Is it captivity or protection?
Zoos have existed since ancient times, but questioning if having animals should be kept in zoos, is a more modern debate. The question that is being asked today is, should wild animals be kept in captivity or be allowed to remain in their natural habitats? There are two sides to every story the pros and the cons. Keeping animals in captivity provides more opportunities for humans to learn from them, and zoos protect the animals from predators, such as other humans that hunt or poach. The cons are, some animals that are kept in zoos cause unwanted problems, zoos do not use animals for the right reasons or conditions in the zoo are unhealthy for the animals.
Keeping animals in captivity provides for better learning
When people come to the zoo they can learn about the animals. Having a strong connection with animals will led them to help protect the animal. Sarah from Seneca zoo said, "by having animals at zoos we get people to care about animals and donate money to animals”. This shows that zoos will help people to learn about animals. It will also help people feel a closer connection to animals if they can see them in real life instead of in movies or TV. Lastly, they teach and expose new things about animals to people.
The zoos protect the animals.
To protect threatened species, zoos keep many animals from going extinct. Zoos protect animals from going extinct by helping them medical care and helping them to breed, this helps them to get that species back on their paws. In addition, the zoos are helping animals from starvation, habitat loss and they protect animals like elephants away from ivory poachers. Sarah from Seneca Park Zoo says’’ the majored of animals that live at zoos could never live outside of human care because they were injured, by living in zoos they have better care and live longer”. This is saying that without the care that the zoos give them if they were injured they would not have a chance in the wild and wouldn’t live as long. Lastly, they save the animals away from people that cannot give the animals the right care.
Animals that are kept in zoos cause unwanted problems.
Animals in the wild have a huge area and can run free, but when they are kept in zoos, they tend to get bored because it is a small space. In addition, when they have a small space it could cause them to have malnutrition. When they are over breeding the animals, it can cause an overpopulation of the animal in the zoo. What they do when they have a surplus of animals is kill them, so they do not have a high amount.
Zoos use animals for the wrong reasons.
When people go to zoos, they see the animals for entertainment that sometimes that is all that people see zoos as. Finally, "we do not believe keeping endangered species in zoos actually contributes to conservation, we really would expect zoos that claim to focus on this issue to not be holding so many animal's captive who are not of conservation concern” (C.A.P.S). This is showing that sometimes keeping endangered animals in zoos isn’t always the best thing to do. Lastly , Manmade structures are not the best for animals. Since the structures are a lot smaller than in the wild, this could cause mental and physical needs that are not met in the structure. If they escape the structure, they put their lives at risk and human rights at risk.
Should animals be kept in zoos?
Does one side outweigh the other? Animals kept in zoos cause people to learn about the animal that live everywhere. They protect them from problems that they would face out in the wild. Animals should not be kept in zoos because it isn’t the same as nature. They will suffer an overwhelming amount of problems from being in the zoos. They face mentally and physically problems like boredom and over population what side will you pick animals protection or captivity?
work cited
- http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/ovic/searchResults/actionWin?scanId=CSH&query=OQE+animals+zoos&prodId=OVIC&p=OVIC&mode=view&catId=&u=nysl_ro_hflms&totalSearchResultCount=1589&limiter=AC+y&contentModules=&displayGroups=&display-query=OQE+animals+in+zoos&action=e&sortBy=&windowstate=normal&activityType=BasicSearch&resetBreadCrumb=true&failOverType=&commentary
- https://vittana.org/21-pros-and-cons-of-zoos
- http://senecaparkzoo.org/