Zoos should not exist!
What do you think about zoos? Children standing in front of big cages, feel excited to see those lovely animals and share the joy with their parents. Parents will then read aloud the information on the signs to educate the children. At lunch hour, animals in bonds wait for delicious dishes provided by zoo keepers and live happily ever after. It seems that zoos are really a heaven to us and animals. It gives us a place to keep close to nature, saving those little pitiful things in wild. Unluckily, that is not the truth we wished. Indeed, zoos magnify their contribution to educational circle, exaggerating the importance of role play in conservation work, in order to cover those disgraceful secrets behind.
Some people may argue that zoos protect animals and species under this polluted world, however, do animals in zoos really need our “help”? Yes, but surely not that many. According to Captive Animals Protection Society (CAPS), 79% of animals in United Kingdom zoos and over 70% of elephants in European zoos are wild-caught. It seems that zoos need them rather than they need zoos.
Zoos introduces captive-bred projects to take care of some animals for years and reintroduce them back to the wild. However, captive animals usually lose their survival skills in wild after under an absolute protection for a long time, especially those who are used to learning from their parents. They no longer able to escape from predators or track preys. Reintroduction often needs to be abandoned permanently.
“We give a chance to animals to live longer.” What is the difference to tell you that you can enjoy a longer life if you choose to live in prison? Animals act like human. They feel extremely stressful having a poor qualit...
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...ing pandas pose for pictures. The pandas are starved so they will be more obedient when being photographed. Jill Robinson of Animals Asia: ''They are clearly victims of training using negative reinforcement, constant beating and lack of food until they get the trick right. '' To make sure the bears do not pose a threat to their trainers, they have their teeth and claws filed down. Animals are deprived of their basic right to live healthily.
“It is estimated to be 50 times more expensive to keep an elephant in a zoo than to protect sufficient natural habitat to sustain that elephant and many other animals.” (CAPS, Sad Eyes & Empty Lives- The reality of zoos) Indeed, only if the billions of dollars that spent on building a zoo are optimized to preserve habitats and animal welfare, can our grandchildren still have a chance to see more rare animals by their own eyes.
Considering the many challenges animals face in the wild, it is understandable that people may be eager to support zoos and may feel that they are protective facilities necessary for animal life. In the article “ Zoos Are Not Prisons. They Improve the Lives of Animals”, Author Robin Ganzert argues that Zoos are ethical institutions that enrich the lives of animals and ultimately protect them. Statistics have shown that animals held in captivity have limited utilitarian function resulting in cramped quarters, poor diets, depression, and early death for the animals thus, proving that Zoos are not ethical institutions that support and better the lives of animals as author Robin Ganzert stated (Cokal 491). Ganzert exposes the false premise in stating
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.
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.
Zoos have been with us throughout our history, and can provide a good barometer of public beliefs and values at any given time. Therefore it seems necessary to explore whether in today’s society contemporary zoos are a means of educating and conserving or still seek to control and exhibit animal others for human benefit. In order to make this assessment there are a number of contributing factors. Firstly it is important to establish context by considering the history of zoos and looking at the changes from the early menageries to contemporary zoos who strive to be institutions of refuge for animals facing twenty-first century global challenges. This links into how the physical space of zoos has changed over time and whether these advancements have made any crucial difference to the welfare of animals. Following this conservation, education and scientific research will be explored in detail in order to assess whether they provide good enough motives for keeping animals in captivity. I will seek to argue that although attempts have been made to point zoos in the direction of conservation and education, in my opinion the concepts of dominance and human superiority are still at the core of modern zoos.
When people go on a trip to the zoo, it can be assumed that they do not think about much more than what they can see. Signals that make zoos unfair and sometimes unbearable for the captive animals are not visible to most spectators. This essay will explain how zoos are unjust and should not be supported. Animals should not be held captive due their negative behavioral changes, lack of natural habitat and the zoos failure to effectively preserve endangered species.
Zoo captivity is substandard and inadequate for animals. Zoo animals are deprived of their right as animals they are treated unjustly and unfairly.Animals should not be forced to kept in a cage away from their natural environment and be used as a form of entertainment to humans. The animals also suffer from stress and are driven insane by being trapped behind bars. The zoo is supposed to provide safety to these endangered animals but instead, these zoo animals are put at risk towards a variety of dangers such as vulnerability to diseases and starvation. Zoo cavity is harmful for animals, they are used for entertainment purposes.
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.
