Animals in Captivity for Preservation or Entertainment

Animals in Captivity for Preservation or Entertainment

By Anna Thomas

DeVry University

Animals in Captivity for Preservation or Entertainment

        With the recent incident of a child falling into a gorilla habitat at the Cincinnati Zoo and then the death of a male gorilla, there has been much controversy on animals in captivity. The controversy being, are animals placed in captivity for the purpose to help preserve endangered species or for entertainment of humans to see rare and wild animals up close. My opinion is that zoos are mainly for the entertainment of humans and not designed to save and protect animals from extinction. I also feel it’s not right for humans to put animals in captivity because it’s justified with excuses for animal protection. After I saw the documentary called Black Fish, I promised to never participate in any animal display facility where I pay to gawk at these poor animals behind bars and tanks. Zoos, wild life parks and aquariums may have their meaningful good intentions to help these animals but unfortunately, these intentions have flaws that are effecting the animals in negative ways. The breeding programs for preservation of animals are only geared for keeping them in captivity for life, the education that is provided to the zoo attendees is unappreciated, and the research that is conducted is not valid to the preservation of animals.  

        On May 28th 2016, a four year old boy fell into the gorilla enclosure at the Cincinnati Zoo, and a 400 pound male gorilla went over to the boy and this is when the situation turned frightening. (Park. M, Yan, H., 2016). Harambe, the 17-year-old gorilla took the boy by his leg and dragged him around the habitat moat. This action started a panic uproar among the above spectators. The zoo officials and experts took the necessary action they felt was right for this situation. The zoo thought that a tranquilizer may not have been effective and made the choice to use lethal force. Harambe died and thankfully the boy only suffered minor injuries. The zoo believes that their action was the right decision to save the boy’s life, which was in critical danger. In the wake of this incident, many people are questioning the purpose of zoos. There are many zoos, wild life and aquarium parks around the world, and some of them claim to be providing the care that is needed in order to preserve endangered animal species. By providing similar safe habitats, food and medical care, breeding programs, lifesaving research, and knowledge to the public to help further the purpose of animal preservation. Still, even with these very acceptable reasons for zoos to be established, they are also providing a place for people to go and spend their time and money enjoying the opportunity to see wild animals up close. Now with this recent incident many people are left wondering if zoos are in the best interest of these animals.

The zoos that have breeding programs are claiming that the programs are helping endangered animal species from becoming extinct. In reality, breeding programs are keeping some species alive but only in captivity. Animals are being removed from the wild and then used to breed in captivity. Many of the new species that are born are never placed back into the wild because they lack the ability to survive on their own. Breeding programs also raise many issues from inbreeding, lack of genetic diversity, and infant mortality rates. Zoos are breeding baby animals, which is a great attraction to bring in more paying spectators, but unfortunately this creates a surplus of unwanted animals. Some of these animals are traded to other zoos or end up in places that are lacking the proper care needed for these animals. Some will end up in hunting camps or even worse killed and then used as a food source for other animals in zoos. It is a horrible thing to think that some zoos are doing this but it is happening. A zoo in Copenhagen in 2014, fed a giraffe that died in their facility to the zoo’s lion pride and then months later killed 4 of lions, in that pride, to make room for a new male lion (Dell'Amore, 2014).  Zoos only have so much space and a limited source of funding to maintain their inventory. My opinion is, basically zoo are breeding animals in captivity for preservation of keeping zoos alive and not for the benefit of the animal and its species.

Zoos also claim that they’re providing education to the public about their animals in their facilities. The public can gain knowledge by observing animals in habitats similar to their natural ones, the public can read the displayed information of the animals and even at times experience live interaction with non- threating animals. However, many zoo goers do not go to zoos to be educated. Most of the zoo goers are there to spend their leisure time with family and friends. Many people at zoos especially the youngsters don’t show much interested in the information that zoos have displayed about the animals that they are looking at. Furthermore, children only will stop at an animal exhibit if the animal is activity, making noises, being fed, or if the animal is in a close range. Many people will only spend a few brief moments looking at one animal and then when that animal has lost their interest they move on to the next. However, little as there is, some education is going on at zoos, it’s not enough to keep these animals in captivity. Doris Lin is an animal rights attorney, the Director of Legal Affairs for the Animal Protection League of New Jersey and a writer for About.com, who has wrote several articles on animal rights. One article titled “Arguments For and Against zoos”, Lin (2016) points out that “Zoo advocates will state that they save endangered species and educate the public, but animal rights activists believe the costs outweigh the benefits, and the violation of the rights of the individual animals is unjustifiable.” (para 2). Lin then goes on to make a list of points for and against zoos, on the list against zoos she makes two points on their purpose to educate. One, “If zoos are teaching children anything, it's that imprisoning animals for our own entertainment is acceptable.” Two, “The argument that children will have more compassion for animals they can see live does not hold water. Not one of today's children has ever seen a dinosaur, yet kids are crazy about them.” (Lin, 2016). As a mother of three, I can full support this last statement and agree that kids are not all that interested in gaining education when visiting a zoo. I feel that if people want to gain education of animals it doesn’t give the right to confine them. Education can be provided to anyone through film documentaries of footage of these animals in their natural habitat. This would give us a better sense of what these animals are capable of without being held captive.