As you can see in the picture, the tiger is being kept in a cage where it can be stared at by humans. In solving some environmental issues, zoos can be a good solution. However, there are many zoos that prove harmful to the animals while providing little assistance to environmental efforts. Here are some pros and cons of zoos.
Some zoos are actually very helpful in protecting animals. Zoos can teach all their visitors about the animals and help spread awareness about world wide environmental issues. Millions upon millions of people visit the zoos in the United States and learn all about the animals. Zoos can also help scientists study animals. Sometimes, research on diseases in animals leads to knowledge on human illnesses or can even alert scientists to new diseases. Scientists can also build tech that mimics an animal in some way, which can help with many of today’s problems. One of the most important benefits of zoos is that they can help save endangered species. All the species that are going extinct because of humans can be provided for in zoos, without danger of being killed from poaching or hunting.
While zoos can be useful, there are plenty of cons to zoos too. Many zoos don’t treat animals right, by giving them the wrong food, leaving their enclosures dirty, and by not providing them with the means to live their lives properly. For example, many animals need a very large amount of space to live. Wild polar bears have home territories of over 1,500 miles. At most, an enclosure is a couple acres. Many animals also show unnatural behavior, such as twitching or teeth grinding. Some are diagnosed with clinical depression, OCD, anxiety, and more. Because of these problems, many animals live much shorter lives in zoos than in the wild. Polar bear infants have a mortality rate of 65%, and many animals get overweight or spend too much time indoors. Some might say that the damage zoos do to animals aren’t worth the knowledge that zoos bring to humans. Those who do not support zoos argue that zoos cannot provide their animals with the means to live properly.
The debate on the use of zoos continues to be a pressing issue. I personally think that zoos should only be used in emergency situations. Zoos should help protect species from going endangered or extinct. In addition, zoos can be used to house animals that have disabilities or have adapted too much to human care. Even in those situations, I think zoos should only be allowed if they have relatively good conditions. A good example of an appropriate zoo would be the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. At the safari park, animals are treated well. They get enough food, time outside, socialization, and space. While the zoo cannot be expected to provide 1,500 miles of space for animals like polar bears, it has 1,800 acres of land for enclosures, which is pretty spacious as zoos go. The zoo also tries to release their animals back into the wild. However, some have questioned the San Diego Zoo’s breeding practices, which goes to show that no zoo is ideal. But all in all, I do think zoos that only house animals that need it and have fairly good conditions such as the San Diego Safari Park should be used.
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Inspiring Related Article: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/09/science/coronavirus-elephants-wildlife-zoo.html?referringSource=articleShare
