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benefits of animals in zoos
are zoos ethical essay
conclusion why zoos are bad
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As Paul McCartney says, “You can judge a man's true character by the way he treats his fellow animals.” This famous quote applies to Dr. Randy Malamud, an animal ethicist who believes strongly in the idea that zoos are no place for animals. In the interview “Please Don’t Read the Animals: An Interview With Dr. Randy Malamud,” conducted by Professor Anna Schachner, Dr.Malamud clearly explains that wild animals should be kept in their own habitats. Rather than forcing animals into a box with metal bars around them, in order to be used as entertainment. Within reason, I do support Dr. Malamud’s opinion concerning this topic because when analyzed, the only benefit aside from food that humans see in animals is through zoos, circuses, and experiments. Animals can’t defend themselves against mans power. I believe animals’ lives should not be demeaned or played around with like a child plays with a toy. I support organizations and movements that promote animal rights in order to prevent man’s continual mistreatment towards animals, bringing more cultural awareness to the sensitivities needed for mankind to live in better harmony with our fellow creatures, and applaud the on-going work and struggles of animal rights activists across the world, appreciating what they have contributed to society. I have always been willing to debate with anyone who agrees with the imprisonment of animals. I believe that imprisonment in this case is mistreatment and a form of cruelty; I have adapted a new living style of being a vegan. Not only do I disagree with the concept of zoos, but I also find the process of butchering animals into meals unethical and cruel. Also inserting drugs to make bird feathers fall off, breaking the breaks of young fowl... ... middle of paper ... ...vation in speaking out loud what is right. As for everything in life, it includes a long process of changing solid opinions towards the existence of animals. Through the mistreatment of animals, and to our societies’ view it is take more than one voice and one heart to change their understanding of the animal life. For that very reason there has been a development in organizations like People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), and people like Dr. Malamud in his interview that are making it known to society that there’s a need of balance within the wildlife and civilization. As humans progress to a better lifestyle requiring materials and time, animals just want to live peacefully without any threats in their habitat, without a fear of mankind. When it comes down to it, animals and human aren’t really that different we both see and hear the same.
Animal rights have become a very serious issue here in the United States over the last few decades. One issue that has been discussed is whether or not zoos serve a good purpose or are they just a torture chamber for the animals. Locked up in small cages so people can yell at them and stare. Or are zoos the key to save our species in an ever growing human population. Rachel Lu, a philosophy teacher and senior columnist, writes the article, “Let’s Keep Zoos: Learning stewardship is a good thing.”, published April 18, 2014, argues that zoos are worth keeping. Rachel Lu uses her personal experiences to appeal to her audience that zoos are valuable to people especially young children because it gives them a perspective on nature.
The practice of keeping wild animals in a zoo or aquarium is looked at favorably in most aspects but what we fail to realize is that we have placed animals which at one point lived freely in wide open spaces into captivity. Society is assuming these animals are happy to be taken from their natural habitat and placed in pens and cages because they have every need handed to them. David Suzuki asked “What gives us the right to exploit other living organisms as we see fit?” (681). Through selfishness, people have justified zoos and aquariums to be an educational benefit to children, to help them learn about animals, their individuality and where they come from. Zoos and Aquariums are for society’s personal entertainment not for the good of the animals and should be closed down.
It’s always fun to go with your friends and family to see cute and exotic animals when you go to the zoo, right? You may think that they have the best life having people to give them things that want and to protect them, but some of them are actually suffering just for our amusement from being in that small enclosure all day and all night. Animals should not be put in zoos because they can develop many mental and physical health problems due to the absence of some natural necessities and they are not always treated as nice as you think.
The debate on storing animals in zoos became controversial, and I came to the final decision that animals do not deserve to live in zoos. Animals are meant to live in their natural habitat, just as humans thrive in their naturally industrialized environment. Living in captivity can also cause the animal’s lifespan to decrease, and it may be due to the failure to satisfy their emotional needs. Human interaction to wildlife and its animals is every expanding, and this probably makes manmade disasters the main cause of the transaction of wild animals from the wild to zoos. On the other hand, zoos have the potential to raise awareness and the support from public donations to fund animal conservation projects, but people do not need to physically see an animal provide their support. Since there are many solutions to this debate, there is no direct answer. From a wild animal’s point of view, humans may be seen as immoral beings with countless evil intentions. What they do not realize is that we have the potential to do good and make big, positive
Have you ever seen an animal sitting in a cage all alone with nothing to do. Well, zoos are trying to change that fact. They will allow the animals to live in an environment that is like their home. Many people don't realize this, but zoo are keeping and breeding these animals because they would not survive in the wild alone. In the three passages, ¨The Stripes Will Survive,¨ ¨The Zood Go Wild from No More Dodos,¨ ¨Our Beautiful Macaws and Why They Need Enrichment.¨ All of these articles present one claim, that is that the role of zoos is no longer to keep animal, but to protect them.
