Persuasive Essay Zoos

Should we have zoos?

One day, your family decides to go to the zoo. When you arrive, your parents say, “Wow! We are going to learn about so many animals.” You think to yourself, “I want to see the seals balance a ball on their nose!” When you are walking in, you see the amazing gift shop with an abundance of stuffed whales, the food court with the amazing smell of burgers and pizza, and the giant directory showing you where to find every single little exhibit of each little animal. Then you think, “This is what nature feels like!” You and your family walk past the monkeys swinging on trees in perfect synchronization to the latest hit by the number one pop star of the year. Then you see the seals flopping on a platform and doing ball tricks

In zoos, the zookeepers are required to give the animals food every day. They show up at the exhibits with a bucket of food, ready to hand it to the animals without a fight. By doing this, animals no longer have their hunting skills. While some zoos will tie the food to the back of a bike and drag it around for the animals to chase, that is not doing much but making the animals walk a little faster(Honestly, most of the animals would catch the food in a few strides anyway). The animals don’t need find their food, strategize a way to kill the animal, or actually catch the prey at all for that matter. Animals also lose their other survival skills, like escaping from predators, or adapting to harsh environments. Since the animals are kept in their own, isolated habitats, they don’t need to worry about predators. They lose their skills on how to survive, which is a major survival technique. Also, the animals do not need to worry about global warming or natural disasters. Most zoos keep their animals in closed off habitats, separated from the outside world. Since most of these habitats are inside, the animals can’t adapt to their environment when it changes, mainly because it doesn’t change. According to the article, “Two Views of the Zoo,” Animal rights people say that animals have the right to live naturally. They say that the animals are getting bored, which is not necessarily a benefit to the

Studies have shown that almost all animals in captivity are likely to develop zoochosis, a term used to describe the stereotypical behavior of animals in captivity. Zoo animals that were actually taken from the wild are even more likely to be in this behavioral state, in which they feel they have no goal or function anymore. One symptom of zoochosis is trichotillomania, where the animals feel the need to pluck out their own hair. This is definitely harmful to the animals, and it is only going to cause more problems later on. Not only do the animals pluck their hair, but they also develop a continuous practice of regurgitation and reingestion. This is where they vomit, then immediately eat the vomit after. Clearly, this is an especially unhealthy lifestyle. Additionally, studies suggest that the animals are unhappy in captivity, as nearly all of them are. When the animals feel unhappy, they grow more miserable by the day and they don’t want to do anything with their lives. This explains why the majority of captive animals live shorter lives than animals in the wild. This results in the poor habit of sitting around. This is damaging to their muscles and for their attitude. These poor habits are the eventual causes for the animals’ shorter life spans. As you can see, animals in zoos can develop extremely harmful