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Animal rights and animal welfare debates
Animal cruelty in zoos essay
Animal cruelty in zoos and circuses
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Does a zoo offer the proper and necessary environment for the animals’ basic needs? Most people think that the zoos are doing the captivity animals a favor with the concept that the zoos are trying to save endangered species. Zoos suggest that by bringing those captivity animals back to the zoos environment can bring animal advantage such as being safer and health care benefits. Each individual can have a different opinions and perceptive on this argument subject, but many might disagree with the concept that animals are born to have the survival skill to protect themselves. Every single day, animals are being held captive and have no freedom, and those animals might be tortured without people knowing about it. Many people should make a statement and protest against this controversial issue. Even the zoos, …show more content…
Innocent animals are suffering behind the scenes just to make the crowd happy is not acceptable and cruel. Animal captivity topic is not a right act because animal cruelty in zoos is damaging towards the animals using captivity animals as entertainment without having any freedom, confined living spaces, and the suffering of animals’ health.
Animal captivity limits their exposure to the astonishing beauty of freedom, which is the enjoyment of life in the wild. Not all of the zoos have enough amount of space for all of the captured animals. Besides that, the captive animals are being locked up in the zoos where the animals cannot express their liberty. The animal would feel suppressed because the space provided is too confining. In the article, “Is animal captivity wrong?”, Tauriq Moosa supports that idea in particular cases, large species such as lions and tigers need to have an enormous open area and lengthy distances like the wildness habitat to roam freely (Moosa, 2014). Moosa also states that lions and tigers are the two fastest animals where they can travel approximately around “18,000 mile.” (Moosa, 2014). The zoos do not offer
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.
Analysis of Argument for Ethical Zoos and How They Benefit Animals Due to the recent events in the Cincinnati Zoo, arguments have been sparked about the ethics of zoos. Most articles try to argue against zoos and closed environments, but there are those that still support zoos and the programs that they provide for endangered species. The argument “Zoos Are Not Prisons”? They Improve the Lives of Animals” focuses on the positives of animal enclosures and fights for support to keep zoos in business. The author, Dr. Robin Ganzert, ties examples of programs that zoos help create and what type of research is conducted in the zoos, to support his claims.
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
Zoos are very inhumane, because the animals are put to their misery inside of their cages Lions and tigers have around 18,000 times less space in a zoo and Polar bears have one million times less space when living in a zoo.
(CONNECTIVE: So far I have made it pretty clear that animals are not given the proper attention and care they need in zoo’s that they can get in the wild, and the animals have let us know this. Knowing all this, why should animals even be kept in captivity?)
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 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.”
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.
The reasons that animals are held in captivity could favor some people and others not. Animals in captivity are usually held for entertainment, education, research, and conservation purposes. The other major reason they are held in captive is the process of rehabilitation. The article, Ethical Issues, defines rehabilitation as the treatment of wild animals found injured or ill, taken into captivity until restored to full health and then returned to the wild. Then when the animal is released they are then able to live freely in their own habitat. Although this may lead to suffering and stress or even death for the animal. The animal is so dependent on their caretaker that once they are put into the wild they do poorly (1).
Chapter one: History of captivity Gianna Sparcino. The start of animal captivity started in the 50s and 60s. At this point in time, circuses and zoos were extremely popular. In the circuses they would tour around with 200 animals which included horses, lions, chimpanzees, camels, elephants, polar bears, and sea lions. Television programs introducing wild animals are now becoming popular too, including Desmond Morris’ Zoo Time & David Attenborough’s Zoo Quest, which made people want to collect wild animals and display them for public entertainment ASAP.
More than forty animals required mental care at a Virginian zoo last year (Editorial, 2016). In terms of animals in captivity, this case isn’t abnormal. Although zoos accommodate the basic needs of animals, they differ from the natural environment of these wilds animals. Animals in the wild can roam wherever they please and have access to various natural resources. Animals in zoos, however, are confined to a place, no matter how big, and are only exposed to what zoos give them. This notable change in habitat and lifestyle invokes stress in captive animals and takes a toll on their health. As a result of zoos, captive animals develop behavioral problems and reproductive deficiencies. Overall, keeping animals in zoos harms their health them
The world around us is changing fast. People want to know and ready to learn more about different things, such as animals. Many of us have ever been in zoos and had different experience and emotions are associated with this visit. Some may say that keeping animals in captivity is a crime, others would totally disagree with this statement. People are different and their points of view are different.
At some point in our lives, many of us have had the chance to visit a zoo, aquarium, animal park or even petting zoo. These are among the most popular places to visit for young children. We may go with our schools as an educational field trip to learn about animals. There are plenty of parents that have season passes to these places to get outside with their children. We may even visit as adults because they are largely tourist attractions or we may even go as artists to draw the animals. These captive environments where we have had the chance to witness animals that we may never see in our lifetimes because we do not share similar habitats are widely controversial. There are those very much opposed to having any animal in captivity because we can never exactly duplicate their natural environment on the scale that they are used to. There is also the point made that animals are mistreated in these faux environments. On the other hand many scientists and researchers believe
Animals are affected when in captivity because, according to Kah Ying Choo, “these creatures are unable to learn in a way that will help them achieve their full potential and realize their authentic being” (Choo 3). The animals cannot achieve in fulfilling their authentic being and full potential because animal captivity