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Laura Prado Morales

ENG121001

Emily Little

04/23/18

Cancel Your Next Visit

Many people like animals. They want to know more about animals, especially

their favorite animal. The favorite animals are almost always the same; lions, elephants,

dogs, horses, and cheetahs. Children love animals and they want to learn a lot about

them. So, if we want to learn more about animals and see them, we go to zoos. Zoos are

our first option, but they are not the only option. Zoos are fantastic; we can see all

animals in one day, we can see shows, we can touch some animals, and we can enjoy

the animals. So, zoos are perfect for us; we can learn about animals, it is not so

expensive, and children enjoy it so much. But, maybe we have to think about animals. I

don’t have any doubt that zoos are perfect for learn more about animals. When I was

young I wanted to go to zoos every week; and I have a little sister and I loved go to zoo

with her, it is so funny. But, one day, I decided to not be selfish and I thought about the

animals that they are in zoos. I realized that our happiness depends on the happiness of

the animals. I don’t like this. I don’t like that animals suffer for us. Zoos are not ethical

because animals don’t enjoy in the zoos. They are made for human enjoyment. We

don’t have to be selfish. We have to cancel our next visit.

Zoos are ethical is the thought for some people. They have some arguments to

check that zoos are good. Their first argument is that we can learn more about animals

with zoos. We can learn how animals live in their habitat. We know what animals do in

their free time, and they behave. We can learn all of these watching the animals. Dennis
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Kelley, director of Smithsonian’s national Zoo in Washington D.C, said “Most

important, zoos allow scientists to study animals up close and learn more about them.

Researchers don’t have that kind of access in the wild” (“Zoos”). Zoos have good

installations; every animal have their place as their home. Workers take cure about these

animals. Zoos try to build their cages like their houses. They control the temperature,

the trees, the rocks, and plays. In the zoos, there are different places; there are a place

where child can touch some animals, as ponies, goats, horses and rabbits. Another part

is where there are all the animals; elephants, giraffes, monkeys, penguins, birds,

dolphins, and tigers. This is the biggest part in the zoos and the visitors cannot be

attacked by these wild animals. Another place is where some animals do shows; usually

the animals that do this shows are dolphins, sea lions, and parrots.

Another argument to prove that zoos are ethical is that zoos save animals from

extinction. There are animals that are in danger of extinction; and zoos can take care of

them. Kelly talk about this; “Some of our favorites animals, including lions, cheetahs,

and elephants, are risk of vanishing forever because of the threats they face in the wild.

But zoos are a safe haven, protecting animals from habitat loss, poaching, climate

change, disease, and other dangers” (“Zoos”). There are some animals that they can’t

live safe in the wild and zoos have to take care of them. There are some examples where

zoos help endangered species. One is the case of the black-footed ferret; many experts

said that this specie had gone extinct. But, there was a few black-footed ferrets. So, zoos

helped this species, and then they returned them in their habitat. Today, there are more

than 1.000 black-footed ferrets in their habitat. So, zoos prevented their extinction.

However, zoos are still unethical because zoos can’t save animals if these animals are

locked in small cages, without any entertainment, and with unappropriated climate.
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On the other hand, there are people who believes that zoos are not ethical. In my

opinion, I like animals and for this reason I think that zoos are not ethical. We can find

some arguments to defend our thesis. First of all, imagine a jail cell with a few people.

Every day there are visitors, they throw the prisoners food, they take photos with them.

Usually, the prisoners have to do the same show every day. The prisoners would hate

their lives, but this is the animals’ situation in zoos. I think that, any of us want to go to

the jail, for the same reason animals don’t want to go to zoos. We and animals want to

enjoy and be happy.

Animals are living beings, animals are not our entertainment. Our entertainment

can be watch Netflix, read a book, play computer games, and meet with our friends; but

not the animals. Animals in zoos don’t enjoy doing shows. They have nothing to have

fun. Workers in zoos don’t play with animals. There is an article in Quora, that talk

about zoochosis; “Animals, when overcome with zoochosis, will commonly start

incredibly irregular activity, such as pacing around, pulling out tufts of their own fur, or

even puncturing holes in their own skin” (Wu). In this article, there is an example of

zoochosis; where some elephants (22%) spend their time doing non-normal activities.

So, our happiness can’t depend to the animals’ happiness. We don’t have to enclose

animals for enjoy a few hours with them. Marta Holmberg is clear about her opinion.

