Persuasive Essay: Should We Have Zoos?

Zoos are found everywhere you go in the world. Some are big and popular, while others are something as simple as a rescue and rehabilitation center. Every child loves going to the zoo at some point in their childhood years. As you get older, you begin to form an opinion on what you think about the overall ideas of a zoo. Some adults love it still as they grow older. As for others, they begin to see how zoo’s actually run and what all they do there, which then shapes their opinion either for better or for worse. Throughout the past few years, many documentaries have been released about what goes on behind the glass at different zoos and aquariums around the world. With the release of all these new documentaries, many people, including myself, have began to form

These include animals like giraffes and lions to anything smaller, like seals and otters. Although these are all amazing animals to look at, no one ever thinks about what life is like for the animals themselves. The term wild animal is out there for a reason. All animals that fall into this category are those that should be left out in the wild. According to the article “Should We Have Zoos?”, it is stated that “behavioral and physical needs can not be met in unnatural man-made structures”. Take lions for example. Lions hunt out in the wild. It part of their lifestyles, part of the behavioral needs. If they’ve been brought in for human entertainment at a zoo, they begin to lose this need. In some cases, this can be a good thing, like if they need a population control. However, other times, this can actually ruin how an ecosystem works. Once whatever animal is being hunted stops getting hunted, then that population will begin to overpopulate and cause even more problems than what they started with in the beginning. This cycle is never