Animals in zoos

Can you imagine being locked up in a small space without friends and family for your whole
life, without being able to do what you want and often alone or with strangers? That doesn’t
sound very fun, does it? But that is how life is like for animals in zoos.

First of all, there is not nearly enough space in the animals enclosures at zoos. They can’t do
what is natural and highly important to them. For example, elephants walk up to 30 miles
every day in the wild, bears are active for up to 18 hours a day exploring for up to hundreds
of miles, and tigers and lions love to climb and run and they roam many miles to hunt. These
are just a few examples of animals that need much more space than what they are given at
zoos.
Living without these things can cause zoochosis, which is a condition where the animals act
strangely or hurt themselves. Animals suffering from zoochosis can rock and sway, pace
back and forth, injure themselves or sway side to side. These are very unnatural behaviors
that would never be seen in the wild.

Secondly, because baby animals are very popular at zoos, a lot of zoos breed animals to
make more babies. But when the babies grow up, they aren’t as popular anymore.
Therefore, zoos often trade, loan or sell adult animals who aren’t making them enough
money. These animals will often end up on roadside zoos or traveling circuses, others are
bought just to be slaughtered. This is very wrong because you shouldn’t breed animals if you
only want them as babies and then get rid of them once they grow up, all because you can
make more money.

Finally, you might wonder that if you can’t see animals at zoos, where can you then see
them? Well, I would suggest nature documentaries and such. Maybe you think that wouldn’t
be as cool as seeing them in real life, but I think it’s much cooler seeing them living the life
they’re meant to live and doing what is natural for them than seeing them locked up in a
cage, doing things that are far from natural. It is just not right to enjoy seeing these animals
while they are living a horribly sad life.

So is it really worth harming these animals for you to get to see them for a few seconds? Is it
worth having the zoos breed on them and then send the babies off to slaughter once they
grow up? That is of course up to you, all I can do is encourage you to find other ways to see
these amazing animals in their natural environment. If everyone stops going to zoos, the
zoos will have no choice but to close and stop keeping animals captive. The British author
Hugh Lofting once said, “If I had my way… there wouldn’t be a single lion or tiger in captivity
anywhere in the world. They never take to it. They’re never happy. They never settle down…
You can see it in their eyes… “

Elina