Ethical Issues With Zoos

According to Oxford Dictionary, a zoo is any establishment that collects animals in parks or gardens in order to study, conserve or display them to people. To conserve the population of certain endangered species, some conservation agencies establish zoos where they breed the animals before returning them to the wild. Some zoos are also started up for the sole purpose of entertaining people in exchange for money. In such zoos mostly large and attractive ones are kept in cages where visitors can view and take pictures of them. Institutions may also start up zoos where they keep certain animals that they wish to study. This paper explores some of the ethical issues that are related to these practices.
First, the natural behavior of animals is limited in zoos. Regardless of the motive of starting up the zoo, whether ill or well-intended, the animals kept in zoos lose the opportunity to behave naturally and interact with its fellows (Gruen, 2011). While in the wild, animals can run, hunt, forage, fly or even choose mates. These privileges are however lost when these animals are confined in cages and enclosures in the zoos. Due to the frustration that may result from the captivity, the animals often engage in abnormal behaviors and self-harm. All …show more content…
In zoos, animals are confined and denied their rights to behave naturally. After living in a zoo, animals cannot survive in the wild due to lack of survival tactics. Animals in zoos also lose their sense of identity. Zoos are therefor e unethical and should be avoided at all costs. In the case that certain species of animals are endangered and need to be conserved, it should be done in a way that ensures that the animals still maintain their rights to behave in natural ways, get adapted to wild conditions and experience their true