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Should animals be put in captivity
Why shouldn't animals be in captivity
Why shouldn't animals be in captivity
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Should Animals Be Kept In Captivity?
Animals have been kept in captivity for the entertainment of humans for thousands of years. Although many rules and regulations have been put in place worldwide, many people still feel that it is unfair to keep animals in captivity as they feel it in near impossible to replicate their homes in the wild. I feel that it is unfair to keep animals in captivity as they are unable to roam like they do in the wild.
One argument against keeping animals in captivity is that many larger animals such as elephants spend most of their time in the wild roaming around in large groups. Due to the restricted size of their enclosures they are unable to do this and will often lead to the animal getting stressed. An article
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A web article on the pros and cons of zoos found on the website ‘Green Garbage Blog’ commented that: ‘Captive breeding programs are implemented to help preserve animals that have decreased in numbers.’ This means zoos can try to help animals that are endangered mate and attempt to bring up the numbers of that particular species. Zoos have to put animals together in an attempt to find them the right partner. This is a positive use of captivity as animals that might never meet in the wild due to the large areas they live in are put together so they can breed and keep their species out of extinction.
Many animals live in enclosures as similar to their natural habitat as possible. An article from ‘NYLN’ on the pros and cons of captivity explained ‘animals are housed in mini-habitats, which means they are living in enclosures as close as possible to their natural habitats as possible.’ This is meant to make the animals feel relaxed and like they are in the wild while still providing them with food and medication as well as letting people look at them. Therefore this is a positive use of captivity as it provides humans with entertainment and animals with what they
I will now move onto arguments supporting the use of animal captivity. I am starting with Kant, who provides a strong argument for animal captivity. Kantian Ethics holds the view that we do not have any direct ethical duties to non-human animals. We only owe ethical duties to rational beings, and non-human animals are not included in this group. The value humanity comes from our capacity to be governed by autonomous, rational choices. Since non-human cannot be part of this, Kant believes we can do as we please with them. This can be demonstrated in Kant’s ‘Political Writings’ when he argues,
The truth can be a bit overwhelming, it is clear and simple, wild animals should not be held in captivity. With all this researching and finding the dirt on what really happens behind closed doors, it is hard to believe some people, who are aware of what really goes on, continue to support these programs. It is not morally correct to take advantage of a being, who is incapable of standing up for itself, for the pleasure of mankind. We have no right to do such a thing because we are all the same, under it all we are just another set of bones to lay to rest. If we would not hold our fellow humans captives and force them to entertain then why do we do it to animals? What if the roles were reversed and we were the defenseless ones? Say what you want, in the end keeping wild animals captive is wrong and needs to be stopped.
Cohn, Jeffrey P. "Do Elephants Belong In Zoos?" Bioscience 56.9 (2006): 714-717. Academic Search Premier. Web. 24 Mar. 2014.
Animals should not be kept in captivity for any reason unless they have been harmed and need to receive treatment, but they should be released as soon as they are healthy and capable of taking care of themselves again. The use of a captive animal for research, education, or entertainment is just wrong; no creature deserves to have their life taken away for our benefit. Would you want to be captured and put in a tiny box, or a fake little ecosystem, or abused and tortured because apparently that’s the only possible way to train an animal? How about just knowing that your real life is over and now all you get to do is put on a show for people? That is what we put these animals through for our entertainment, we tear children away from their parents.
Wild Animals vs. Animals in Captivity Although animals in captivity are provided with their basic needs to survive and more, wild animals are more likely to thrive and reach their full potential. Animals in the wild face greater environmental changes than animals who live in a zoo. An animal living in a zoo most likely has an enclosed area with a set climate and most everything they need to live comfortably. Wild animals, on the other hand, have to face harsh changes in their environment like droughts, floods, and forest fires.
... danger too. A good reason for captivity is rehabilitation for an animal that is hurt or wounded and could be treated. Then having a second chance back out into the wild. Also by keeping endangered species from going completely instinct by figuring out genetics of an animal. So having zoos and farms do help animals but does put them at risk.
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 ...
In the past few decades or so, animals and birds somehow jostled into our life humans as ever loyal companions. Yet, many of them are kept locked up in prisons of human invention, cages. With restricted movement and limited space, freedom is ripped away from them. By animals, I refer to all species, such as dogs, elephants and crocodile. In cages, they cannot roam around, hunt for preys. Birds soar high in the sky until its wings were weakened by inactivity due to limited space. Should we allow this to continue? In my opinion, no animals or birds should be kept in cages. They are living things, they deserve better.
Zoos display fascinating animals from all over the world for human entertainment, research, conservation, and education. Many scientists conduct studies on animals in captivity that they may not have been able to in the wild. Zoos educate all the visitors that come; they let people know everything that they know about the animals on display. We do learn a lot from these animals, but not all of the animals in the zoo are behaving like they normally would in the wild. Larger animals, such as elephants and orcas (commonly known as killer whales), have trouble with being confined in such a small area. However, many smaller animals benefit from zoos because they provide protection from predators, natural disasters, and poachers. They also benefit from conservation efforts; the babies being born get all the care they could ever need. Some animal rights activists are concerned that the conservation efforts are limiting the gene pool of the species. They argue that the small number of animals able to breed in captivity limits biodiversity and leads to weaknesses in the species overall. Zoos are wonderful places to study and learn about animals, but we need to improve the living standards for animals that struggle with captivity.
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.
When animals are kept in captivity for a long period of time they don’t remember how to get used to living in the wild again. Most animals after being held in captivity are not allowed to be released back into the wild. Because they do not remember how to live in the wild.
Whether it's for experimentation, research, or amusement, throughout the years there have been many reasons to keep animals captive. Zoos take animals captive in order to conserve endangered species but research has revealed that many of the animals confined in zoos are not threatened species. Most of the species in zoos are, as a matter of fact, marketable and familiar animals rather than endangered species (Keulartz, 340). Jeopardized species or not, animal captivity has had many negative effects on the captive animals such as their physiological behavior. On the other hand, zoos retain animals in cramped living conditions and are mostly maintained for human amusement.
Modern zoos today however, provide great recreation for animals. According to the Guardian, safe and can be bred up to provide foundation populations. A good number of species only exist in captivity and still more only exist in the wild because they have been reintroduced from zoos, or the wild populations have been boosted by captive bred animals. Zoos protect endangered animals from extinction by enclosing them in zoos, producing more of them and then setting them
“Captive animals are deprived of everything that is natural and important to them, and as a result, they become bored and lonely and many even suffer from a condition called zoochosis” (peta.org). After a while, the animals begin to get irritated and very desperate to escape the zoos. “Some animals are so unhappy that they risk their lives in desperate attempts to free themselves” (peta.org). Animals do not like being put in cages, they like to be free in the wild where they can live their life and do what wild animals are supposed to
Animals are often kept in smaller cages than what they are used to and are sometimes taken out of the wild and brought to zoos to be displayed for people. Captivity in animals are detrimental to animals because animals are often harmed and do not receive proper attention.