why animals should not be kept in zoos articleswhy animals should not be kept in zoos articles

I pointed out that we cant ask animals whether they are happy with their enclosure size. For some animals in zoos, the shock of their relocation alone can be fatal. He also found many examples of zoo elephants hurting or killing their keepers and evidence that zoos routinely downplayed or even lied about those incidents. What if they sent all the animals that need really large areas or lots of freedom and socialization to refuges? Slow animals with minimal to zero predators such as elephants have brief life spans in captivity. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Being placed into a small tank, away from their family units, might not break existing animal protection laws. Can captive animals ever truly return to the wild? | BBC Earth Artificial environments. Some zoo animals try to escape. Four of the zoos and the aquarium in New York City, for instance, are managed by the Wildlife Conservation Society, which is involved in conservation efforts around the world. According toAnimal Behavior: Resources for Applied Ethology, fleeing or running away is the most popular reaction of animals towards humans. Taking your family for a day out at the zoo has been a sort of tradition for a very long time and given recent statics the number of visitors is growing. Public zoos sprang up across Europe, many modeled on the London Zoo in Regents Park. Well, scat reveals all sorts of things about individual animals; information the keepers share with the scientific community. Zoo elephants tend to die young. In the end, he said, we live with our own constraints. He added, We are all captive in some regards to social and ethical and religious and other constraints on our life and our activities.. Most people visit the zoo to see the big draw animals. James Borrell: Eight reasons why zoos are good for conservation The Los Angeles Zoo has used Celexa, an antidepressant, to control aggression in one of its chimps. Wildlife experts remind people that these animals do not know people's intentions, so they will try to protect themselves no matter what. The confined living areas are a big contributor to animal stress and lack of physical stimulation like would be gained from a nice sprint. "Zoos are prisons for animals, camouflaging their cruelty with conservation claims," Mimi Bekhechi, director of international programmes at PETA, explains. Animals such as lions, elephants, and tigers don't get even close to one percent of the area they roam in the wild. If you dont have people that know how to care for them, know how to breed them successfully, know how to keep them in environments where their social and psychological needs can be met, then you wont be able to do that, he said. 32 Important Pros & Cons Of Zoos - E&C There is considerable variation from state to state and among cities and counties, as to how much legal protection is offered to captive wild animals. She could then climb the wire without being shocked. This may be true to some extent; however, many zoos are running breeding programs for their own benefit and have no interest in releasing their animals back into the wild. Read more: Should I worry about chemtrails? CITES does not directly address living conditions for captive animals. The Animal Legal Defense Fund is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. If an untrained zookeeper comes across a stubborn animal, they might hurt it if they are impatient. Zoos can be productive when it comes to reviving an animal species on the brink of extinction. Copyrights 2023. facilities report spending approximately $231 million annually on conservation projects. In some environments, we believe it's best not to keep certain wild animals at all, as their needs simply can't be met. What Is The Hunters Role in Wildlife Conservation? That's not a record that justifies tens of millions of wild animals kept in zoos. More tigers live in cages in this country, than exist in all the wild. Bears and cats pace. The worst ones are the malicious keepers who enjoy hurting animals in captivity. There is always that element of choice that gets removed from them in a captive environment. In a study done on 40 chimpanzees in six different zoos, all of the chimps exhibited behavior their counterparts in nature did not. Sign up for our free newsletter for the Latest coverage! Zoos are home to many animals. All of these options afford you a close view of nature exactly as it was intended. Children leave most zoos with a misconception about how animals behave in the wild and what it takes to truly care for endangered animals. Tatiana the tiger, kept in the San Francisco Zoo, snapped one day in 2007 after three teenage boys had been taunting her. Many zoo animals are forcefully removed from their natural habitat. Students and the general public get a chance to learn about different species of animals. In his Animal Park, which opened in 1907 in Hamburg, he designed cages that didnt look like cages, using moats and artfully arranged rock walls to invisibly pen animals. This goes to the detriment of the animals in zoos and puts them at risk of receiving inadequate care. It took several decades before Alex was able to leave the corporate world behind and embark on a real writing journey. But, for every story that casts zoos in a bad light from Vince the rhino's poaching at Paris' Thoiry Zoo in March; Cincinnati Zoo shooting endangered gorilla, Harambe, last year after a child fell into his enclosure; or Copenhagen Zoo killing and publicly dissecting Marius, a two-year-old giraffe in 2014 there are heart-warming tales too. Kept in barren cages rarely larger than 20 by 20 feet, bears in roadside zoos spend their