our community. Zoos raise awareness about jeopardized species and the significance of preservation. Zoos may help us to comprehend animals. They offer a good tool for our societies by lodging and dealing with creatures that may have been in peril at one point in their life. “100,000 kids come to London Zoo every year to learn about creatures.”[3] Usually when people come to zoos and they are taught about the conservation of some of the endangered species, a lot of these people get motivated and inspired to do something about it either by donating money or volunteering to help and so on.

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