Lyndon B. Johnson's Argument For Captivity Of Animals

A caged dolphin swimming continuously in circles. A tiger pacing back and forth in the same path. These are a few of the abnormal behaviors that captive animals exhibit. Stereotypical behaviors like these are caused from being held in zoos, circuses, and marine animal theme parks. Although animal captivity provides a level of protective education, however it also limits the freedom of animals. On August of 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Animal Welfare Act into effect, being the only Federal guidelines in the United States to regulate animals in captivity. It was created for making standards for how animals are held in a facility for research. After many other amendments, the Animal Welfare Act offers protection for any animal

In London of 1826, Sir Stamford Raffles founded the worlds first zoological garden. The principal goal of these gardens was the scientific study of exotic species, (Ballantyne 2). Now there are over 10,000 zoos worldwide, and 2,400 in the US alone. Zoos convey messages to visitors to maintain natural resources and care for local habitats for wildlife. Ballantyne notes” about 140 million people go through AZA facilities every year. That is half of the US population.” Addition to the number of visitors, the visitors change their Baha'i or towards animals(Are Zoos Bad…). A study from Penn state found that 62% of children had no change in knowledge regarding to facts of animals and conservation. The effect on children is reversed, children feel helpless to solve environmental problems. Penn state personally states, “I personally find it difficult to believe that a reverse effect regarding education when visiting zoos would form, considering although most children will not learn anything, they will still have at least non- changed feelings towards conservation and animals.” Since zoos are not inspiring most of their visitors, why should the captivity of animals be allowed? Despite their positive mindset for conservation of natural habitats, zoos keep animals captive from their natural terrain. Removing a species from a habitat causes issues in food webs and all the animals and plants who depend on that species. Defined by National Geographic, keystone species is an organism that helps an entire ecosystem, without its keystone species, the ecosystem would be dramatically different or cease to exist altogether. A keystone species can be a predator, herbivore, big or small. An example of a keystone species removal is gray wolves in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Which stretches across states of Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming. Species such as elk, bison, rabbit and bird are