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Imagine this you are sitting at home with your family eating dinner when suddenly these strange beings you have never seen before are taking all of your family members away, and you’re next. They put you in these cages and bring you so far away from your home you don’t even know where you are. They then put you in these small enclosures made of artificial materials and the only thing separating you from freedom is a glass wall.
On the other side of the glass are these strange beings pointing and laughing at you, taking pictures and walking away so more of these things can look at you. Or imagine another circumstance where you are born in a small cement room which you spend most of your life in whether it is this same one or a different room across the country.
You have the same routine every day, you live in a small enclosure that is about one thousandth the size of the habitat you are supposed to be living in.
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You are never able to know true nature or roam across acres and acres of land. You become depressed and ill because you are stuck within these walls for the remainder of your life. This is the life of an animal in captivity. The question of whether zoos are ethical will never be black and white, the only question left to ask is are we doing enough to ensure that animals are given the rights that they deserve? The answer is no, hundreds of animals are suffering every day all over the world for human pleasure and things need to change; road side zoos need to become a thing of the past, sanctuaries need to become more popular than regular zoos and conservation efforts need to increase tremendously.
When I was a child, we often visited the local zoo throughout the warm part of the year, it was one of my sister and I’s favorite things to do.
They had every kind of animal you could think of from big cats, to apes and kangaroos. It had never dawned on me that these animals spend every day stuck here within the permeameters of the zoo for the rest of their lives. However, I do understand the appeal of the modern-day zoo. Animals live longer, they have access to constant medical care and they for the most part are safe. Zoos are good for the economy because of the jobs they create, sometimes they help in animal conservation and they can be used to educate. But are these things being done? The animals they have with in their walls aren’t all endangered and raising these animals in a zoo and then releasing them into the wild isn’t doing anything to help the population. Not when the real problem is habitat loss, if zoos wanted to help conserve animal populations they would use a part of their profits to set up free roaming sanctuaries where the animal’s habitat would be protected and their species could thrive. Living inside an enclosed space isn’t ideal for any living creature. I doubt people would frequent certain zoos as much if they knew what was going on behind the scenes.
As time goes on zoos have become more progressive. However, back in the old days around 1250 BC Egyptians kept animals in captivity as prized possessions, as they would a painting. Before zoos even existed, wealthy people and rulers would keep animals as possessions for entertainment and a show of how wealthy they really were they were called menageries. The animals were stolen from their homes and were treated horribly; fed insufficient diets, put in confinement, beaten (to train) and hauled across the country. But this trend caught on across the world and became more commercialized. Hence the modern zoo. Over the years the development of animal welfare and the overall experience of the zoo has become much better.
Before when they put animals into these enclosures they had no idea how to take care of them both physically and mentally, it was a lot of trial and error. In 1983 a study about animal mortality in zoos found that major causes of death amongst the animals included cannibalism, infantilism (never mentally growing up), malnutrition’s and tranquilizers. Now that people have been studying animal behavior for years they are able to determine what is best for the animals in every aspect. Zoos under the Association of Zoos and Aquariums are required to meet all needs of these captive animals. They make sure they meet their mental, physical, dietary, social, and medical needs. They will take their height, weight, age, sexual development, and body condition into account to see how to best suit their physical needs. As for their behavioral assessment the professionals will see how to make the animals captive environment as enriching as possible. These needs are not one size fits all either each species and individual animal needs specific needs met at all points in time. It still doesn’t seem to be enough, animals are still suffering. When these needs aren’t met the effects can be deathly.
When the needs of an animal in captivity aren’t met the effects can be detrimental to the animal’s health. The animals can develop illnesses when being introduced to a new environment (especially when it is not kept clean), they can become malnourished, and even injured. What many don’t know is that animals can develop the same mental health issues as we do such as depression, obsessive compulsive disorder, and even phobias. These disorders of the brain don’t happen when animals are in the wild. A bear smashing its head against a metal door of its enclosure, sheep fighting, and seals being scared of humans isn’t normal.