days pacing, sleeping abnormally long periods of time, and bobbing their head all indications of extreme psychological distress. Understanding the optimal requirements for the reproduction of certain animals can be difficult. Infringing the rights of individuals because it benefits the species is wrong because a species is not an. The educational day out model of zoos endured until the late 20th century, when zoos began actively rebranding themselves as serious contributors to conservation. Polar bears have one million times less space. If an animal cannot be given sufficient space or is suffering from stress and not behaving as expected, the zoo is within its right to kill the animal(s). The Arabian oryx, an antelope native to the Arabian Peninsula, went extinct in the wild in the 1970s and then was reintroduced into the wild from zoo populations. WHY ANIMALS SHOULD NOT BE KEPT IN CAPTIVITY By "Phillip" Hungry, depressed, and unable to connect. Exotic animals have become very popular, but they are also dangerous in so many ways. For the unlucky ones that end up in the circuses, they are always in for a wide awakening. The animals too have rights and they shouldnt be subjected to half the things they undergo. All Rights Reserved. What people can do: Justin Gillis and Hal Harvey describe the types of local activismthat might be needed, while Saul Griffith points to how Australia shows the way on rooftop solar. This treaty is credited with helping foster international cooperation to protect some endangered and vulnerable species. Fish and Wildlife Service, suggested that learning how to breed animals contributes to conservation in the long term, even if very few animals are being released now. Life expectancy is controlled by both the mental and physical health of most animals. It is not humane to keep large mammals like orcas, dolphins or elephants in zoos or theme parks. Why Animals Should Not be Kept in Zoos These animals oftentimes live in inhumane conditions, and pose a serious threat to public safety. Your email address will not be published. Zoos cannot begin to provide the amount of space animals have in the wild. For example, the typical enclosure designed for a polar bear is about a million times smaller than its natural roaming grounds. In zoos, elephants are often given a small outside enclosure and an internal house. This is nowhere near enough space to provide an elephant with a life comparable to that of its wild counterparts. The A.Z.A. The truth is there is a vast difference between genuine conservation efforts and endangered species protection and running a zoo. Before anyone starts sprinkling the stuff on their cornflakes, this isn't the hottest new beauty trend nor is it a natural phenomenon: Assiniboine Park Zoo's keepers use coloured glitter in the bears' feed to identify their droppings. Ive spent many memorable days in botanical gardens, completely swept away by the beauty of the design as well as the unending wonder of evolution and theres no uneasiness or guilt. The shooting of Harambe the gorilla spawned the most-shared meme of 2016 and caused a hounded Cincinnati Zoo to suspend its social media accounts. The owners of such zoos are focused on maximizing profits even at the animals expense. This was the first time that the ESA has successfully been used to protect captive wild animals. Especially not for the broad spectrum of species they have in their park. There is an undeniable thrill, seeing animals in zoos, circuses, movies, television shows, and amusement parks. ", PETA's Bekhechi adds, the aim of breeding programmes is just "to produce baby animals to attract visitors.". Today, nearly every country in the world is a member of CITES. Another time, one of the orangutans, Kumang, learned how to use sticks to ground the current in the electrical wire around her enclosure. More than 6,000 comments made by the visitors were recorded, nearly half of which were purely descriptive statements that asserted a fact about the exhibit or the animal. The researchers wrote, In all the statements collected, no one volunteered information that would lead us to believe that they had an intention to advocate for protection of the animal or an intention to change their own behavior.. Many animals in zoos are not used to confinement. Keep on reading. These wild animals are sold at auctions, pet stores or over the internet. The Humane Society of the United States believes that animals in bare tanks do not present a realistic image of natural behaviors or natural habitats. However, the truth remains that zoos often have insufficient knowledge of the animals they are housing. Your voice is needed, so that captive wild animals in the United States, and elsewhere, are better protected. However, through education and informative motions for change, we can make change the way zoos are run. That's how animals living in captivity feel. Breeders: How to Stop Puppy FarmsPermanently. CreditPhotographs by Peter Fisher for The New York Times. The idea of conserving animals that are at risk of going extinct is a great one; the problem is that not most zoos live up to it. The incident in Miami Seaquarium is proof that animals do not belong in captivity. But whether recent events have triggered a profound shift in public consciousness is harder to . Lets get into the nitty-gritty details of why keeping animals in zoos is bad: Wild animals often suffer in captivity because they were meant to be free. NASA's Hubble Space Telescope Captures Dramatic Hour-by-Hour Changes of Dart Mission Slamming on an Asteroid, Can Humanity Deflect Potentially Hazardous Asteroids? Are Zoos Ethical? Arguments for and Against Zoos - Treehugger A gorilla named Togo at the Toledo Zoo used his incredible strength to