How would you feel if you were taken from your home and held captive in a small space that you are unfamiliar with? Instead of living freely with your family, you are alone in a cage with a crowd of strangers watching you. This is what millions of animals are going through every day, in places like zoos, marine parks, and circuses. Zoos and marine parks use animals for their own needs by separating animals from their pack and isolating them in small areas causes them to be unhappy and may even result in death. They all put on shows to show off the animals but deep down those animals are suffering, often using abusive training methods to get the animals to what the trainers want to make the crowd happy, and in return make money. These animal’s lives are being controlled, they have no choice in what they eat or who they share a space with and often show signs of distress, such as pacing back and forth. Although in American there is an Animal Welfare act that sets standards for zoos in America, but they are still not good enough. Animal captivity is a cruel and harsh thing for animals and needs to be stopped. This can be shown through real life examples, facts, and statistics. 

One of the main arguments for zoos and marine parks is that they are educational and have research purposes, though this seems like a good argument, it does not make sense to deprive animals from their home and freedom. Most zoos fail at promoting education. What are they trying to teach children, that it is okay to remove animals from their natural habitat? A recent study of United Kingdom aquariums, conducted by Captive Animal’s Protection Society (CAPS), found that 41 percent of the animals on display had no signs at all, not even a sign identifying them. According to Susan Clayton’s, a zoo researcher, study, she found out only 27 percent of American’s actually read the information signs at zoos. A study held in London, also conducted by Captive Animal’s Protection Society, surveyed almost 3,000 children between the ages of seven and fifteen years old, before and after they had been taken on guided and unguided tours of different zoos. They found out 62 percent showed no indication of learning about animals or conservation. Based on this study, children did not feel empowered to believe that they can take action on matters relating to conservation after their zoo experience. (Onegreenplanet). Liz Tyson, the director of the Captive Animal Protection Society, explains the results of the study, “Zoos present an entirely false view of both animals themselves and the real and very urgent issues facing many species in their natural homes. This new research appears to confirm what we have said for many years. Zoos do not educate nor do they empower or inspire children to become conservationists”. If people want to view animals in real life, they can observe wildlife in the wild or visit sanctuaries. A real sanctuary takes unwanted exotic pets, surplus animals from zoos, or injured animals that cannot survive in the wild. These sanctuaries do not sell or buy these animals. This is an alternative for wanting to view animals in real life.

Zoos and aquariums do conduct research, but they should do so on injured animals or animals in the wild, not on animals kept in captivity for entertainment purposes.  Laura Kurtycz, researcher at the Center for the Study and Conservation of Apes, says when researchers give animals a choice, they do have their individual preferences. Animals have preferences for specific foods, partners, living locations, and activities. Living in a zoo or aquarium does not allow for this. For example, they have found that animals will work for things that they like, or put in extra effort for a preferred food. But, they cannot actually tell if these animals in captivity prefer something because they actually like it or they are doing it to avoid something that they do not like. 

Zoos and marine parks do provide a safe environment endangered species, away from poachers and predators. Most of the zoos and marine parks that have endangered species conduct breeding programs, since it is hard for them to find mates to breed with in the wild. From the animal rights standpoint, we do not have the right to capture and breed animals, even if they are endangered. Being a part of the endangered species list does not mean that they should have fewer rights. You would assume that they would release the endangered species back to the wild after breeding them, but the majority of these programs do not. A study published in 2015 by the Journal of Applied Ecology came to the conclusion that unless animals in the wild are protected, captive breeding will not make a difference. Dr. Paul Dolman, a lead researcher states, “Our research challenges the assumption that when a species is perilously close to extinction in the wild, it is always a good idea to set up a captive breeding population… Without conservative in the wild there is no point in captive breeding”. Instead these animals are stay apart of zoos, exotic trades, or are used for entertainment purposes, like circuses performances. If let into the wild, it is unlikely they would even be able to survive for long. Breeding programs also can cost millions of dollars, this money could be put to better use. For example, they could help preserve the habitats of endangered species instead of using money to breed them.

