The Arguments For and Against Zoo Building

I believe that everyone has been to or heard of a zoo before. People can see many animals from all over the world, animals that appeared in books or Television show are all in front of you. Isn’t it very wonderful to have zoos in urban areas for people that cannot see wild animals in Africa? I was one of this concept’s believer in my childhood, because I really like animals and if there is a place that I can see them face to face, I will definitely raise both of my hands and support it, I will even want the government to build more zoos. However, when I began to grow up, I began to realize that zoos are not that wonderful and so positive. I am now against to build zoos, and I will write and describe why I am against this issue in the following paragraphs.

Let us take a look at the cause and effects of building a zoo and keeping animals in it. The zoos in early times were never a place to preserve or protect animals, they are all for entertainment. People pay to see these fierce wild animals such as lions and tigers. These animals weren’t well treated, they suffer both mental and physical illness. According to Kira Freed’s Zoo Through the Ages, it wrote “The establishment of zoos did not guarantee enough care for their residents, particularly not by today’s standard. Little was known then about the nutritional and environmental needs of the animals, so their health often suffered. Social animals that normally lived in family groups were caged individually and felt stress from their separation. Zoo animals had nothing to interrupt their boredom or provide stimulation.” This passage shows us that zoos are not a best home and habitat for animals. The second effect zoos have brought is that zoos prevent the chance for new born animals to see and live in the wild. Zoo-born animals aren’t able to survive in the wild once they are release, because they do not have any experience in the wild. They will have to hunt their prey on their own, or become a prey to other predators. These things are what they aren’t used to do. (Crystal Lombardo,2019). The two effects I have mentioned are quite serious, because according to people who support building zoos, zoos are supposed to protect animals and give them a better place to live in, but the outcomes and results are totally on the opposite side.

There are three reasons why I am against building and keeping animals in zoos. The first reason is keeping animals in zoos for entertainment is really cruel. Try to imagine, when one day you are kept in a cage, and there are so many strange creatures looking at you and pointing at you, don’t you feel stressful? The animals are now facing this situation, stared by so many visitors and tourists, doing weird moves to the animals. These animals have no place to hide, they are forced to be stare by these tourists. I once been to the Taipei Zoo and saw some small kids hitting the glass curtain, trying to catch the attention of a bear, but the bear was sleeping, so the sound the kids are making is definitely a noise that will annoys the bear. These actions and moves will not only cause physical illness but also mental illness, animals will be living in a stressful environment, and have no way to conquer it. The animals I saw in the zoo all look dispirited and downcast, very few are energetic. I think it is not realistic to release all the animals in the zoo immediately, but there is a solution to this situation. The zoo can keep the visitors and tourists in camouflage or not easy to be recognized by the animals. For example, tourists and visitors observe animals from a small hole or window, in this case, animals won’t be interrupted and will have lower stress. The second reason why I am against is zoos can’t really educate the people. Many supporters of zoos say that children and some adults can learn different animals in a zoo. However, a study has pointed out this is untrue. Stephen Killer’s paper “Zoological Parks in American Society” shows that many zoo goers in USA have lesser knowledge about animals than backpackers, hunters, fishermen and others who claimed that they have interest in animals. What’s more funny? 73percents of zoo-goers say they dislike rattlesnakes, 52percents dislike vultures. How are you going to provide education when the zoo-goers have already prejudices on certain animals?

This study also pointed out that zoo-goers only stop to watch cute animals or baby animals. We can’t learn if we only watch and observe specific species. Furthermore, what exactly do you want to learn in the zoo? How does this animal look like? What was it feed for? These questions, to be honest, can be answer by books, illustration, power point slides or even films on Youtube, so I do not understand why zoos can provide education for zoo-goers. The third reason why I am against zoos is because the cost is more expensive than conservation. Zoos are considered one way of wildlife conservation, but taking care of the natural habitats of these animals would actually cost less in many instances than caring for them in a zoo. Because we do not have to build an extra habitat for animals if they are in their natural home, this can cut down the cost of preserving animals. According to the Wildlife New Zealand Zoo Watch website, the average cost to care for a Black Rhino in a cage is about $16,000 per year, while the cost of protecting a wild habitat for one rhino would be around $1,000 per year. It is very obvious that the cost is 16 times different, if we can protect wild animals in their own nature habitats, why should we spend a huge amount of money to build zoos and deprive their freedom?

Many supporters of zoos have claimed that the reason to build zoos is to protect and save endangered species. I do not agree with this viewpoint. To increase numbers of a particular species, the most obvious way is to give birth to new lives. Zoos try to plan breeding for these animals, but according to the Wildlife New Zealand website, very few endangered species can successfully give birth babies when they are keep in cages. Of 1,370 species involved in a survival plan by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, only 1.4 percent of the species were likely to be reintroduced to the wild after being raise up in zoos. We can learn from the research that the results of zoos preserving aren’t that successful. Why should we keep zoos that can’t really do great help to protect endangered species? Also, if the plan of giving birth to new baby animals don’t work, the zoos may use artificial insemination, which is a way to take genes from animals and mixed them together, then the animals will just become vehicles for these gene experiments. This is very inhuman and will definitely lost the purpose of protecting animals and endangered species.

In conclusion, I am really against zoos to be build. We shouldn’t sacrifice the animal rights, and keep them in cages that they never belong to. We should never take their freedom away, and let them become an entertainment for human. Zoo create a false sense of security about the survival and welfare of other animals. A zoo fill with empty cages might be a more realistic way to convey the impending loss of species. (Lori Marino,2009). The things we should do now is protect the habitats of wild animals, after all it is human that are destroying their home, and we should protect their habitats, whatever it takes.