bend the bars of his cage. After all, more than 700 million people visit zoos and aquariums worldwide every year, and biodiversity is still in decline. Wild animals have certain behaviors that are uniquely influenced by their environments. ", Published in the June 2017 issue of National Geographic Traveller (UK), What to do in the Forest of Bowland, Lancashire, How to plan and book an Indian rail odyssey, Four of the best luxury sleeper trains in India, How Miami is re-embracing its modernist architecture, Where to eat in Clitheroe, the Ribble Valley's culinary hotspot, Copyright 1996-2015 National Geographic Society. They are removed from their natural habitats and confined to small limited spaces and often forced to perform tricks or entertain visitors. Profits are also gained through the selling of animals to other zoos or circuses. Why Are Puppy Mills Bad: The Numerous Reasons Why They Must Be Stopped And How You, yes you, Can Help! Sadly, most of these associations end up protecting the interests of their members, and not the animals they should be protecting. Elephants are particularly unhappy in zoos, given their great size, social nature and cognitive complexity. Captive tigers pace back and forth, and in a 2014 study, researchers found that the time devoted to pacing by a species in captivity is best predicted by the daily distances traveled in nature by the wild specimens. It is almost as if they feel driven to patrol their territory, to hunt, to move, to walk a certain number of steps, as if they have a Fitbit in their brains. At least 20 zoos in the United States have already ended their elephant exhibits in part because of ethical concerns about keeping the species captive. Thousands of animals are captured and put in zoos and aquariums for tourist attractions every year. A few zoos are famous for their conservation work. A study by Bristol University found that many British zoos fail to provide animals with the required minimum standard of care. Once the ground has been left with no coverage, soil erosion will be the next step. I find one statistic particularly telling about their priorities: A 2018 analysis of the scientific papers produced by association members between 1993 and 2013 showed that just about 7 percent of them annually were classified as being about biodiversity conservation.. Life expectancy for animals in captivity depends on a couple of things, such as their way of life, among other factors. Power-mad men from Henry III to Saddam Husseins son Uday to the drug kingpin Pablo Escobar to Charlemagne all tried to underscore their strength by keeping terrifying beasts captive. Zoos provide opportunities for nice family trips. There were five such states until 2017, when South Carolina passed a law banning wild and exotic animals to be kept as pets. For some animals, reintroduction will always be difficult, such as baby elephants, or pet cheetahs, both of which habituate to human care very quickly, says Moore of IFAW. There are zoological park associations that were formed to keep zoo owners on their toes. Taking an animal say a big cat, into an enclosed habitat when she cant hunt for herself can be detrimental to her life skills. Why? Caring for the said animals, away from their predator will give their species a chance of repopulating. Animals are not able to bear living in small, unsuited environments. Some of these animals are surplus from roadside zoos. YES. The Animal Welfare Act: The Animal Welfare Act, or AWA, is the primary piece of federal legislation regulating captive wild animals. Opinion | Zoos Are Bad for Animals - The New York Times If an animal cannot be given sufficient space or is suffering from stress and not behaving as expected, the zoo is within its right to kill the animal s. In normalizing captivity zoos, and teaching animals to perform tricks for human entertainment, zoos and animal sanctuaries are spreading the message that animal captivity to normal, healthy, and fully acceptable. 2021 ScienceTimes.com All rights reserved. WorldAnimalFoundation.org is reader-supported. Lack of learning valuable animal life skills such as hunting and social structures eventually leads to the alteration of the said animals behavior. In states without tight enough regulation, local jurisdictions oftentimes adopt ordinances that ban or restrict the display of captive wild animals. An example of these associations is the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) which represents over 240 businesses across the globe. Their death can be caused by either: lack of space, physical problems, diet, and PTSD. Ostensibly places for genteel amusement and edification, zoos expanded beyond big and fearsome animals to include reptile houses, aviaries and insectariums. According to an article inPlant Based News, marine parks and aquariums are a billion-dollar industry that exists to entertain the public by catching fish and sea mammals from the wild and using them as live exhibits. In one escape, they worked together: One held a mop handle steady while her sister climbed it to freedom. A largely unregulated trend is the hybrid breeding of wild cats with house cats, with predictably disastrous consequences. These animals oftentimes live in inhumane conditions, and pose a serious threat to public safety. Many zoos claim to be helping preserve dwindling populations. The shooting of Harambe the gorilla spawned the most-shared meme of 2016 and caused a hounded Cincinnati Zoo to suspend its social media accounts. In 2014, the Animal Legal Defense Fund successfully brought a lawsuit under the Endangered Species Act against a roadside zoo called the Cricket Hollow Animal Park, that was mistreating protected animals. See Related: Best Wildlife Conservation Jobs. On