The Benefits Of Zoos Free Essay Sample

Betty white once said "People forget the good that zoos do, if it weren't for zoos we would have so many species that would be extinct today." Many people agree with Betty White and think that zoos do good; however, there's still a lot of  controversy. These controversies consist of whether or not zoos are beneficial for the animals. Putting endangered animals in zoos or homes affects them by keeping them from becoming extinct and enriches their lives.

One reason for keeping animals in captivity is to prevent extinction. As the human race has thrived, many animals have become extinct, but zoos help keep animals safe. In "Zoos: Fighting to Save Endangered Species", Christine Graf stated that "Participating zoos and aquariums breed endangered and threatened species in captivity and later release some of them into the wild. Captive breeding programs have been successful in saving species such as the black-footed ferret, California condor, red wolf, and Arabian oryx from extinction." This article shows that zoos not only help stop animals from going extinct but they can also help the species repopulate. Not only are zoos great at stopping extinction, they give animals new experiences. Another reason to keep animals in captivity is that their lives become enriched. As we gather these animals, we learn how to create new fascinating lives for them. In "Beastly Blahs", Galadriel Watson stated that zoos are not jails and "Instead, they can enrich an animal’s environment in novel ways. Don’t just hand the lion a slab of meat—put it in a barrel and make the cat work for it. Give cranes a pile of dirt and let them dig for insects. Some scorpions love checking out roses. Even a seemingly silly thing like spritzing a cage with perfume encourages an animal to do something it normally does in the wild: sniff out new scents." This article talks about some of the ways that zoos enrich the lives of animals in any way they can. Even though zoos provide many amazing benefits to the animals, some people may still think zoos are harmful for the animals. For example, some people say that the chance for animals to die in captivity is higher than in the wild. Even though people may think animals have a hard time this is untrue. In the article "zoo complicated", Kathryn Hulick explains that "In fact, a whale in captivity now has about the same chance of surviving as many years as a whale in the wild." This proves that with time we managed to make the lives of animals in captivity as long, or longer, than their lives in the wild. Zoos help endangered animals by enriching their lives and helping them repopulate. Zoos help to repopulate and thus help stop endangered animals from extinction. Zoos enrich the lives of animals. Zoos do not cause more deaths of animals than if they were out in the wild. Now that everyone knows the good that zoos do, they need to help by supporting a zoo and seeing the animals that they save.