These behaviors are known as zoochosis or “stereotypic behavior is described as an invariant, repetitive behavior pattern with no apparent goal or function […] zoochosis is displayed through behavioral disorders such as circling, pacing, bar biting, excessive grooming, addiction, and self-harm [and][…] eating disorders” [Sawe]. These behaviors are caused by this change in lifestyle, no matter what zoos do to ensure the animals welfare it will never be the same as the wild. Zoo habitats serve as a fabricated home, an illusion; smoke machines, half slivered mirrors and flora similar that found in the animal’s original habitat. Animals who are born in these enclosures may believe that this is their home while others start to decipher the illusion, they understand that this world they live in is fake. Animals aren’t meant to live in these enclosed/artificial spaces and on some level they know this. As the “superior” species of the world we must realize what we are doing to those who came before us. We have destroyed habitats and lives in the process. We take and take but do not give back. Animals who do not ask to be there are put in life threatening situations and it is not fair.
At the Cincinnati Zoo in 2016 a Western lowland gorilla named Harambe was killed because a child had fell into his enclosure. The child had somehow fallen into the enclosure and the gorilla, curious, grabbed the boy. Everyone’s screams had made the gorilla agitated and he assumed the role as male dominant, so he began to drag the boy around as he would a stick. Harambe is seen examining the boy curious about the small human he found, not seeming to want to hurt the boy. If he wanted to kill the child, he would have done so. The killing of Harambe was unjust, it was the zoos fault for allowing something like that to even be able to happen. The zoo claimed they couldn’t tranquilize him because it would take to long for the drugs to work, which is understandable because of the stress and emergency of the situation. However, the fact that the boy was even able to fall into the enclosure is inexcusable.
The enclosure was apparently compliant by the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) until May 28th which was the day that the boy fell into the enclosure. Since then the zoo has made the fence 6 inches taller and surrounded the enclosure with nylon mesh. These precautions should have already been in place, the fact that a 4-year-old boys’ life was put in danger and that they killed a member of an already endangered species is unquestionably deplorable. Animals get the blame when something like this happens, but can you really blame them for behaving as they should? They are meant to roam, hunt, develop relationships with those like them. Some Zoos have it backwards; they should be making sure the animals are having a good experience instead of focusing solely on if humans are. Animals have rights too. Animal malpractice happens every day with zoos, poaching, the meat industry, and just human life in general. We destroy their habitats for the sole purpose of our greed and it needs to end or there won’t be any animals left to look at.
There are thousands of zoos across the world, some good and some bad. In an article published by National Geographic Laura Fravel writes that “according to the American Zoo and Aquarium Association (AZA) […] in the U.S. alone, the Department of Agriculture licenses 2,400 ‘animal exhibitors,’ of which 212 are members of the AZA, an organization that requires high standards of animal care, science, and conservation.” [Fravel]. That means there are about 2,188 zoos that aren’t kept to the highest standard of care for the animals they hold captive. Not to say there aren’t other accrediting agencies because there are others such as the USDA, but the AZA makes sure that all zoos credited by them are keeping up with policy at all time. Zoos need to do better. Many zoos that fall under the umbrella of the AZA are involved with conservation efforts, but most don’t do enough and zoos that aren’t a part of the AZA hardly do anything to contribute to conservation efforts. The number of good animal exhibitors is outnumbered by the amount of bad. The AZA is one of the top accreditors for animal exhibitions and the USDA also distributes licenses to people who are “qualified” to hold them.
