Persuasive Essay Zoos

Zoos cause an unhealthy lifestyle for animals. There are many reasons why. My reasons are that animals don’t get enough space to live in, their behavior changes, and they lose their natural instincts.

First, animals don’t have enough space in their cages. Animals, like big cats often roam in areas up to 10 square miles. Zoos don’t even have half that space for a family of big cats. In fact, the animals’ enclosures are often about one millionth of the size the animals need to roam. Wild elephants also walk up to 30 miles a day, but instead they are trapped in a small enclosure with other elephants. This is nowhere near the amount of space animals need to feel safe. They need much more room. (Zoos Drive Animals Crazy by Wild Things)

Second, animal's behavior changes. Some of the top animals that change in captivity are koalas, komodo dragons, poison dart frogs, and japanese fire belly newts. These animals, including many others, can do many strange things when kept in small enclosures and aren’t free to roam around and burn energy. Some of the things that the animals might do are pace, over-groom themselves, and sham chew. These are all dangerous to their mental well-being. If zoos claim to be helping the animals, then why are they being harmed mentally and physically?(4 Animals That Change in Captivity by Mental_Floss)

These animals don’t get the chance to hunt. They lose the opportunity to be in the wild chasing their prey and having the award of a meal when they catch them. Instead, they are fed every day, but it is served already cut up and it’s not fresh. Without hunting, they will rely on other people too feed them and if they are released into the wild, they won’t be able to hunt. This can cause them to starve and eventually even die. In zoos, they are even sometimes forced to mate so that the zoo can have more visitors. They know more people would rather see a baby and not a full grown