I will now move onto arguments supporting the use of animal captivity. I am starting with Kant, who provides a strong argument for animal captivity. Kantian Ethics holds the view that we do not have any direct ethical duties to non-human animals. We only owe ethical duties to rational beings, and non-human animals are not included in this group. The value humanity comes from our capacity to be governed by autonomous, rational choices. Since non-human cannot be part of this, Kant believes we can do as we please with them. This can be demonstrated in Kant’s ‘Political Writings’ when he argues,
Lets start with zoos, where animals are kept in cages or large enclosures for public viewing. Millions of people visit zoos thinking the animals are happy, when in all reality they are miserable. You can try to replicate the animals enclosure to their natural habitat, but they can never replace their homes. An animals rights organization states, “Animals are often prevented from doing most of the things that are natural and important to them, like running, roaming, flying, climbing, foraging, choosing a partner, and being with others of their own kind,” (PETA). Although, zoos are said to ‘help’ these animals, they really are not, it is more a collection of different animals in order to show off to the audience and gain money off of them. People begin to believe it is okay to keep these wild animals captive and have their lives be controlled by someone else.
Stated in our ‘Declaration of Independence,’ humans possess their “unalienable rights” because we are of the genus and species Homo sapiens. This unsigned contract is the origin of most laws protecting humans from violence and self-harm. However, animals are not provided with this privilege. The only rights acquired by animals are those granted by humans. According to Justin Goodman, “animal rights activists perceive that simply by virtue of birth, every organism, everywhere, is endowed with the same rights as citizens of the most progressive democracy.” Zoo occupants, domesticated pets, and service animals are administered securities by the human race from the troubles of the state of nature such as the starvation and natural disasters in exchange for their ability and willingness to be trained to serve the human race’s needs. Domesticated animals are produced, bolstered, and anesthetized until the human race decides when this unspoken contract has expired and therefore terminate the animal’s
When most people think of zoos, aquariums, and circuses many believe that the animals are thriving and living better than what they would be if still out in the wild, but is that really the truth? It is evident that the animals living in these captive places do not get the best treatment that many say they do, and that needs to change. Humans always want the best for their health and well-being, therefore it shouldn’t be any different for animals. Zoos, aquariums, and circuses are harmful to the animals living in them because the animals experience health issues, stress, unsuitable living conditions, and abusive treatment.
There are many reason why animals should be taken out of captivity one reason is that many animals experience mental illness. “Gus a polar bear in central park zoo, alarmed visitors by compulsively swimming figure eights in his pool. He stalked children from his underwater window staff put up a barrier. Gus’s neuroticism earned him the name of “the bipolar bear” [Laura Smith]. He was given prozac and 25,000 dollars worth a therapy but in the end gus stopped eating due to a so called toothache but it was a tumara and later he died. Many animals in captivity have died from mental illnesses .
...elevant to insist zoos provide educational and recreational opportunities for humans, or that captive animals serve as useful models in scientific research… or that any other consequence arises from keeping wild animals in captivity that forwards the interest if other individuals.” (Malamud, 1998: 3). To conclude, I believe that contemporary zoos may appear on the surface to be playing a role in conservation and education, but this is simply an elaborate artifice allowing us to indulge an entertainment industry that has possessed the same values for thousands of years. In regards to my opening statement “Without seeing a zebra, you can’t learn the letter Z,” I respond by saying that the zebra you see in the zoo is not an accurate reflection, it is a creature controlled and dominated by human nature, and is ultimately “an expression of power.” (Bishop, 2004: 107).
At one point or another everyone has visited a zoo and felt the magic of seeing exotic animals like the massive elephants, towering giraffes, adorable penguins, ferocious lion and the intelligent chimpanzees that you would never have the chance to encounter in nature. But, have you stopped to think about what we are doing to these animals. As humans, we believe that we have the right to capture, breed and put on display whatever animal we choose because we are the dominant species, right? We go as far as saying that we are saving endangered animals from poachers (whom are human) and putting them in cages for their own ‘safety’ to justify the inhumane treatment of these marvelous creatures. In 1966 the Animal Welfare Act was started to “regulate the treatment of animals in research, exhibition, transport, and by dealers” (U.S. Department of Agriculture) but, does this law really do anything to protect animals who cannot protect themselves? The USDA only inspects zoos once a year and while many of them have passed they have later been found to have numerous violations. (Zoos: pitiful prisons peta.org)
Animal rights activists and organizations have harbored negative views towards zoos for a variety of reasons. They feel that the educational value that a zoo provides to its guests does not adequately compensate for the captivity of wild animals. They propose that funds through financial gain of profits are not used properly towards the animals’ welfare. Additionally, they feel that breeding is done to gain media attention in order to boost ticket sales and profits.
Recently there has been a huge discussion on whether animals should be held in captivity or not. Some people are realizing all the issues that are happening and others are not because they still see animals as entertainment for them and their family. The money zoos are making is a huge reason zoos exist to begin with, it's not everyday you get to go see a tiger or a lion. Zoos believe in letting people see these wild animals, zookeepers know these animals struggle to be kept in captivity. Zookeepers ignore the animal's feelings because the animals are making all of the money. People will
“I have no use for zoos. When I become world dictator my first job is to go around carefully opening all the cells of all the zoos in the world. I say carefully because most of the animals have been locked up for a few years and may be a bit….unreliable.” These are the words of Farley Mowat, an environmentalist and activist. In short Mowat was trying say that many animals have been caged inside zoos for many years sometimes even generations of animals. If these animals could have revenge it would be terrible for humankind. Despite Zoos assertions that they help rehabilitate animals that need care and that they are saving endangered species, they have failed to realize that the animals are not living healthy lives in confinement. Zoos should not be a necessary part of society because they do not help with animal conservation in