All zoos must be closed down forever
| Subject: | 🌷 Environment |
| Type: | Persuasive Essay |
| Pages: | 3 |
| Word count: | 854 |
| Topics: | 🐇 Cruelty to Animals, Animal Rights, Environmental Issues, 🐰 Animal Welfare |
essay ASAP?
Zoos are some of the facilities we have in the country where animals are kept for display to the public. While zoos have been a good idea to enable people to view animals that ordinarily would be found in the wild, many have argued that it is an un-animal practice that should be abandoned. Zoos remain one of the most visited places on earth today with many persons and children visiting such places to view certain animals. Zoos are mainly common in Northern America where there is a high need amongst most people to view some animals that are not often found in the region. Most of these animals in the zoos are usually captured against their will and kept in conditions which might not be their natural homes (Bennett, 2017). They become confined within these zoos and the constant viewing by people makes their lives even more difficult. The kind of torture that these animals are subjected to suggests that all zoos should be closed down and the practice banned forever.
There are several reasons as to why zoos should be banned in the country and beyond. The process of acquiring animals for the zoos remain controversial across the globe. Ordinarily, most animals found in zoos are usually captured from their natural habitats and taken to the zoos which then becomes their new homes, This practice first of all hugely disorients and subjects these animals to unnecessary and harsh conditions which could have been avoided had the animals been left alone to live in their natural habitats (Bennett, 2017). Animals just like us have a lot in common. We both breathe, eat, sleep and feel pain. We all have the responsibility of working for foods to feed both ourselves and the ones that depend on us. Removing animals from their homes therefore not only means that one is taken away from their loved ones but also that they are taken to new and harsh conditions that may affect them. This has led to a very high death rate for zoos across the world. BBC Horizon (2016), suggests the deaths of between 3000 to 5000 animals in zoos across Europe only. That number could be higher if you consider data across the world.
The BBC Horizon (2016), reports that various researchers have revealed that the lifespan of animals considerably reduces when they are taken to the zoos. This may be due to certain scientific and biological reasons that affect these animals. Zoo animals such as Panda have been found to have the highest death rates while kept in the zoo. Out of over 400 pandas that are usually kept in zoos across the world. The results have been that very few can actually grow into adults and be released back to the wild. Pandas are some of the animals that face extinction and so various efforts have been made to reintroduce them to the world. However, results from the BBC Horizon (2016), suggests that keeping pandas in a zoo is an exercise in futility. This damning statistic does not only affect pandas. Even other zoo animals such as tigers and lions have their lifespan greatly reduced when they are exposed to the living conditions of zoos. This is because of the high death rates that have been recorded. The idea might be a noble one but zoos are not the place to help reintroduce pandas to the world. As such, these efforts should be thwarted and animals left to live in other better conditions.
Another reason zoos should be closed down the world over is the fact that most of these zoos do not engage in animal conservation as many have been made to believe. Over 90% of animals kept in zoos are not endangered species suggesting that they are not a conservancy. Data from BBC Horizon (2016), suggests that while zoos may be earning billions of dollars from their operations. Out of this money, only about 3% is used to support Conservancy projects across the world. It means that most of these zoos are self-serving and not about animals as many have been made to believe. It is also common that many zoos do not have the right standards to be able to keep certain animals (Bennett, 2017). It means that majority of zoo animals are exposed to harsh living conditions which are un-animal-like.
The practice of zoo keeping is common in the world and that is seen by the high number of visits these zoos have in a year. However, this practice is an un-animal practice that infringes on the rights of most of these animals to have normal lives. The zoos not only antagonizes these animals but it also interferes with their daily lives. The confinement means that these animals are unable to do certain activities that they would ordinarily do while free. These projects are also not about taking care and keeping the animals in better conditions but about getting more people to visit and makes profits for the zoos at the expense of the animals. As such, zoos across should be closed down and all such practices banned forever.
- BBC Horizon. (2016). Zoos by numbers. Should We Close Our Zoos? BBC Horizon.
- Bennett, C. (2017). If we really love animals, we should close all zoos now. The Guardian.
Offered for reference purposes only.