Should Animals Be Kept In Captivity Essay

The death of Harambe, has sparked debate throughout the world about who to blame and what should have happened. The 17-year-old gorilla was shot dead by Cincinnati zoo staff after a 3-year-old child fell into its enclosure. The zoo did not fulfil their obligation to keep the visitors safe, as it needed to provide adequate supervision as well as a safer enclosure for the visitors and animals. Visiting a zoo should be an enjoyable experience that will provide valuable education for all of the family knowing that your children will be safe. Parents should feel confident in being able to take their eyes of their children for a short amount of time, without them getting into too much trouble.

One case of this being shown is when children see what is happening to these animals it very much hurts their views on life and societies actions. For example an article written by Jenson E. states, “It is hardly surprising to learn that most children visiting zoos are neither empowered nor educated by the experience of seeing captive wild animals so far removed from their natural habitat. Zoos present an entirely false view of both the animals themselves, and of the real and very urgent issues facing many species in their natural homes. This new research appears to confirm what we have said for many years. Zoos do not educate nor do they empower or inspire children to become conservationists”(Jenson E.).

Growing up I had my own idea of what a zoo was, a place like the Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo full of beautiful animals and dedicated to education, research, and conservation. After persistent research I have come to find that not all zoos are the same. Zoos can range from nationally ranked research facilities to makeshift “monkey-shows” dedicated to profit. The debate of whether zoos are ethical can be easily split between animal rights activists and zoo advocates. Animal rights activists argue that it is inhumane to house animals in inadequate habitats and are upset that many species that aren’t considered endangered are being held in zoos around the world.

Zoos, aquariums and circus violate animal rights and should be shut down Humans have an insatiable hunger for watching animals. Every year, millions of people go zoos, aquariums and circus on to enjoy watching kinds of animals. According to Encarta ( 2003), humans maintained big collections of the animal from the past until now. They were not zoos in this sense. Typically, these ancient collections were not exhibited in public parks, or they were maintained for other purposes.

Zoos are places where animals are put on displays and where they have to live their entire life. People can visit zoos for money and watch animals like they are in some kind of television show or commercial program what is done for people only. People have to notice that zoos are not people entertainment. It is seems like animals in zoos should be free and live in wildlife where they belong. Zoos may be very necessary for endangered species.

As people fail to consider the needs of an animal when they’re purchasing one, the risk of abandoning them increases. Animal homelessness is a continuing problem in the United States and needs to be solved. Though animals are suffering on the streets and in animal shelters, people continue to buy their pets from breeders and puppy mills. “Nationally, only 20% of the dogs and cats in homes are adopted from animal shelters” (One At A Time). As more U.S. citizens choose breeder-bred animals, the demand for breeders and puppy mills increase.

Zoos and aquariums are institutions that capture live animals and keep them in cages or large enclosures for public exhibition. To this day, zoos and aquariums are not banned, but that has not stopped people from fighting for the freedom and rights of animals. The debate between whether zoos and aquariums should banned or not has become an ongoing issue and still is today. Although zoos and aquariums do contribute to the economy, they should be banned because animals in captivity suffer from starvation and health issues, often die prematurely, and can easily cause harm to people due to be kept in confined areas. Many people argue that zoos and aquariums are beneficial because they contribute a great amount of income to the economy.

This exposure and education motivate people to protect the animals and provide entertainment. Zoos save endangered species by bringing them into a safe environment, where they are protected from poachers, habitat loss, starvation, and predators. “The Arabian Oryx was hunted to extinction in the wild. However, from just a handful of animals in captivity the species was brought back from the brink thanks the conservation efforts of Phoenix Zoo and others. Through this incredible work, there are now over 1,000 of these magnificent animals back in the wild and thousands more looked after by zoos worldwide.”(CSA, page 1) “In 1975 the wild population of the Puerto Rican parrot was down to just 13 birds.

However, many modern zoos around the world have introduced animal shows, petting and feeding sessions to attract more visitors in order to earn more money. This leads to many concerns from the public on the physical and mental impacts of captivity on the wild animals. This essay examines the advantages and disadvantages of zoos to lead us to a possible conclusion whether it is ethical to place animals in captivity. We will also examine if zoos have the best possible facilities to keep animals in captivity. Body One of the advantages of having zoos, is to provide protection to some animals that are endangered.

Due to animals running around in the wild, scientists and researchers can track the amount of animals being killed everyday. This usually causes extinction within that species, and researchers have decided to do something about it. Although endangered animals are born in the wild, they should be sheltered and protected in nature parks because it helps decrease the amount of extinctions, allows a better and healthier environment, and the animals are protected from predators and human hunters. Endangered animals are to be kept in zoos because it decreases the amount of extinctions. Human activities have affected animals living in the wild dramatically throughout history.

There was no chance of vision recovery and after all the veterinary care she was getting the zoo keepers decided to use her as an educational assistant. An invasive species is an organism (plant, animal, fungi or bacteria) that is not native to the ecosystem. The invasive species can also have a negative effect on the economy, the environment and our health. The great horned owl is not an invasive species but are a species control officer of sorts, by eating mice and other small mammals they keep the population

Also, any companion animals that happen to get loose and mate cannot have babies as well. This brings me to my last point where there is already a program in place where there are feral cat trap-neuter-release programs (Notes). This does essential the same thing by preventing cats from having kittens. Essentially, this decreases the already overpopulated companion animals. Finally, the last way to combat this overpopulation is to educate children, friends, family members, and anyone else about pet overpopulation, and how they can adopt instead of pay a lot of money for a puppy/kitten.