She is a senior director of Youth Outreach and Campaigns for People for the Ethical

Treatment of Animals. She thinks that “Zoos are first and foremost about entertainment.

And the stars of the show are unwilling participants: animals” (“Zoos”). I’m agree with

Wu and Holmberg; animals are not entertainment. We have to have conscience that

animals suffer in zoos. Wu talks about zoochosis and I think that it’s true, animals doing

non-normal activities in their cages.

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Animals in the zoos are not in good condition. They live in small cages.

Holmberg uses U.S. law to explain this situation; “Zoos cannot possibly replicate wild

animals’ natural habitats. U.S. law requires only that animals in zoos be given enough

space to stand up, lie down, turn around, and take a few steps. Animals who would

normally roam or fly over vast territories are forced to exist in world measured in square

feet” (“Zoos”). These animals don’t have entertainment, it is so boring. Some animals

do shows, but every day is the same show. Usually, the animals who do this shows are

dolphins, sea lions, and parrots. The other animals don’t do any activity. The first goal

to zoos is that visitors enjoy their visits. And in second term is take care of animals. For

this reason, workers use drugs for animals stay good, and visitors can enjoy their visits.

For zoos, is not good that animals are not active. So, if animals don’t have drugs,

animals are bored, visitors don’t enjoy, and finally zoos lost money. For this reason, the

easier solution is drug the animals.

Despite this, the main thought for why zoos are ethical is because we can learn

more about animals. But, how we can learn about these animals if they are not in their

habitat? Usually, they are drugged; they are wild, they need space for run, for play. In

zoos, there are some animals that have privileges because these animals are most

famous for the visitors; these animals are lions, elephants, monkeys, and dolphins.

Today, we have more options to learn more about animals; we have some

documentaries that explain how animals live. Romesh Ranganathan explain us another

option in The Guardian; “David Attenborough’s Planet Earth shows you all the animals

you could ask for in their natural habitat, with added drama and narrative arcs. We are

surely only a few series away from filming inside the animals, with Attenborough using

his dulcet tones to give the origin story of an elephant turd. Why, then, de we need to

see them in prison?” (Ranganathan). So, the arguments of Ranganathan help us to

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understand alternatives for attending zoos. We have more alternatives to traditional

zoos; the marine mammal center, farm Sanctuary, performing animal welfare society

sanctuary, elephant exhibit at the Oakland zoo, and California wildlife center. “These

places are home to animals who actually enjoy being around us, who lives in ethical

exhibits, in appropriate climates, or have been rescued from abusive situations and

cannot be returned to the wild” (“Five”). In my opinion, if we want to learn more about

animals, with the options that I talk before it’s enough. But, we go to zoos because it’s

the first option and it’s the easier option. I think that zoos are more for entertainment

and enjoy the day, that for learn about these animals. If your goal is learning more about

animals you can watch documentaries, there are some documentaries with a lot of

information.

In conclusion, there are people who thinks that zoos save animal’s life, but zoos

can’t save their lives if they locked these animals in small cages. This is not life.

Another reason that these people thinks that zoos are good, is because they say that we

can learn more with zoos. This is true, we can watch animals but you can learn about

these animals because they are drugged. They are not like this, they are wild. We have

more options where we can learn and animals don’t suffer; documentaries, David

Attenborough’s Planet Earth, and centers where are similar zoos but they have more

liberty. Zoos use animals for our entertainment, not for take care of them.
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Work Cited

"Are zoos ethical?" Junior Scholastic/Current Events, 21 Nov. 2016, p. 22+. Opposing

Viewpoints in Context,

http://link.galegroup.com.libdb.ojc.edu/apps/doc/A473845498/OVIC?u=wheeler

_lib&sid=OVIC&xid=21de1167. Accessed 2 Apr. 2018.

“Five Alternatives to Zoos in California” CBS Sacramento, 20 June 2014.

http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/top-lists/five-alternatives-to-zoos-in-california/

Romesh Ranganathan, “Zoos are prisons for animals- no one needs to see a depressed

penguin in the flesh”. The Guardian, 13 Mar, 2017.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/commentisfree/2017/mar/13/zoos-are-

prisons-for-animals-no-one-needs-to-see-a-depressed-penguin-in-the-flesh

Zacahary Wu, “Are Zoos (zoological parks) ethical?”. Quora, 30 Jan. 2017.

https://www.quora.com/Are-Zoos-zoological-parks-ethical