The Consequences Of Zoos: The Importance Of Animals
The animals frequently become bored or stressed, which develops into vicious or violent behaviour. Integrational bonds are often broken when individual animals get traded or sold to different zoos, often at a young age, leaving the animals feeling lonely or showing symptoms of depression. There have been occasions when the animals are so unhappy that they risk their lives in frantic attempts escape. At the Dallas Zoo, a gorilla called Jabari attempted an escape by jumping over the walls and moats of his enclosure, only to be lethally shot by police. It was later confirmed that teenagers were taunting the gorilla by throwing rocks. Had the animal been in its traditional habitat this wouldn’t have happened and the already endangered gorilla species would be better off. In addition, removing animals from the wild reduces the opportunity of diverse breeding, meaning that the animals will be less genetically diverse, which can cause problems later when trying to rebuild the population of …show more content…
Exotic animals have been part of England’s history for thousands of years, starting in 43AD when the Roman Emperor Augustus brought elephants with him when he invaded England. Zoos as we know them today became prevalent in the Age of Enlightenment according to the National Geographic, a longstanding, reliable source of information. This was a time when science, reason and logic were fostered as the principles of the government and society. Today, England’s most distinguished Zoo, the Zoological Society of London state that their mission is “To promote and achieve the worldwide conservation of animals and their habitats” and to endorse the education of animals. This is clearly very similar to the vision that the Zoos had when they were first established. This indicates that the idea of what a Zoo is has changed from being purely a form of entertainment and a representation of power such as the Menagerie du Jardin des Plantes in 1793, to institutions of research, conservation and education of animals. With the introduction of ‘The Zoo Licensing Act’ in 1981 zoos began to aim to educate and turned to breeding programmes rather than capturing animals from the wild, with the idea that if the animal has been born in captivity then it will know no different and so won’t experience the damaging side