Persuasive Essay Zoos

The lengthy description of a zoo, as explained by the Oxford Dictionary, is an establishment that prides itself with an array of undomesticated animals kept in cages or fenced up for the public to view (“zoo”). These menageries have been around for ages and are used for a myriad of reasons including entertainment and conservation (Baker). People who support the notion of zoos believe that these establishments benefit both man and animal in bountiful ways. To begin with, they trust that zoos provide safer habitats than the diminishing wild that animals can thrive in (Sheen 33). Furthermore, they are also convinced that zoos aid in conserving wild animals as it allocates a secure sanctuary for endangered animals to reproduce, a last ditch attempt

This is one of the key factors as to why many zoos should be shut down. Some irresponsible zookeepers dismiss hazards that threaten the livelihood of the zoo animals. A good example would be in Duluth Zoo, Minnesota. Recently in the month of June 2012, around 13 animals died due to a flood after a nearby creek spilt over (Chew). Before the tragic event occurred however, zookeepers dismissed the alarming rising water levels as nothing (Chew). The flood happened in the wee hours of one morning where the animals were left unguarded (Chew). The unimaginable horrors of watching the waters flood your enclosure with no route for escape must have been terrifying for these animals. This one example clearly highlights the constant danger to the defenseless zoo animals as they are at the hand of these irresponsible zookeepers. On the other hand, negligent zookeepers who forsake the animals also have a part to play in the rising number of animal deaths in zoo. One stellar example would be the Surabaya Zoo for instance. Famously known as the “Zoo of Death”, this zoo has about as many as 15 animal deaths per month because of the disgusting living conditions, lack of basic care and insufficient amounts of food and water given (Skarda). Many of the zoo animals are abnormally thin, especially the carnivores (Skarda). Delving deep into this, one of the residents in the Surabaya

One lauded justification for keeping wild animals in zoos is to make sure that whenever the species becomes extinct in the wild, the zoo will release their captive bred animals back into the biodiversity of the wild (Kolbert 137). Zoos often make grandiose claims that they are all for conserving the wildlife (. But in fact, they are separating possible mates and reducing the size of the population. One would also think that the number of endangered animal species in the world would have gone down due to the zoo efforts. However in a recent study done by International Union for Conservation of Nature, 2599 animals are considered endangered in 2012 compared with 1998 levels of 890 (“Summary