Zoos are doing Far more Harm than Good to their Animals

Zoos are places where animals of all kinds are kept and bred in captivity in order to protect them and educate visitors about wildlife. So, someone would assume that they are helping the animals they house and are benefiting them. However, these animals are being kept away from their natural habitat as well as exploited for the sake of public entertainment and it is having a vast negative impact on them.

Firstly, most visitors of zoos don’t realize that their animals are being continuously mistreated and abused by zookeepers behind closed doors. According to National Geographic, the statistics for animal abuse in zoos in the United States is widespread at 75 percent. Also, according to “In Defense of Animals”, an animal protection organization, it is estimated that 5,000 zoo animals are killed each year at the fault of zookeepers, natural causes and overpopulation; the majority of animals that are killed from overpopulation are completely healthy. In addition, most zoos have a breeding program in which they breed their animals in captivity in order to better populate their zoos and to keep people visiting; coming to see the baby animals. However, most zoos are over-breeding their animals and then killing them once they are no longer needed or become unable to reproduce anymore. These animals are called surplus animals and are a huge problem in zoos because they are being killed despite them being perfectly healthy and capable of surviving; just because they don’t “fit” into the breeding programs. So, zoos are only physically hurting these animals and their populations rather than protecting them like they’re supposed to do.

In addition, the majority of conditions that zoo animals are kept in are insufficient for their needs and are forcing them to live in unnatural environments. According to “Last Chance For Animals”, an animal rights organization, the majority of enclosures zoo animals are kept in are too small, artificial, restrictive and deprive them of mental and physical stimulation. When animals are kept in conditions unfit for their needs and desires, they become highly stressed, bored and depressed. This is usually the main cause of animals “acting out” in zoos and harming other animals or zookeepers. Furthermore, zoos are only supposed to take in animals that are endangered, sick or orphaned. However, according to “Last Chance For Animals,” the majority of animals that they take in are completely healthy, not endangered and are perfectly capable of living in the wild. These animals are basically being kidnapped from their natural habitats just for them to become public entertainment for visitors of zoos. Lastly, according to National Geographic, animals that are living and raised in unnatural environments become deprived of their natural instincts and dependent on the care of zookeepers. Which is due to them being unable to experience everything they would in the wild and not living how they are supposed to live. This is causing irregular behavior in zoo animals and making them act in unusual and unordinary ways. All in all, zoo animals are not living how they are meant to live or how they desire to live and it is affecting their physical and mental health greatly.

Overall, wild animals should be able to live in the freedom of their natural habitats and not be held captive where they are unable to live their lives to the fullest and happiest they can be. Also, zoos could start having a positive effect on animals instead if they started doing what they were created to do; help animals that are actually endangered and unable to live on their own. They could do this by rather than money going to creating more zoos or funding existing zoos, it going towards helping improve animals’ natural habitats that are struggling and causing them to become sick or endangered in the first place.