the other hand, the researchers reported, there were no significant differences in survey responses before entering an exhibit compared with those obtained as visitors were exiting., A 2008 study of 206 zoo visitors by some members of the same team showed that while 42 percent said that the main purpose of the zoo was to teach visitors about animals and conservation, 66 percent said that their primary reason for going was to have an outing with friends or family, and just 12 percent said their intention was to learn about animals., The researchers also spied on hundreds of visitors conversations at the Bronx Zoo, the Brookfield Zoo outside Chicago and the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo. Are Wildlife Sanctuaries Good for Animals? Wed like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. They learned from their parents to be mistrustful because they have no way of knowing whether people could be good or do them harm. When confined they rock, pull their hair and engage in other tics. Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook, Twitter (@NYTopinion) and Instagram. And Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo has an on-site Wildlife Hospital to save sick and injured native species. Required fields are marked *. Its said that Texas has the worlds second-largest tiger population, due to private citizens propensity for keeping these big cats as pets. Some sad facts about zoos are that at times, the people hired to take care of and protect these animals arent very qualified. Some animals are quite intelligent so keeping them in captivity should never be an option. When a female gorilla named Johari kept fighting off the male she was placed with, the zoo dosed her with Prozac until she allowed him to mate with her. A species protected in captivity provides a reservoir population against a population crash or extinction in the wild. Many people consider zoos amoral and cruel while others have the notion . Read on to find out why animals should not be kept in zoos. Thats true, he said. However, critics say this doesn't justify their existence. Reasons Why Animals Should not Be Kept in Zoos - GradesFixer The common negative effects of zoos on animals are listed below. The researchers divided the odd behaviors of captive animals into two categories: impulsive/compulsive behaviors, including coprophagy (eating feces), regurgitation, self-biting and mutilation, exaggerated aggressiveness and infanticide, and stereotypies, which are endlessly repeated movements. The Enigmatic Wombats: Surprising Facts and Myths Debunked. However, when the animals being culled arent in demand, they might find themselves facing death. They are just some of the millions of wild animals living in captivity across the United States. See Related: Best Books on Endangered Species. I remember well the awe and joy on their faces, 15 years later. "An even smaller proportion are part of captive breeding programmes and, of those, a tiny fraction have been released back into the wild. Fewer and fewer states are allowing residents to keep captive wild animals without a permit. Their sleeping quarters can get overcrowded and this can lead to the animals harming each other. This could cause problems for the animal. But is there a reason why animals should not be kept in zoos? Little Joe, a gorilla, escaped from the Franklin Park Zoo in Boston twice in 2003. Wild Animals Should Not Be Kept In Captivity - Medium However, that does not stop the silent damage that captivity delivers to such roaming animal species. These laws help the animals and also people, since wild animals in captivity present a serious public safety risk. Regardless of the merits or ethics of zoos, one thing's for certain: they're going to be around for some years yet. These experiences are often harmful to wildlife and dangerous for you. The sale of excess animals to traveling roadside zoos is another big problem. Living collections were often presented in taxonomic order, with various species of the same family grouped together, for comparative study. I once overheard two schoolchildren at the Smithsonians National Zoo in Washington confess to each other that they had assumed that elephants were mythical animals like unicorns before seeing them in the flesh. Fighting is a sign that they are threatened, especially when an animal has no way of getting away quickly. When theres a surplus, you can just have a plant sale. or the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria have studbooks and genetic pedigrees and carefully breed their animals as if they might be called upon at any moment to release them, like Noah throwing open the doors to the ark, into a waiting wild habitat. The surpluses are then sold off to zoos, aquariums, or even circuses. In the 1980s, a group of orangutans escaped several times at the San Diego Zoo. Not surprising, perhaps, considering the typical polar bear enclosure is one million times smaller than the area they would naturally roam.". says that its members host more than 50 reintroduction programs for species listed as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act. Nevertheless, a vast majority of zoo animals (there are 800,000 animals of 6,000 species in the A.Z.A.s zoos alone) will spend their whole lives in captivity, either dying of old age after a lifetime of display or by being culled as surplus.. Because so many diseases can be transmitted from animals to humans, such as Ebola, Hantavirus, and the bird flu, zoos frequently conduct disease surveillance research in wildlife populations and their own captive populations that can lead to a direct impact on human health. In 2020, facilities accredited by the Association of Zoos & Aquariums contributed more than $230 million to conservation efforts. A quick google search reveals that a zoo is an establishment that maintains a collection of wild animals, typically in a park or gardens, for study, conservation, or display to the public. Id like to think these kids, now in their early 20s, are working for a conservation organization somewhere. On top of that, the animals dont have much freedom even in these tiny spaces that they are forced to live in. Today's zoos are extremely important to saving wild animals and their habitats. They could either bite, peck, scratch, kick, or flap their wings. (707) 795-2533 |info@aldf.org Below are a dozen reasons why zoos can be bad for animals: No matter how dedicated a zoo is, it cant meet the space requirements for most of its animals. Zoos are built as a source of income for some. In addition, a costlier but more educational option is to make arrangements to view animals in the wild. An increase in the populations of herbivorous animals such as deer and buffalos isnt a good thing, especially not for the vegetation and ground cover. This can lead to an appreciation of animals, which in return will see them being treated much better. Orcas don't do well in captivity. Here's why. - Animals For intellectual property information and terms of use, visit our Intellectual Property Terms of Usepage. Just as we humans are free to do whatever we want so long as we follow the law, then it shouldn't be different for animals. They go for the same reason people went to zoos in the 19th century: to be entertained. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Many suffer from arthritis and other joint problems from standing on hard surfaces; elephants kept alone become desperately lonely; and all zoo elephants suffer mentally from being cooped up in. It is expensive and difficult to keep wild animals in captivity. We use cookies to help ensure the best experience on our website. However, not all of them are suitable for captivity and are better left alone in the wild. Personally speaking, Ive been to zoos in Sydney, Australia, and all over the UK. However, few people stop and actively consider why zoos are bad. Climate change around the world: In Postcards From a World on Fire, 193 stories from individual countries show how climate change is reshaping reality everywhere, from dying coral reefs in Fiji to disappearing oases in Morocco and far, far beyond. Zoos are a part of culture across the world. The trainer was immediately sent to the hospital and has since recovered from physical injuries, and so does the dolphin. Zoos, aquariums, water parks, and other facilities can help to maintain the viability of endangered species when humanity does not do a good enough job of protecting the animals in the wild. With their apes, elephants, big cats, and other large and smart species gone, they could expand enclosures for the rest of the animals, concentrating on keeping them lavishly happy until their natural deaths. However, suffering doesnt have to be physical; boredom, confinement, and stress can cause an animal a lot of suffering. Such zoos might even be merged with sanctuaries, places that take wild animals that because of injury or a lifetime of captivity cannot live in the wild. Zoos also have the power to euthanize their animals when they themselves deem it permissible. Roadside zoos dot the American landscape. See Related: How Similar is Human DNA to Other Animals. Animals are removed from their natural habitats. However, there are some disadvantages of zoos to the environment ranging from overpopulation of a species to global warming. Bears, lions, and other animals languish in roadside zoos across the country. Why the world needs zoos | Dr Dave Hone | The Guardian Few federal laws protect the millions of wild animals who live in captivity in aquariums, circuses, theme parks and zoos in the U.S. Their lives in captivity can be harsh especially when the animal has been completely removed from its social structures. Some studies have shown that as many as 80 percent of zoo carnivores, 64 percent of zoo chimps and 85 percent of zoo elephants have displayed compulsive behaviors or stereotypies. Even though they might be getting enough food, if your animals are not okay mentally they might still not live to their full potential. Unfortunately using real animals for these purposes involves tremendous cruelty. As long as there is demand should zoos exist essay them, zoos will continue to exist. Animals in the wild are naturally shy to humans. But the law excludes protection for birds, rats and mice, farmed animals and cold-blooded animals such as reptiles, amphibians and fish. Most zoos or animal sanctuaries dont have the space or the facilities to truly recreate the wild. Zoos also say that they save the endangered animals, but all they really care about is how much crowd the animal draws. Emma Marris is an environmental writer and the author of the forthcoming book Wild Souls: Freedom and Flourishing in the Non-Human World.. Why Animals should not be Kept in Zoos? - StudyDriver.com The fewer than two dozen non-participants include North Korea, the Federated States of Micronesia, and Turkmenistan. Private individuals with the financial means use their money to procure rare or exotic animals from zoos to add to their own private collections. Since most countries dont have any regulations on how to handle animals in zoos, these business people can do whatever it takes to make the most profits possible. These are highly intelligent animals with complex social constructs that scientists have studied for . There are currently 421 zoological gardens and aquariums and a 2.9% business growth this year despite the pandemic.

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