An animal exhibitor is anyone or place that possess warm-blooded animals that are shown to the public for educational or performance reasons. The USDA issued a license to an animal exhibitor named Tim Stark, the owner of the not for profit Wildlife in Need. Since his initial licensure the USDA has filed many complaints with the Wildlife in Need center including many occurrences of mistreatment of his animals. He told the USDA in order to euthanize one of the female jaguars he simply beat her with a baseball bat until she died, he declawed tiger cubs so visitors could have “playtime” with them. The declawing resulted in pain and sometimes death because he would not provide treatment for them after the procedure. Also, a recent video has surfaced of Mr. Stark grabbing a bear cub by its mouth and one can hear it scream in the video. Wildlife in Need has faced suspensions from the USDA, fines adding up to almost 1 million dollars, over 100 animal welfare violations, and a 24-page complaint filed by the USDA and it is still running today. These types of places need to be shut down immediately and the animals with in must be relocated to either a zoo that can treat them right or even better a sanctuary. This is an example of what people refer to road side zoos, they are small zoos that don’t meet the needs of the animals it contains. These “roadside zoos” need to be shut down immediately, we see the violations of animal’s rights happening right in front of our eyes and do nothing about it.
Also, research done by Benjamin Beck who worked as a director of biological programs at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C, “found that in the last century, only 16 of 145 reintroduction programs worldwide ever actually restored any animal populations to the wild.” [Fravel]. This means of all the conservation efforts done by zoos and other ‘animal exhibitors’ across the world only 16 worked and most of the accomplished efforts were completed by government programs. People also say zoos are important because they educate the public about conservation efforts and issues, but do visitors really leave educated and ready to save the animal kingdom? There is no data supporting the claim that zoos actually provide any meaningful education to its visitors. This does not mean that visitors don’t learn anything from going to a zoo, it just means that the education they are getting are in no way benefitting the animal populations in the future. Visitors aren’t using this knowledge to help in conservation, they use it only as a fun fact they might teach their kids. If zoos want to make strides in conservation they should teach their visitors more about the declining populations of the animals within the zoo and how they can help so visitors can use the knowledge in a more meaningful way.
The Wild Animal Sanctuary in Colorado has rescued hundreds of animals from illegal and abusive situations for over forty years and hopefully many more. Their 800-acre sanctuary in Keenesburg, Colorado houses over 480 recued animals. They have acquired a separate parcel of land that is about 10,000 acres, this land has no roads running through it or human activity it is just acre after acre of green lush. Animals can now live in ‘enclosures’ that about 100 acres large. That’s not even the best part, visitors can see all of the beauty without it affecting the animals space. Tall bridges are built throughout the sanctuary which allows visitors to gawk and animals to relax without interruption. Most of these animals are rescued from roadside zoos. Road side zoos are the scum of animal exhibitions, they don’t follow all of the rules set by the AZA and the animals are suffering because of it. Large animals are kept in enclosures no bigger than the size of a truck, multiple animals are shoved in together, their psychological and physiological needs are not met and it can prove to be detrimental to them. This is simply not right, animals have rights to and no one should be contributing to this type of animal abuse. Serious action needs to be taken to prevent this type of thing from happening everyday as it does now.
In the world of ethics there is no such thing as black and white. The fact of the matter is zoos can be both good and bad, it’s all in the eyes of the beholder. Some view zoos as essential to society and conservation efforts while others do not. If all zoos did what they said they do then there wouldn’t be a problem, everyone (animals and humans) would be happy, endangered species would no longer be endangered and the world would be a better more humane place for it. But that’s not the reality of it, there are many zoos that exist that treat animals poorly and the animals are suffering because of it. Everyday animals are ripped from their homes and put into enclosures that are far too small, they are not fed enough, are rough handled and sometimes killed. Why go to a zoo like that when there are amazing wildlife sanctuaries you can go to? As human beings we must entertain the fact that animals have rights too. In order to make sure we are acting as humane as possible we must avoid these atrocious road side attractions and actually do what we say we are. We must help in the conservation of these animals we adore and choose to admire. The Association of Zoos and Aquariums and other zoo creditors should require zoos to donate a portion of their funds to the animal species they are exhibiting and perform only moral practices within their walls. All zoos that don’t follow the AZA regulations should be outlawed and shut down, after this occurs all animals that are mistreated in these facilities must be brought to a sanctuary to live out the rest of their lives happy and healthy.
Locked Within Four Walls of Animal Senses. (2021, Dec 22). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/locked-within-four-walls-of-animal-senses-essay
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