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Animal cruelty in zoos essay
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Have you ever seen a beautiful tiger pace back and forth in its cage? It’s because there not supposed to be caged up it's not healthy for them mentally and physically. In the past year’s many animals have died from being in zoos. You may think the animals are being taken care of in the zoos but that’s not always the case. In my research, you will discover the horrifying facts about how they treat the zoo animals from around the world. The practice of zoos has negative effects on zoo animals and should be outlawed because zoo animals shouldn’t be caged up and treated better. Zoos are a horrible place for animals because they suffer in there. “A government-funded study of elephants in UK zoos found that 54% of the elephants showed stereotypes
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
The difference between right and wrong is not always perfectly clear. A long-standing part of cultures across the world, zoological and animal parks have been around for hundreds of years. While in the past concerns and issues regarding the ethical problems zoos seem to impose were less prominent, in recent times the rise of animal rights activist groups and new generational values have influenced the way people view these parks. Critics believe that zoos are an unnatural habitat for animals and force them to live in captivity, having a negative impact on their health. Yet, there are still many who fully support zoos, citing business and educational reasons.
Animal cruelty is the abuse or failure to care for an animal. Before the past couple of years, people did not have to worry about how the animals in zoos were treated. For centuries, families have gone to zoos to be educated on the different species of animals. As years have gone by, zoos have become a trending topic of animal cruelty. While zoos do not physically abuse the animals, they have been known to not properly care for them. “According to the American Zoo and Aquarium Association (AZA), there are over 10,000 zoos worldwide” (Fravel 2). Of these 10,000 zoos, only some of them actually care about their animals. Caring for wild animals is extremely hard because zoos have to recreate the animals’ natural habitat. Zoos believe that they are protecting the animals’, yet; they tend to forget how it affects the animals. In reality, the animals are depressed and bored. These wild animals are being taken out of their natural habitats and are enclosed in small cages and habitats. Wild animals should live in their natural habitats, the wild, not in a zoo for the entertainment of zoo visitors. Therefore, banning zoos will end the horrible cycle of animal cruelty.
In the film, Madagascar, zoos are depicted as a sanctuary in which all the exotic animals are kept safe and are open for the public to view. But many would argue that zoos are inhumane, the charging of animals for our personal entertainment is unjustifiable. Those who believe that zoos are wrong and should be destroyed are animal rights activists; they believe that animals should be allowed to choose their own destiny. Those that believe that zoos are an important part of our lives are scientists and zoologists. This debate has gone on for generations and average folk are stuck in the middle, not knowing which side to stand on.
Animals should not be held captive in zoos because it is inhumane and unfair to the animals. There are so many records of terrible things that have happened to animals in zoos over the past few centuries, the go under the radar too often. Too few people even know about these animal care atrocities, and therefore the New York Times decided to bring light upon this situation. The Times did a first-of-its-kind analysis of 390 elephant fatalities at accredited U.S. zoos over the past 50 years (Berens 3). It found that most of the elephants died from injury or disease linked to conditions of their captivity, from chronic foot problems caused by standing on hard surfaces to musculoskeletal disorders from inactivity caused by being penned or chained for days and weeks at a time.
I remember a year ago, a campaign was made to boycott circuses, zoos and aquariums. I was against the campaign at first because zoos, aquariums and circuses are assumed to be entertaining. I was asked by my friends not to go into debates without knowing the truth and search the subject properly. After my research was done; I became the number one supporter in the middle east of animal rights, and I believe circuses, zoos and aquariums captivate and violate animal rights and should be shut down.
Think back to your first time at the zoo with you family, you got to see all the birds, the tigers, the lions, the bears. It was a nice memory, but what if that zoo never existed? And those awesome lions you got to see? They went extinct because no habitats were built to repopulate. That’s what groups like PETA are proposing, they believe that animals will all survive if they are left in their natural habitats.
Would You Support It? Imagine never seeing a giraffe pluck leaves off a tree, or an elephant take a mud bath right in front of your eyes. Visualize never seeing these animals because the animals were extinct, or, there wasn’t enough research about them to maintain a sustainable population. But, if there was a way to prevent this, would you support it?
The problem of extinction can be solved through zoos and rehabilitation organizations. Zoos take in these animals that are hurt, stranded, or near death, in order to give these animals a second chance at life. Zoos are the source of our animals chance at life and a way to make the population flourish, and grow to a size that makes that species unendangered and just threatened or under no classification. This is important in life because the world needs animals and plants, but if the animals and plants go extinct except for humans then life as the human race knows it will be gone. Animals provide us with food and clothing while plants provide us with food, shelter, oxygen, and warmth.
About 175,000,000 people visit zoos in one year, and visiting a zoo with family and friends is one of the popular leisure today. The first zoos were created in Egypt as private collections by the wealthy to show their power as early as 2500BC. In 18th century, the model of modern zoo was built to study animals for scientific reasons and became popular as public zoos. The very first modern zoo opened in Paris, France in 1793. It was more like a museum of living animals than natural habitats.
Supporters of zoos argue that they help to conserve endangered species, but in fact they are not very good at this. Even the world famous panda-breeding programme has been very costly and unsuccessful. Also, zoo life does not prepare animals for the challenges of life in the wild. For example, two rare lynxes released into the wild in Colorado died from starvation even though the area was full of hares, which are a lynx’s natural prey.
If someone were to come and relocate an entire town from the safety of their homes to an unfamiliar place away from everything they have grown to know for years, would it be right, or would it be considered a violation of one’s rights? Every year, this happens to thousands of wild animals from around the world for the sole purpose of personal entertainment we call zoos. Though they are educational and provide for an entertaining, fun experience, zoos should be abolished because the animals are not treated with as much care as they deserve and zoos cause behavioral behavioral and health problems. Zoo enthusiasts would say that zoos are educational. The Saint Louis Zoo professionals claim, “People learn at zoos.
With the dawn of 21st century, the demand of animals rights are increasing day by day. Some people argue that establishment of zoo has greatly helped in the welfare of animals. However, some people vehemently contend that zoos are hurting our animals. I strongly disagree that zoos should be banned because in the modern world zoos are the ultimate source of preservation of animals interests. Zoos provide animals with a comfortable environment.