Argumentative Essay On Zoos

The World Wildlife Fund states that there is no way of knowing the exact number of existing species of animals. For illustration purposes, if there were one hundred billion different species and the rate of extinction is one hundredth of a percent per year, then that means at least ten thousand species of animals go extinct every year. Zoos play an important role in the animal conservation programs. If it were not for zoos, many animals would no longer exist today.

When zoos were first started, they were used to glorify and provide amusement to the upper class of society. Scientific knowledge of animals was practically nonexistent. Sometime within the 1800’s, zoos were being created with a scientific purpose to further the knowledge of wild

Zoos play an important role in fighting against the sixth extinction. One way zoos fight against the extinction is with its captive breeding programs (“Millions of..”). In 2010 International Union Conservation of Nature did a study and found out that the captive breeding programs in zoos helped saved at least 25% of the species that are endangered. The red wolf is an endangered species, who nearly went extinct after losing their habitat. In 1980 only fourteen red wolves were left alive in the wild. Enter the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium established a breeding program with the help of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to save the red wolf species. The first red wolf through the breeding program was introduced into the wild in 1987 (Ganzert). Today, the red wolf species is fighting for its survival again, and is once more on the verge of becoming extinct. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have failed in their duty to protect the red wolf species. They have allowed land owners to shoot any wolves that come onto their property. In the past two years fifty-five red wolves have been killed out of the hundred that had existed. The red wolves are being moved to multiple captive breeding programs, and this may be the only chance for their species to survive (Hinckley). The red wolves have been moved into zoos across the country, in hope to repopulate the species. They have repopulated the species before, they can do it