Throughout the years of establishing laws in the United States on multiple different subjects, there is only one law that pertains to the care, treatment, and movement of animals. The federal law is called the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) and was put to action in 1966. Along with the AWA is a code of federal regulation which is “enforced by USDA, APHIS, and Animal Care” (“Animal Welfare Act”). These acts have been modified and added to adjust to the feelings and protests of animal lovers or the people that believe in the free will for all living creatures. There are different types of captivity for animals that have opposing views and reasons for captivity, for example, zoos, sanctuaries, and animal amusement parks. Although people praise zoos and other public enclosures are for protecting endangered species, educational purposes, and public entertainment, they actually promote the opposite. Animal captivity in within parks is actually harming animals due to small enclosures that create depression, unregulated parks resulting in endangering care, and the lack of education required for working with these animals. Therefore, the regulations and laws that deal with zoos and other animal captivity parks should be changed to shut down these parks and release the animals back to their natural habitat and create more sanctuaries to account for the amount of hurt animals in the country.  

The history of zoos has changed its values since 3500 BC in Egypt to become a more profit based system (MacDonald). They have been used for different purposes, and the definition of a zoo has shifted throughout the centuries. In the early days of animal captivity, animals were taken from the wild and placed in cages where they were used as entertainment for the country’s ruler at that time. It is said that the wild animals were used for “intimidation of enemies” to show the “wealth and power” of the ruler or country (MacDonald). The creation of the “first modern zoo” was in 1793, and it did not benefit in any way other than for the enlightenment of the viewers (MacDonald). In other words, zoos did not have an admission fee for those looking to gain knowledge of the animals, but making the admission free does not make what they are doing to the animals right by any means.

The progression of zoos over time has led further away from the education of the viewers and focuses more on how much can be profited by showing off the animals in the cages and teaching them tricks for food. The animals that are captured range from birds and monkeys to tigers and penguins. Some of these animals are on their way to endangerment and others are close to extinction. Zoos and other sources believe they are in fact helping the animals reproduce and gain in numbers. Cindy Dohner said that “doubling the number of captive wolves to 400 in zoos across the country is the only way to save red wolves” (Fears). However, the ultimate reason in the first place for the endangerment of the wolves is because of hunters overkilling and not from natural selection or a disaster. If an animal is endangered and the US government wants to protect its animals, they need to first look at the true reason for the animals becoming endangered before capturing them. Therefore, the laws about killing animals should change and become more strict so that animals are no longer forced to give up the home they know just to be locked away from the rest of the world. 

As part of the zoo’s regulations, each site must have a veterinarian on staff. These veterinarians have helped open up educational programs within zoos. Phillip Robinson, who has been a veterinarian at the San Diego Zoo for ten years, believes that “zoos and zoo people can go much further than their individual efforts could in contributing to wildlife conservation” (Robinson, 277). To argue along with Robinson, Bixler, Joseph, and Searles each believe that zoos are going in the right direction by incorporating an education program offered for volunteers and docents allowing them to interact with the captive animals (Bixler). Having an education program in the zoos sounds good, however, the viewers are seeing and learning how animals in a caged environment, possibly since birth, are behaving. Therefore, the animals are not going to act the same way they would in the wild with no boundaries, making the education much more different. To truly be able to understand an animal would mean that one would have to observe them in their natural habitat and not obstruct their growth and ways of life (“Things We Need”).

Animals are being harmed in and outside of zoos everyday by humans. According to Animals Australia, there are “things we need to stop telling ourselves about animals in zoos” (“Things We Need”). For example, the article brings up unpleasant facts regarding the care of animals and the fact that zoos are only there for profit, which has already been established. Over the years, “dozens of animals – including lions, tigers, monkeys and crocodiles – died from hunger or thirst at the Khan Younis Zoo.” In 2012, “a polar bear in Buenes Aires Zoo overheated and died,” and multiple cases of animals trying to escape have been shot and killed (“Things We Need”). These are not the only horrific cases of animals losing their lives because of the lack of attention from humans and them not caring for them or nature enough. Although in the wild they might be killed, it is understood that it is for survival of other animals for food. This goes to show that zoos do not represent how society and the world should be treating and taking care of its own creatures. The zoos are killing and not protecting the valuable life forms of this earth and therefore need to be shut down. 

Zoos are not the only form of animal captivity that is harmful to animals. SeaWorld is a world famous amusement park of animals that people from all over the world come to see. The animals appear to look full of life while doing tricks, but how do we know what they are really feeling? Looking at one specific animal displayed in SeaWorld is the Orcas. SeaWorld of Hurt sheds light that “in the wild orcas spend up to 95 percent of their time submerged and would find shade in the depths of the ocean, but at SeaWorld their tanks are far too shallow” and it results in their skin getting sunburnt (“10 Things”). SeaWorld is taking these orcas from their homes to place them into smaller tanks, and these “orcas are forced to breed on a regular basis” by being “trained to float on their backs, and their trainers masturbate them to collect” and inseminated the younger females, making their lifespans much shorter(“10 Things”). 

