Essay Example: Zoos Do More Harm than Good

Introduction

Biodiversity is the variety of life that can be found on Earth. It supplies every living thing with oxygen, food, clean water and air, and even recreation. However, due to deforestation, hunting, climate change, etc., tons of species' populations are decreasing in numbers. Being so important to us, what effect do zoos have on diversity? With 10,000 around the world, and around 100 in Canada, zoos are known for displaying numerous species of animals. The subject of whether zoos should exist is vastly controversial. Firstly, zoo animals are extremely difficult to reintroduce back into the wild and the majority of these places', their objectives are to exploit and profit off the animals. Still, there are positive aspects to it; they help conserve and save animals from extinction. 

How Do Zoos Harm Animals?

First, being kept in zoos harm animals' physical health. With no places to roam because of the small enclosures given, animals develop problems like pacing and a higher risk of infant deaths; the polar bear infant death rate was 65% in zoos. Furthermore, when kept in captivity, elephants tend to lose half their life span due to them spending 83% of their time indoors and becoming overweight. Not only does it affect their physical health, it affects them mentally too. Zoo animals suffer from problems that are not seen in their natural habitat, such as “depression in clouded leopards and gibbons and OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder) in brown bears, and anxiety in giraffes” (ProCon, 2019). This is because of their unnatural environment and small enclosures. Studies also show that chimpanzees develop abnormal behaviours such as eating feces, twitching, vomiting, etc.. 60% of orcas develop tooth fractures from grinding their teeth because of stress. What’s more, captive animals don’t develop the proper skills necessary to survive in the wild on their own like hunting because they are fed dead meat. They also lose natural disposition and would no longer represent their species. With all these problems, they cannot survive in the wild on their own and would most likely pass these habits to their offspring. 

Additionally, most zoos objectives are not for saving the animals, but to exploit and make money off of them. Zoos mainly breed animals that are not endangered creating a surplus. A study from Freedom for Animals found that 7500 to as many as 200,000 animals in European zoos are surplus at once. This happens when there are more animals than resources available. The only reason there is an excess amount of animals is because zoos keep breeding them so visitors can see the babies and make money off of it.  The ones that are deemed as “not useful” are culled. Zoos claim to help educate people about the animals, but “to date there is no compelling or even particularly suggestive evidence for the claim that zoos and aquariums promote attitude change, education, and interest in conservation of visitors' ' (Animal Studies Repository). This is just another excuse to keep animals captive and so more visitors will come to “learn”. In another Freedom for Animals study, it was found that 41% of the animals on display had no signs identifying them in the UK. They say zoos frequently help with animal research, however, that is another excuse as to why they are keeping them. If they are having behavioral problems and kept in captivity, the results would not be accurate. 

How Do Zoos Help Animals?

There are positive features of keeping animals in zoos, for example, many zoos have programs to protect animals from extinction. For example, AZA, Association of Zoos and Aquariums, invests $50 million every year to preserve over 200 species listed as either endangered or threatened. $1.6 million was directed towards the cheetah. Which they plan to increase their populations in Southern Africa through “addressing the illegal wildlife trade, promoting human-wildlife coexistence, and developing large carnivore monitoring techniques” (AZA, 2017). Ripley’s Aquarium also has many conservation programs. One of them being the Ontario Turtle Conservation Center, where they keep and rehabilitate turtles in natural environments. While they are recovering, extensive research is done to further conservation efforts. A giant success in saving animals from extinction was with the California Condors. By the 1900’s, most of these birds were either shot, poisoned, captured and disturbed. In 1987 the 27 condors left were taken in at breeding facilities at the Los Angeles Zoo and the San Diego Wild Animal Park. By 2017, the California Condor population reached over 460. 

Conclusion

Although zoos save species going extinct, most of the time it won’t work because they are kept in small enclosures which change their behavioural habits. Also, instead of wanting to help animals, most zoos keep them to make profit. In conclusion, doing something about the reason why the animals are going extinct (hunting, deforestation, climate change, etc.) and putting zoo animals in sanctuaries would help bring more biodiversity. 

Works Cited

"Zoos - Top 3 Pros and Cons." 15 Mar. 2021, www.procon.org/headlines/zoos-top-3-pros-and-cons/. 

“AZA-Accredited Zoos and Aquariums Are Saving Endangered Animals From Extinction.” Millions Are Invested by AZA Members to Help Species Listed under the Endangered Species Act., www.aza.org/aza-news-releases/posts/aza-accredited-zoos-and-aquariums-are-saving--endangered-animals-from-extinction-?locale=en. 

“10 Facts about Zoos.” Freedom for Animals, 30 Oct. 2018, www.freedomforanimals.org.uk/blog/10-facts-about-zoos.