The idea of a zoo is a noble idea. The objective of the zoo is to be a sanctuary where animals live in safety from dangers such as poachers and diseases. This wildlife refuge prevents animals from going extinct, and new generations of people can learn about these animals and appreciate them. Due to human shortcomings, some zoos are concrete prisons or execution chambers. The video, “Captive Animal Misery in European Zoos”, provided by Born Free Foundation on Youtube.com that is published on 12th January 2012 shows animals in poor living conditions. In that video, there is an elephant in a small metallic enclosure. In fact, there are no plants or anything that would be in the elephant’s habitat. The video continue to show multiple images of animals in concrete pens. These animals paced around the walls in anguish. Not only in Europe, but zoos all over the world bring misery to animals.
A number of governments recognize the distress of animals in zoos, and these nations made changes in policies for the betterment for these creatures. According to Delcianna Winders, who wrote the article “Zoos: Misery Behind Bars" in People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, India creates a law that prevents zoos from displaying dolphins in captivity. The purpose of this law is to reduce the stress from unwanted human contact to the dolphins. The same article divulges that Costa Rica shuts down two zoos, and then releases the animals back to their habitats. These two governments’ actions reveal that zoos are not satisfactory handling the animals. If the dolphins are in perfect health, then why did India made a law to prevent the public from display to the public?
Other zoos solve the issue of anguish animals by drugging those creatures to ...
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...r the Ethical Treatment of Animals. 28 Oct. 2012: n.p. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 19 Feb. 2014.
Hauslohner, Abigail. "Giraffe Suicide? Bear Riot? It's a Zoo Unlike Any Other." Washington Post. 20 Dec. 2013: p. A.8. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 19 Feb. 2014.
Kaufman, Leslie. "When Babies Don't Fit Plan, Question for Zoos Is, Now What?." New York Times. 03 Aug. 2012: p. A.1. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 19 Feb. 2014.
Sampson, Pamela. "Chimps, Gorillas, Other Apes Struggling to Survive." Asbury Park Press. 26 Mar. 2013: n.p. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 19 Feb. 2014.
"'Surplus' Giraffe Put down at Copenhagen Zoo." BBC News. BBC, 02 Sept. 2014. Web. 17 Feb. 2014. .
Winders, Delcianna. "Zoos: Misery Behind Bars." People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. 26 Aug. 2013: n.p. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 19 Feb. 2014.
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.
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.
Zoos. Mercy for Animals, A voice for the rights of all animals. 4th Sept 2011
Sources used in this piece were interviews with zoo staff and also visuals in the form of photographs of the elephant. Unknown, “Hattie, Central Park Elephant, Dies; News Hidden to keep Sad Children Away.” The New York Times. November 20,
Isacat, Ben. “Zoos.” Animalethics.org. How to Do Animal Rights, April 2008. Web. 16 November 2013.
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.
While some say animal captivity should be stopped because of how it damages the mental and emotional behavior of animals, the captivity of animals must continue on because of its ability to preserve wildlife, and the benefits it presents for education. Measures exist which can be taken to prevent damage to the mental and emotional behavior to these animals, and zoos and aquariums across the world take these precautions every day. Zoos like Riverbank Zoo in Columbia, South Carolina provide mazes and realistic environments in order to benefit the health of the animals. While it is not the real environment, it still benefits the animals’ physical and mental health.
In my introduction I will go over my three main points I wish to discuss whether animals should be kept in captivity for we all at some point in our lives we all have felt that what zoo’s do leave negative impacts on animals there are also positives. One of the key facts shows that negatives have outweighed the positives. The three reasons I wish to express to you and support towards my question today through a perspective against the matter include the fact that animals are often striped of their natural behaviours when coexisting together in their natural habitats compared to living in a cage or reserve. It’s said that they often become stressed and bored for they are often forced against their will to live in these centres after being randomly in their eyes stolen from the previous way of life. My final point says that most animals are never returned to their habitat for many of them are either sold or bargained for extra profit to provide for the zoo’s personal requirements.
Capturing animals is cruel and destroys their chances of surviving for as long as they should. Zoos all over the United States have had instances of animal cruelty. At the Scarborough Sea Life Center, Humboldt penguins suffer from depression and are forced to take antidepressants. “Apecsecadmin.” Apecsec.org, 20 May 2015, apecsec.org/pros-and-cons-of-animals-in-zoos/. Do Zoos Do More Harm Than Good? Here are the Pros and Cons.”
"Indonesian Zoo Shaken by Giraffe Death." Daily Herald. N.p., 14 Mar. 2012. Web. 26 Mar. 2014.
middle of paper ... ... Freedom is precious and animals are constantly suffering mentally and physically from the lack of freedom that captivity brings to them. Although many zoos are visited by millions of people annually, they still operate at a loss and have to make budget cuts. Funds that should be used to provide humane conditions for animals are often wasted on cosmetic improvements such as landscaping, refreshment stands, and gift shops in order to draw visitors, leaving the animals behind steel bars and glass trapped in a concrete jungle for no reason without hope of ever being free.
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.
It’s often thought that the captivity of animals is for “educational purposes” or for “conservation of endangered species”, but in my opinion these words of fiction are really to conceal the fact that these animals are being mistreated and mishandled for financial gain. Confining animals to cramped conditions in unnatural habitats, with the constant violation of privacy from the public and their loss of freedom makes zoos the worst, so called, home for animals. Zoos provide unnatural habitats. For these confined creatures its near impossible to replicate the environment wild animals experience. This is due to the limited space each animal gets provided, this leaves the captive animals feeling imprisoned and uncomfortable rather than feeling
Many locals and tourists will head to the Zoo in hopes of seeing animals one can only see in the wild. A trip to the zoo is supposed to be fun, entertaining, and what some say “a good learning experience. ”These exotic animals are not put in their natural environments. Pushed behind artificial enclosures, and often times lonely. Thousands of people worldwide will pass hundreds of animal exhibits and many of these people won’t stand at the animal’s exhibit long enough to notice that something is wrong with the animal's living conditions.
Zoos have the worst conditions for the animals. The cages are described as having feces in the water and having non real habitats. The animals are explained to not like the conditions that they live in. They have to endure these poor conditions just to be looked at for the people’s amusement.