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Saying Goodbye to Zoos

Alexandra Niblo and Peter Tankard

College COMP 112

Mrs. Erskine

January 14, 2021

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Saying Goodbye to Zoos

In today’s world, zoos are places of entertainment and they are meant for people to safely

get close to wild animals. Most zoos will portray a warm and friendly image with a koala or

another cute animal representing them. The irony behind this is that zoos represent the opposite.

Zoos have a lot of behind the scenes operations going on that no one ever hears about. The

operations include poor animal treatment and animal abuse. As zoos are seen as a friendly place

for people to visit, they are surely not a friendly place for the animals due to their corrupt and

unethical management.

Ignorance is bliss: the perfect idiom to describe the average zoo goer. This idiom means

that sometimes not knowing everything makes things better. This applies to the common zoo

person because most people who go to a zoo do not know about the true horrors that go on

behind the scenes. The public is led to believe that zoos are a safe place for wild animals that are

endangered and possibly on the brink of extinction. Due to corrupt management, this is a lie.

Zoos have argued that keeping animals in captivity protects them from extinction even when

they are not endangered. For example, in European zoos, 70% to 75% of animals in captivity are

not threatened by being left in the wild (Aspinall, 2019). This goes to show that keeping most

animals in the wild will not hurt them and that zoos are not helping protect wild animals from

becoming endangered or going extinct. Instead, it shows how zoos are wrapped in having an

assortment of wild animals to attract crowds of people, which ultimately makes them money.

Taking wild animals and putting them in confinement is a big change. Going from

freedom to a controlled way of life is new and ultimately destructive. It is like taking an innocent

man and throwing them in prison behind bars for the rest of their life. At the Virginia Zoo, a

zebra was given a rabies shot but later died running into a fence which broke her neck. Another
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zebra escaped from his exhibit, breaking into the rhino exhibit, and chased a rhino into a moat

causing the rhino to drown. The Virginia Zoo later stopped reporting the death of animals due to

the numbers and the upset it caused in the community (Messina, 2006). Changing wild animals

environments does not just change their surroundings, but it changes their mental state. For the

zebras at the Virginia Zoo, it led to a fatal end which would not have occurred so soon, if they

were left in the wild and not taken for display at the zoo. The corrupt ways zoos run lead to

negative effects on the poor animals that are kept within its prison like walls.

Even if zoos do not intend to be unethical they one hundred percent are due to the

ideology behind them. The basic concept of zoos is that they force wild animals into small

exhibits so they can make money. This is not morally right as wild animals are meant to be kept

in the wild and not in captivity. Not only are they stripped of the liberty to roam freely but they

are also stripped of their comfort. The Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) evaluates

exhibits and determines if they are providing the means necessary for these animals to survive,

and when evaluating 2,800 institutions, only 10% met the criteria. Institutions with an AZA

accreditation are those that are sanctuaries which protect and care for endangered animals that

would have been facing extinction if it was not for the institutions (“Is it Ethical,” 2019). The

cage sizes in zoos only have to be big enough to make normal postural and social adjustments

(Winders, 2013). This is not ethical because animals should have the same liberty to properly

move like they would have in the wild. Living in small confined exhibits for their whole life is

unethical. Occupying the same fifty feet of space every day for a person’s whole life would be

insanely boring. It would be like a person spending their life in a bubble just to be looked at and

judged by other people. Zoo animals often have shorter life spans than animals in the wild. In

fact, an elephants' life span is usually 56 years in the wild, however inside the zoo it was only 17
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years (“Zoos Shorten Elephants,” 2008). The reason the lifespan was more than doubled in the

wild is because they were able to live freely and correctly. This statistic validates that animals

are better at looking after themselves then humans are. People do not know how animals feel or

what they want, only the animal does. This is why animals are better left in the wild because they

have the liberty of satisfying their own needs; a zoo restricts their ability to do this. When

looking at the Oregon Zoo, 21 of 28 Elephants born at the zoo are now dead. This is not only due

to the failure of breeding programs, but the inadequate sizes of the exhibits they inhabit (Scott,

2019). This is proof that zoos are not healthy for animals and they do not receive quality care or

treatment.