There are many places where people can go to see live animals such as aquariums, zoos, and safari parks. A pleasant way to define a Zoo is to call it “an establishment that maintains a collection of wild animals”. (Google def) Another way to say that is a facility in which animals are “enclosed in cages for public exhibition”. I believe zoos are ethical; however, changes need to be made to eliminate problems I have discovered. In this argumentative essay, I will be arguing the ethics of zoos and certain problems that need to be addressed that people are not aware of. Zoos are great places to take the family out for the day to have entertainment; however, problems such as captive breeding, length of life, and animal stress need to improve.
The first point of view from this issue is the side that believes humans, zoos and other facilities should be allowed to keep animals. The places that captivate animals believe that they are doing a favor to the creatures. They believe that they are saving them from being killed by humans. They say that if they would not have taken in these animals they would have died in the wild. They say they’re giving them a fresh new start and a place to live without worry. For example, in this article they state that zoos try and h...
Zoos today say that one of their main goals is to conserve endangered species and eventually reintroduce them back into the wild. However, Benjamin Beck, former associate director of biological programs at the National Zoo in Washington, found that over the past century only 16 of 145 reintroduction programs worldwide ever actually restored any of the animals back to the wild (qtd. in Fravel). He also found that a majority was carried out by the government and not the actual programs themselves. Beck noted that the billions of dollars the zoos were receiving were going towards hi-tech exhibits and marketing strategies to get people to go to the zoos. So which zoos are actually attempting to save the lives they claim to be? According to David Hancocks, a former zoo director with 30 years’ experience, many zoos that are not affiliated with the AZA do not spend hardly any of their fu...
Since approximately 1250 B.C., ancient Egyptians had created and practiced the capture and display of animals in what are now known as zoos (Fravel). Records describe such exotic animals as birds, lions, giraffes, and tigers in captivity (Fravel). Since then, zoos have continued to entertain millions with the exciting chance to view exotic animals up close and personal. Even in ancient Greece, exotic animals were on display in fighting arenas, and in enclosed viewing areas. Originally in America, zoos were just created so that royalty and the wealthy could flaunt their exotic animals to the public (Leolupus). Today, with species threatened and habitats disappearing worldwide, zoos are serving a new purpose other than the mere exhibition of animals – conservation. (Fravel). When you think of a zoo, you either think of a fun, entertaining place that provides close-up and exciting exhibits of wild animals that you would otherwise never get the chance to see, or a place where people keep suffering, unhappy animals captive just for entertainment and display. However, despite whichever view you hold, and despite the stereotypes, some zoos have evolved to serve alternative and helpful purposes. Although some zoos face controversy due to allegations such as lack of space and quality care, neglect, and cruelty, some zoos have programs specifically designed to help and protect animal species. For example, these zoos have programs that help such conservation efforts as breeding.
Of the 321 elephant deaths for which The Times had complete records, half were by age 23, more than a quarter before their expected life spans of 50 to 60 years. For every elephant born in a zoo, on average two die. At that rate, the 288 elephants inside the 78 U.S. zoos could be “demographically extinct” within the next 50 years because there’ll be too few fertile females left to breed, according to zoo industry research (Berens 4). Most people think that zoos protect animals, but it can clearly be seen in the records provided by the Times that the zoos are doing the exact opposite of protecting animals. The American zoos, including the accredited ones, have led to the near demise of elephants.
The animals being kept in captivity could not be interviewed; their side of the story will be based on interpretation of their movement and interaction with animals in the zoo and in the wild. Are animals better suited to live in the harsh conditions of the wild or are they better suited to live their lives safely in captivity? Many animal rights activists argue that animals should be allowed to live their lives in the wild instead of in captivity. That we as humans have no right to alter the fate of other species, nor use them for our personal benefit. PETA, who is well known for their animal rights views, argue that “Captive animals are deprived of everything that is natural and important to them and as a result, they become bored and lonely and many even suffer from a condition called zoochosis.”
Zoos are an unsuitable environment for wild animals and should, therefore, be abolished. Firstly, zoo animals are kept in a very confined area compared with their vast natural habitat. Secondly, breeding programmes are far less successful than zoos claim. Thirdly, zoo animals are exposed to many diseases and other dangers.
Zoos are massively valuable to education. Education is the process of receiving or giving systematic instruction. Zoos give instruction by teaching about animals and how to care for them as well. Zoos educate the public by showing them the different animals, how they act, how dangerous they are, and how to treat them according to the article “Education – Association of Zoos and Aquariums.” Zoos are an important part of education because without a public zoo some might not know how dangerous some animals are and get killed by them or even unknowingly kill an endangered species. Also without zoos the education on animals study would lack curiosity because of a poor presentation of examples. Children need to see to believe and without that aspect the education towards animals would suffer tremendously. A total of 175 million people have been educated because of zoos. They are educated about wild animals, their related conservation issues, their habitats, and the ways in which they can contribute to their preservation of these animals.