Importance Of Keeping Wild Animals In Captivity

Most people love to go to zoos and aquariums because they believe it’s educational and they’ll be able to see interesting, exotic animals. However, is keeping wild animals in captivity really moral? A zoo or aquarium is an establishment that maintains a collection of wild animals, in enclosures, to display to the public.The concepts of zoos and aquariums have been around for centuries and the standard of care for animals has certainly gone up in the United States, but this does not mean that those animals should still be restricted to small enclosures. The animals you are so excited to see are often even depressed or being driven insane because of their unstimulating and meager artificial habitats. These animals have no freedom in their lives

National Geographic did a study on more than 4,500 wild and captive African and Asian elephants. Their study showed that elephants live about 16-18 years in captivity, while in the wild they can live upwards of 50 years. This is a difference too great to be ignored. This further proves the notion that zoos are for humans, not animals. No animal should be subjected to a place where they live thirty or more years less just because humans want them there for

For a few species, like elephants, breeding in captivity is a total failure. For every elephant born in a zoo, another two die. At the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, an elephant named Chai was subjected to traumatic artificial insemination 112 times, with only one successful birth: a calf who later died. (Miller) However, they still try to breed elephants because they want to churn out more profit. For the other species where breeding is successful, a surplus of animals are created because of all the breeding. When those babies grow up they aren’t as popular as they used to be. Surplus animals can either killed and fed to other animals or sold to other zoos and private dealers. For example, when baby animals who were displayed in the Minnesota Zoo’s farm exhibit grew up and didn’t attract as many visitors, the zoo took them to livestock auctions, where many ended up being sent to slaughter. (Dupuy) The animals at that zoo were subjected to a life fully in captivity and then were killed because people believed they didn’t serve a purpose anymore. This is completely cruel and inhumane treatment and the Minnesota Zoo openly conducting these acts still has not been shut