The orcas example is just one example of how hurtful SeaWorld can be. SeaWorld has had multiple other incidences with other animals such as the dolphins and whales that have had negative results. Aside from the orcas, the rest of the animals in SeaWorld also live in cramped spaces and tanks, while viewers see the animals’ activities as “educational”, the activities “harm animals physically and emotionally” (“10 Things”). There is no true purpose for these animal amusement parks correlating along with zoos, they have only true purpose, and that is to make a dollar. This park has avoided and violated the regulations of the Animal Welfare Act by using “expired surgical materials, some almost a decade old” and they also had the orca tank “cracked and contained crumbling concrete and rusty beams that could pose a threat to the health and safety of both the animals and workers” (“10 Things”). This is a reflection of the regulation laws and how the Animal Welfare Act laws need to be updated and changed. The laws are there to protect the animals, but there needs to be a change in the laws since there are many parks going against the rules set in place and not being regulated. This is a fault in not only SeaWorld, but in the federal government that needs correction by removing zoos altogether for the safety of animals. 

The solution for animal captivity is in sanctuaries. A sanctuary is a place of refuge for injured or sick animals and it nurtures the sick and hurt back to health. In the 1980’s, the very first sanctuary was opened up. Once the animals are better, they are released back into their natural habitat instead of keeping them captive and showing them off. According to The Wild Animal Sanctuary, it “is a state and federally licensed zoological facility and a non-profit organization” and has “responded to more than 1,000 requests from private citizens and government agencies to rescue animals” (“The Wildlife”).  Sanctuaries’ main purposes are “to rescue captive large carnivores who have been abused, abandoned, illegally kept or exploited”, to make a “wonderful life” for them, and “to educate about the causes and solutions to the Captive Wildlife Crisis” (“The Wildlife”). 

 Sanctuaries are not perfect in the recovery of animals. The “Rescue Center in Costa Rica” “admits more than 2,500 birds, mammals, and reptiles each year”, but there are some sad truths to a sanctuary that is unable to be fixed (AnimalPlanetTv).  Animals become too hurt and are unable to leave the sanctuaries. For example, if a bird injures, breaks, or tears its wing and it is unable to be fixed, the bird will stay at the sanctuary and will not be released back into the wild for its own safety. Sanctuaries are truly looking out for the best quality of life for animals and is one of the better options for the future. In order for animals to stay the way they were made to be and act, zoos and animal amusement parks need to change how they operate to look more like a sanctuary or shut down all together releasing the animals back to their homes, because sanctuaries are like an animal hospital for all the animals in the world and hospitals are there for benefit to help the sick and injured. 

Education is a big quality that should be looked into when hiring a person for a job in which they work with the care of animals or decide how the park or place of refuge will run. Right now the only education required to run a zoo is to have a “bachelor’s degree in one of the life sciences, which includes biology, ecology, evolutionary biology, and zoology” or an “associates degree in zoo technology at a community college that is connected with a local zoo” (“Become a Professional”). If a director over a hospital or most major business CEOs have to have at least a masters if not higher, then the zoo director in charge of the animals should have a higher degree. Yes, they go through training, but that is not enough specific education on the animals to be able to judge what is the best solution or care for the animals.

In SeaWorld, the education required to work with the animals and to ride and preform on them is much lower than one might think. The performers “have no formal education in marine biology” (“10 Things”), a common study that is expected when working with animals. With no background on how the animals work, feel, and act, there is no way to know exactly how to treat the animals. There should be a change in the Animal Welfare Act so that if you are working with animals, whether to preform or to just feed, there needs to be a background of marine biology. However, the best thing for animals is to let them back into their natural habitat and not keep them in a strange environment or force them to work for food. 

Like humans, animals experience emotion and have feelings that show in their behavior. When thinking of animals, people sometimes forget how the animals react and feel when they are trapped, put in a cage, and forced to do what the zookeeper wants. Imagine if the roles were reversed and humans were put into cages, tanks, and were unable to freely live and move around or hunt and eat what they desired. Putting that scenario into perspective changes things. Animal Australia spoke about a polar bear named Gus that had been in captivity since birth that “began compulsively swimming figure eights in his pool for up to 12 hours per day”. “An animal psychologist determined that Gus was bored” (“5 Things”) and the boredom led to Gus staring down children so the zoo responded and put up a “barrier” so he would not scare the kids. Gus received behavioral therapy and “his compulsive swimming eased” but he “died in captivity in 2013 at age 27” (“5 Things”). 

Society has been affected by case studies opening their eyes about the captivity of animals. From the case in Animal Australia, SeaWorld has lost a lot of its attendance because they have been giving their marine animals anti-depressants. The US public is starting to understand that these animals are not happy in these settings and are not going to support it anymore. Animal Australia said it best that “living in captivity has been found to lead some animals to neurosis and depression” and this is not the way creatures of this world should be treated. There are other factors than just the zoos to blame for these occurrences of the treatment of defenseless animals in the US, and the federal government needs to take charge, and get rid of these parks.  

Sanctuaries are not the most perfect and flawless systems that can be created for the animals, it is just like any other business or creation. According to Rachel Shea, “federal law regulates the ones that, much like zoos, exhibit animals to the public. Those are inspected at least yearly” but since “private sanctuaries that don’t exhibit animals” they “aren’t regulated by the federal government” (Shea). Although the private sanctuaries are flawed, they are the best answer for the animals today. To move past this and better the system, the federal government needs to establish more regulations for private owned sanctuaries to keep an eye on the care of the helpless animals against the cruelty of masters and owners today by becoming more involved and making the private sanctuaries now public for regulations. 

The US public is showing great amounts of support in relation to animal health and captivity. From here, I believe that the federal government should change some of the regulations in favor of the animals due to the amount of care and attention that is being drawn to this subject. Therefore, zoos and animal amusement park regulations under the federal government need to be changed and updated to resemble sanctuaries’ regulations. This way the animals can receive the right care and attention they need if they are sick or injured. However, if they are healthy, then they should be released into their natural habitat.  
