The Ethics Of Animals In Captivity

Each year around the world, “more than 700 million people visit zoos and aquariums” (Zordan). With the substantial amount of individuals viewing animals in captivity, the question arises if zoos are truly as ethical as they promote. Zoos allow for education and entertainment for the public, but there are issues within the wildlife parks that have not reached enough attention. Although zoos may be a popular tourist attraction, there are unethical aspects of them including their habitats that are not natural to them, the misconceptions of educational and entertainment purposes, and the changes in animals’ behavior and health. The animals held captive in zoos are not exposed to their species’ natural habitats. Zoos do not capture animals from

The animals in zoos are much different in many ways than wild animals of the same species in their natural habitat. Humans provide support for animals in zoos and take care of them throughout their lives, while animals in the wild fend for themselves and learn new skills that animals in zoos do not have. Zoos throughout North America have designed their locations to feel as if the animals are in nature, “as a way of justifying captivity” even though there will never be similar amounts of space in zoos as animals would have in their natural habitats (Braverman, 187). If animals were provided with a more realistic version of their natural habitat, similar to sanctuaries, animals could eventually be placed in the wild. Although zoos care for the animals, they do not have the goal of ever releasing them in the wild to their natural habitats. The animals that have been bred in zoos cannot be put into the wild because zoos

The way animals interact is different in zoos than in the wild because of their surroundings and the humans around providing everything for them. The history of zoos proves where the intentions of entertainment within zoos came from. Menageries were the first zoos and they “were created as private collections by the wealthy to show their power” (Zoo). Since this began hundreds of years ago, it proves that zoos were created not to educate nor save endangered species, which is what the claim is in modern zoos. As years went on, there became more scientific reasoning for the desire for zoos throughout the world. Although the reasoning shifted, zoos were still created based on entertainment, and that is still one of the main reasons zoos are still thriving to this day, because visitors want to be entertained. There are campaigns around the world that attempt to stop animals in confinement for entertainment because “animal entertainment is animal cruelty,” which was a quote that the World Animal Protection campaign shared to help spread the word (Animals in the Wild). People from around the world become thrilled to see animals extremely close since there are usually not many native to the average citizen. Although this may seem as if it were a great concept, it is important to