Why Zoos Should be Banned

In America there are currently 439 zoos and approximately 800,000 animals living in captivity.  Zoos should be banned because animals are being mistreated and are unhappy in their environment. Animals can also survive better in their natural habitat and would be less stressed. Zoos should not be allowed to exist because of the small enclosures wild animals are kept in, the loss of natural instincts for animals in captivity, and the unfair use of animals for human entertainment.

     It is cruel to keep animals that were meant to be in the wild in very small spaces. According to the New York Times, a polar bear's typical enclosure is one-millionth of its wild habitat. The only time humans are kept in a cage-like place is a prison, when they committed a crime, but wild animals kept in a zoo have committed no crime or hurt anybody. An example of an animal kept in a cage was a gorilla named Harambe, who was shot after a child fell into his enclosure. The gorilla looked like he was going to harm the boy. None of this would have happened if he had never been taken from the wild. Forcing animals to live in small spaces is wrong. Harambe the gorilla would still be alive if it wasn't for this to happen.

     Animals in zoos can also have a different behavior than animals in the wild.  According to a study done at the University of Plymouth, 42 percent of the animals living in zoos have noticeably changed their behavior compared to wild animals. This can cause animals to have a harder time reproducing. Also, the larger an animal is, the harder time it will adjust to an environment like elephants and dolphins. This might cause stress to them and their abnormal behaviors. That is why animals at zoos look less happy than the animals that are free in the wild.

     Animals are also not able to be released to the wild because they do not have the same innate skills as animals raised in the wild. For example, if a baby lion is taken from the wild it might not be able to return to the wild because of its lack of wild instincts compared to a baby lion that is raised. Or a fox that is raised by humans is less likely to be able to catch mice than a wild fox. Therefore, this is why animals are not able to be released after being raised by humans.

     Keeping an animal in captivity to show or perform for human entertainment is a violation and is not right and cruel to the animals. Like showing orcas at SeaWorld or putting animals in a petting zoo all day just to be pet. Even if it looks like the animals are enjoying it, the animals might be angry or tired or performing just for us to say wow or think it’s cool. My friend rode on a dolphin being used just for entertainment to kids and the dolphin even had a baby dolphin. The mother dolphin looked scared because humans are too close to her baby. Also, the mother dolphin’s nose was pink because of using its nose too much. The tank they were in was super small compared to the ocean they are supposed to be in. This is why animals should not be kept for human entertainment.

     An animal can also become aggressive from stress or anger of being held captive or separated from family. An example is an orca named Tilikum. He was the largest orca in captivity, but he killed two of his trainers because of being separated from his mother at two years old. He was captured on the coast of Iceland and subsequently sold to Sealand.  After he killed his trainers in the accident at Sealand. Eight years after he was captured, he was sold to Florida Sea World. When another incident occurred, he was performing with his trainer Dawn Brancheau, and suddenly went crazy and drowned his trainer. This is what can happen when a wild animal is kept in captivity.

     Even zoos can help with increasing endangered animals. But is it worth keeping an animal captive just to increase the number of animals and its population? It is not worth it just to keep the endangered animals.

     Animals in zoos are frequently kept in small, spaced enclosures, with little room to move around. This is especially true in the case of large animals like elephants, lions, and giraffes, these animals all require large territories in the wild. But animals in zoos only have a certain amount of space that is actually quite small compared to their wild habitat. It is unfair for wild animals to be kept in small enclosures.

      This is why zoos should be banned for caging wild animals, capturing wild.

animals for human enjoyment, and mistreating animals. Which caused a few incidents to happen because animals were unhappy in captivity, so they got angry. Also, animals did not deserve their life to be kept in a cage. They also don’t deserve to be mistreated or used for human entertainment. Therefore, these are the reasons why zoos should be banned.

Kikki  Oct.13,2023