Animals not on the endangered or threatened species list at zoos still get bred, because baby animals tend attract people’s interest. Once zoos have too many of the same animal or animals who are no longer profitable they are considered “animal surplus”. Since zoos are not technically responsible for an animal’s whole lifetime, the surplus of animals can be sold or traded online. Once the owner gets the animal they can do whatever they would like with it. If they are not sold or traded the other option zoos consider is euthanasia, which kills the animal. Euthanasia is supposed to be used to put down an animal that is suffering, but instead they use this to get rid of animals they no longer need. In 2014, at the Copenhagen Zoo, four lions were put under euthanasia just because the zoo wanted to introduce a new male to the female lions to breed more lions. Stephan Bostock, professor at Glyndwr University says, “Of course, not all animals in zoos live to old age, or sadly, can be allowed to. As breeding of captive animals improves and approaches the rate in the wild, either birth control or the killing of surplus animals is likely to be necessary”. Whether animals are endangered or not, being in captivity they are protected from predators and poachers, but they suffer from stress, confinement, and boredom. 

 Although there are some good zoos that give plenty of space and focus on conversation, the majority of zoos are bad. Zoo conservation programs conduct research that helps animals’ health, care, management, protect species from extinction, and provide public education. 

“Among the 2,400 animal enclosures licensed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, only 212 are under strict regulatory umbrella of the American Zoo and Aquarium Association. The other 2,188 are not” (NationalGeographic). And it is estimated that only 3 percent of budgets of the 212 zoos go towards conservation. Zoos instead spend billions of dollars on advertisements and hi-tech exhibits to try to get more visitors. Not all zoos in the U.S. are affiliated with the American Zoo and Aquarium Association. Those that are not are likely to spend nothing on conversation efforts; since the American Zoo and Aquarium Association supports conservation efforts. Most zoos keep this information private, making it hard to find how much, if anything is spent on conservation. Zoos need to focus their funds on helping animals survive in their natural habitat instead of locked up in enclosures and cages.

Have you ever thought of how they capture these wild animals to bring them to the zoos or how the transport them for circuses? The process is cruel. For example, to take one monkey from the wild, it is estimated that an additional five to ten are likely to be killed during this. Since they are protective over one another making them harder to catch. Once caught, the animal is likely to experience a significant amount of fear and stress as a result of being taken away from their home and now being trapped in a cage. Animals used for circuses or roadside zoos are constantly in cages or trailers. They suffer from hot temperatures and are denied of food and water because the transporters do not want to frequently stop on the road. The Animal Welfare Act requires every animal exhibitor to be licensed to ensure that they are meeting certain standards. There is no way for government agencies to really effectively regulate or enforce these standards on a constant basis. 

There are many real life examples of why animals are meant to be in the wild. One reason is that it can be incredibly difficult to provide needs for larger animals, such as elephants. Elephants in the wild walk an average of thirty miles a day in large groups, eating grass and splashing in water holes. In a zoo, they are lucky to get two acres and one or two elephants live within them. This can cause them to be unhappy and die at an early age. The average life of an elephant in the wild is seventy years old. More than half of the 76 elephants who have died at American Zoo and Aquarium Associations since 2000 have never reached the age of forty and only seven of them living in captivity are above the age of sixty years old. This is just one example that shows how living in the wild benefits the lifespan of animals. 

Another reason animals should not be kept in captivity is because they can unintentionally be a danger to zoo visitors and zoo visitors can also danger the animals. In 2012, a gorilla escaped from his enclosure at the Dallas Zoo. The gorilla injured four people and was then shot to death, he was only twelve years old. The most recent story was in 2016 when a three-year-old boy climbed into a gorilla enclosure in the Cincinnati Zoo and was grabbed by the gorilla, Harambe. Fearing for the boy’s life, Harambe was shot and killed. According to National Geographic forty-two animals have been killed at zoos in the United States because of escapes or attacks. During this time fifteen humans have been killed and 100 have been injured since 1990 in the United States. Animals have also died from eating objects that humans have thrown or accidentally dropped such as coins and bags. During floods, hurricanes, tornados or any other natural disasters there is not really a way to evacuate every animal to safety. How is this fair that just because humans are trapping these animals that they can die of shorter lives and humans can die or get injured also?

There are alternatives to animal captivity. If people are looking to view animals in real life they can visit sanctuaries. Animal sanctuaries are places that take care of abused, unwanted, or recused wildlife animals. At these sanctuaries there is no breeding, selling or trading of animals, no direct contact between the public and animals. Wildlife Rescues and Rehabilitation Centers are also another good way to view real life animals. These centers are a temporary home for sick or injured animals, either domestic or wild. Looking for entailment and wildlife? Go hiking or go to the beach, instead of zoos and aquariums.  If people want to be for educated about animals, they can watch documentaries or read books about them. Animal captivity is cruel and the only way to stop it is to stop going to places that keep these wild animals in captivity. 
