Imagine that most animals are extinct, and there are no lions, tigers, or elephants anymore. Who are you going to blame? In our society, it is most common people think that zoos are keeping animals in cages, feed them barely, and it’s causing animals to be depressed, bored, and live less than they could. While some think, that animals are unhappy in zoos and have been used as an object for profit, zoos help people to know more about wildlife and teach us more about animals. Research shows, that many zoos and programs saved animals that were on a point of extinction and helped them to repopulate. In reality, when animals repopulate in zoos, most of them were given freedom to live in a wild and their natural environment. In my opinion, help zoos …show more content…
According to the article “Phoenix Zoo helps save endangered species” by Fox10 that was posted on November 15, 2010, “Arabian oryxes were endangered a few years ago. They were hunted by predators and there was not a lot of oryxes who survived. Phoenix Zoo took care of those oryxes, and helped them to survive and repopulate. Now, there are 6,000 oryxes living around the world in both zoos and wild.” (http://www.fox10phoenix.com/story/18097815/phoenix-zoo-helps-save-endangered-species) This shows that Phoenix Zoo saved specie that was in a point of extinction, and we could have never seen them again. This is important because, without zoos’ help, there would be not a lot of animals in a wild left because of extinction. It is evident that shows that a lot of zoos participate in reintroduction programs that help animals to live and survive in a wild and their natural …show more content…
In fact, animals, that repopulated in zoos, are mostly live in wild. In support of this, according to the article “Reintroduction programs” that was posted by AZA in 2014, “Reintroduction programs, by which animals raised or rehabilitated in, are released into their natural habitats”. This shows that animals, that repopulated in zoos, are being freed to live in wild. In addition, according to AZA, “In 1982, only 23 California condors existed in the wild, however management of these animals in AZA-accredited institutions increased this population to 322 animals in 1992, including 172 now living in the wild.” (https://www.aza.org/reintroduction-programs/) This is important because, after reintroduction program, animals are surviving and reproducing by themselves in their natural environment. This and other evidence supports the claim that the more rare animals are saved in zoos, the more people are interested in seeing them and visit
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.
A memorable experience for both young and old, zoos have educated and entertained visitors for decades; however, zoos have been criticized, especially by animal rights activists. These critics say that zoos don’t provide for all the animals’ needs found in their natural habitat. Are zoos worldwide assisting animals, or are the animals better off in the wild?
Thousands of zoos worldwide are visited by citizens yearly to admire and satisfy their curiosity of the beautiful wild animals that mother nature has to offer. Zoos have been around for hundreds of years and have become a known tradition for numerous school field trips and family outings. The ongoing debate between animal rights activists and zoo officials remains, should wild animals be taken from their natural habitats to live in city zoos for education and entertainment purposes?
Most zoos, depending on the location, house animals from all over the world. Each zoo needs to be in a place where local animals, as well as exotic, can survive and live comfortably. That’s one of the main reasons why people go to zoos. Visitors are able to view unique animals through glass, and see how they might act in the wild. The Reid Park Zoo in Tucson, Arizona, features primates, big cats, birds, and reptiles. It also features large mammals like hippos, giraffes, and bears. They have recently built a new part of the zoo that houses panthers, sloths, and exotic birds. The Wildlife Zoo in Phoenix, Arizona takes care of hundreds of wild animals, with even more variety than the Reid Park Zoo. These zoos have special activities for children and adults that involve awareness and education of every species. There are also zoo employees who walk around with small animals and snakes that can be petted and held by zoo visitors.
The debate on storing animals in zoos became controversial, and I came to the final decision that animals do not deserve to live in zoos. Animals are meant to live in their natural habitat, just as humans thrive in their naturally industrialized environment. Living in captivity can also cause the animal’s lifespan to decrease, and it may be due to the failure to satisfy their emotional needs. Human interaction to wildlife and its animals is every expanding, and this probably makes manmade disasters the main cause of the transaction of wild animals from the wild to zoos. On the other hand, zoos have the potential to raise awareness and the support from public donations to fund animal conservation projects, but people do not need to physically see an animal provide their support. Since there are many solutions to this debate, there is no direct answer. From a wild animal’s point of view, humans may be seen as immoral beings with countless evil intentions. What they do not realize is that we have the potential to do good and make big, positive
From a Ted Talk said by Gabriela Mastromonaco from the Toronto Zoo, she says “That zoos serve and important purpose beyond from this entertainment and are vital to the future of the animal world.” She tells us how the zoos today save many endangered species. “1. We care for and breed animals that have been wiped from the wild, or reduced to very small numbers. 2. We store genetic material, such as sperm and eggs, that can be used in the future to breed offspring.” She concludes by telling us how zoos save many species every year and how they can save a whole group of animals.
Even some animals die at an early age from being taken away from their parents. If the zoo lets the animals back to their habitat they wouldn't be able to survive from being at the zoo for so long because they don’t have natural instincts to survive.
