Zoos are a money-making scheme.

According to the environmental online news website

One Green Planet, increasing zoo ticket prices does not benefit animals, in the zoos or in
the wild. The extra income goes toward building attractions that are meant to draw in
greater crowds. The money is rarely used to improve the animals' living spaces or well-
being. 

Similarly, some zoos claim that they are involved with wild animal rehabilitation, but
often this is not true. Rehabilitation is the process of returning an animal to its original
habitat. A report by National Geographic, published in 2003, found that most zoos don't
have any contact with reintroduction programs. Also, there have been 145 known efforts
worldwide to raise endangered animals in captivity in the last century. Only 16 of those
efforts have been successful. Hardly any of these efforts raised animals that survived
when they were released from captivity. Zoos do breed animals, but not to repopulate
the wild. They breed animals to produce cute baby animals that will attract visitors.

According to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), a nonprofit group
that fights for animal rights, only 18 percent of animals in United States zoos are
actually endangered. Zoos spend tons of money on building enclosures for these
animals. Yet, they do almost nothing to restore habitats or stop poaching in wild
environments. 

Likewise, the claim that zoos help educate the public about wildlife protection is not
true. In January 2014, the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA)
conducted a survey of people who had recently visited a zoo. The survey found that less
than 10 percent of visitors left the zoo with a greater understanding of biodiversity.
Biodiversity measures how diverse the biology of a place is based on the number of
different animal and plant species that live in a space. An even smaller percentage of
visitors — fewer than 5 percent — said they would support conservation by supporting
zoos or by other means.

Finally, zoos simply don't have enough resources to properly house the creatures they
own. Natural, wild habitats cannot be recreated in spaces where animals are held
captive. According to the opinion article "All the Reasons Why Zoos Should Be Banned,"
published by Vice in 2015, polar bears in captivity have up to 18,000 times less space in
zoos than they do in the wild. Animals cannot live full, healthy lives in captivity.
Seventy-five percent of elephants kept in zoos are overweight. Forty percent of lion cubs
pass away before their full life span. This data supports the argument that zoos do not
have the resources to support animals' well-being, health and populations. The British
Broadcasting Company (BBC) has reported that around 3,000 to 5,000 animals are
killed each year in zoos in Europe. Many more animals show signs of zoochosis. This is a
psychological disorder observed in zoo animals that leads to pacing, bar biting and other
obsessive behaviors.

Zoos should make an effort to reintroduce the animals into natural habitats where they
can thrive on their own. Zoos inhumanely source and breed animals. They do little to
improve wildlife populations or to help the public understand their impact on wildlife.
Also, they cannot provide the required resources to support animals' lives. Zoos should
reintroduce their animals into sanctuaries and, when it is possible, into the wild. This
will have the added benefit of relieving zoos of the burden of keeping these animals
alive. Isn't that a win-win