Other countries around the world have recognized these problems and Costa Rica has

taken the necessary steps and will close their remaining zoos within the next year (Winders,

2013). In zoos, top predators like lions and tigers lose their ability to hunt which is a problem

because it means that they will never be able to go back into the wild due to behavioral changes

and the inability to care for themselves. Keeping these wild animals in captivity requires a lot of

resources such as food and money. This is a problem for many zoos because food is expensive.

In the popular Netflix series Tiger King, this problem was demonstrated. Animals were not

getting enough food and the food they did get was expired meat. This demonstrates that many

animals are kept in poor conditions and do not get the quality treatment needed. Wild animals

belong in nature and not confined cages. People should not be able to make money off of

animals' misery.

With all the negative views that have been brought up, it is also important to keep in

mind all the good zoos have done. Zoos are a way for people to safely get close to wildlife. Not

only can people get close to apex predators, but they can also learn and examine their behavior.
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People can also learn about the animals and their needs. This is important because it allows

people to see how fascinating and complex other organisms are and it could persuade people to

donate for a cause. In addition to preserving animal species, zoo’s also help rehabilitate wildlife

and take in exotic pets that people no longer want or can not take care of (Lin, 2020). It is superb

and honorable for zoos to do because they save animals that would otherwise be put down or

euthanized.

Although zoo’s bring some good, there are still huge ethical and corrupt problems at play.

The solution to this problem are sanctuaries. A sanctuary is a place for animals that can not

survive in the wild anymore due to an injury or birth defect. Sanctuaries do not buy, sell, or trade

animals. A zoo will take wild and healthy animals and attempt to domesticate them to a confined

and strict lifestyle while sanctuaries will enforce standards given out by associations such as the

Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA). Turning zoos into sanctuaries will let healthy

animals roam free in nature and it will give hurt animals a place of safety. It works for everyone;

people still get to see animals up close and learn, animals are set free, and the problem is solved.

There are also other solutions to the problem as well. Instead of zoos, people can go on wildlife

safaris to see wild animals and learn their natural behavior. Online web cameras can also be used

to see wild animals in their natural habitat to examine their behavior and see how they truly live.

Zoos' treatments towards animals are corrupt and unethical. Their focus is on making

money rather than helping improve the lives of wild animals, especially of those that are

endangered. For years the cover has been made to seem that zoos are a place of protection for

endangered animals when in actuality the needs of the wild animals are not being met. As it is

exciting to see these wild animals up close, there are other ways to see and admire these animals.

Through sanctuaries, safaris, and online web cameras, these wild animals can still be seen while
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they are receiving the best treatment to ensure their needs are met in the proper caring

environment. While zoos are able to bring happiness to those who visit them, they fail to bring

happiness to those who inhabit them.

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References

Animals for entertainment. (n.d.). BBC.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/animals/using/entertainment_1.shtml

Aspinall, D. (2019 Aug 15). Zoos Are Where the People Come First, Not the Animals. The

Independent (Daily Edition), 40.

Borrell, J. (2018, February 1). Five of the Strongest Arguments Against Zoos. Dr. James Borrell.

http://www.jamesborrell.com/five-strongest-arguments-against-zoos/

Is It Ethical to Keep Wild Animals in Captivity? No, Animals Belong... (2019 Feb 20).

University Wire.

Lin, D. (2020, December 10). Arguments for and Against Zoos. Treehugger.

https://www.treehugger.com/arguments-for-and-against-zoos-127639

Messina, D. (2006, November 1). Zebra dies at Virginia Zoo after getting its rabies shot. The

Virginian-Pilot. https://www.pilotonline.com/news/article_03f4b175-4c95-50c5-bb2b-

b05c26afecf5.html

Parker, I. (2017 Jan 16). The Culling. New Yorker, 42.

Scott, C. (2019 Jun 04). Don't Buy the Spin. Zoos Aren't Good. USA TODAY.

Tyson, L. (2014, March 24). Inside the Mind of an "Anti-Zoo Fundamentalist. the dodo.

https://www.thedodo.com/inside-the-mind-of-an-anti-zoo-481159716.html

Winders, D. (2013 Aug 26). Zoos: Misery Behind Bars. People for the Ethical Treatment of

Animals.