... Without these zoos, many animals such as the tortoises, American alligator, and the bald eagle would no longer exist. These zoos provide food, shelter, and the opportunity to recreate their species once more. Without zoos, many of these animals would have become extinct and many endangered animals argue that zoos are the perfect place to start a new life. With animal rights activists, scientists, parents, and animals being on different sides of the argument, this debate will continue.
Zoos today say that one of their main goals is to conserve endangered species and eventually reintroduce them back into the wild. However, Benjamin Beck, former associate director of biological programs at the National Zoo in Washington, found that over the past century only 16 of 145 reintroduction programs worldwide ever actually restored any of the animals back to the wild (qtd. in Fravel). He also found that a majority was carried out by the government and not the actual programs themselves. Beck noted that the billions of dollars the zoos were receiving were going towards hi-tech exhibits and marketing strategies to get people to go to the zoos. So which zoos are actually attempting to save the lives they claim to be? According to David Hancocks, a former zoo director with 30 years’ experience, many zoos that are not affiliated with the AZA do not spend hardly any of their fu...
Since approximately 1250 B.C., ancient Egyptians had created and practiced the capture and display of animals in what are now known as zoos (Fravel). Records describe such exotic animals as birds, lions, giraffes, and tigers in captivity (Fravel). Since then, zoos have continued to entertain millions with the exciting chance to view exotic animals up close and personal. Even in ancient Greece, exotic animals were on display in fighting arenas, and in enclosed viewing areas. Originally in America, zoos were just created so that royalty and the wealthy could flaunt their exotic animals to the public (Leolupus). Today, with species threatened and habitats disappearing worldwide, zoos are serving a new purpose other than the mere exhibition of animals – conservation. (Fravel). When you think of a zoo, you either think of a fun, entertaining place that provides close-up and exciting exhibits of wild animals that you would otherwise never get the chance to see, or a place where people keep suffering, unhappy animals captive just for entertainment and display. However, despite whichever view you hold, and despite the stereotypes, some zoos have evolved to serve alternative and helpful purposes. Although some zoos face controversy due to allegations such as lack of space and quality care, neglect, and cruelty, some zoos have programs specifically designed to help and protect animal species. For example, these zoos have programs that help such conservation efforts as breeding.
Even though some zoos have an endangered species exhibit with the intention of protecting and rehabilitating animals, many do not do an adequate job of protecting the animals. Zoos have been harmful to the very animals they have sworn to protect. Animals in captivity often suffer from anxiety, boredom and other severe issue related to prolonged confinement. Most animals are unable to thrive in small enclosure with unnatural weather and climates. For example elephants are known to walk as far as 30 miles per day, but the association of Zoos and aquariums only require a space the measures $0 feet by 45 feet, which is about the size of a three car garage, to house these large animals. (peta.org) the drastic difference in the amount of space their allowed ...
Zoos introduces captive-bred projects to take care of some animals for years and reintroduce them back to the wild. However, captive animals usually lose their survival skills in wild after under an absolute protection for a long time, especially those who are used to learning from their parents. They no longer able to escape from predators or track preys. Reintroduction often needs to be abandoned permanently.
In conclusion zoos in America are making attempts to accommodate elephants better, the local Sedgwick county zoo is planning to increase to size of the elephants enclosure. All zoos with elephants should either move them to large sanctuaries or release them back into the wild or even increase the enclosure, but no enclosure will be big enough. The cost to increase the size of orca pools would be too costly. Orcas need to be released back into the wild; the risks of keeping them captive outweigh everything else. Instead of using valuable resources on keeping elephants and orcas captive they should be focused on using the resources on protecting the wild ones and their environments.
Zoos are an unsuitable environment for wild animals and should, therefore, be abolished. Firstly, zoo animals are kept in a very confined area compared with their vast natural habitat. Secondly, breeding programmes are far less successful than zoos claim. Thirdly, zoo animals are exposed to many diseases and other dangers.
Before visiting the zoo, I had a lack of understanding on the threats these animals faced in the wild, and the importance of their roles that they bring to their ecosystems. Although keeping wild animals that thrive in their natural habitat such as the big cats is cruel, I believe it is necessary. Most of these species are rescued and they would have not survived in the wild without assistance anyways. If they are not rescued, they are usually born in the zoo. Many of these zoo foundations work to sharpen their skills to survive in the wild because they also have plans to release them back to the wild once they are ready. Not only are these animals being saved, but keeping them in captivity also prevents them from becoming extinct. In my opinion, I would rather have key animals kept in captivity, rather than them becoming extinct in the wild. A perfect example of this would be the Amur Tiger, at their lowest point, there were only about sixty Amur Tigers left in the wild, however, conservation efforts with zoo’s has saved them. Although they are still endangered, having close to six hundred Amur Tigers is definitely better than