Zoos Should Be Shut Down Essay

Imagine being trapped in a cage and having to live based on someone else’s schedule. Well that is zoo animals feel every single day. Animal captivity has been around for hundreds of years. Animals were held as creatures of worship and used for gladiatorial contests. It wasn’t until the 1800s that public zoos became more common. As they became more common the focus on educational purposes became less and the animals began being treated abusively and being mishandled. Zoos should be shut down. First, there is little money put into taking care of the animals that are being held captive against their will. As the Wall Street Journal reports in 2003 “‘nearly half the country’s zoos are facing cutbacks this year … [a]ttendance, meanwhile, is down about 3% nationwide’”(Carr 1). And with the cutbacks on zoos “precious funds that should be being used to provide more humane conditions for animals are often squandered on cosmetic improvements-such as …show more content…
For example “a bear starved to death at the Toledo Zoo after zoo officials locked her up to hibernate without food or water-not knowing that her species doesn’t hibernate”(Zoos 3). This evidence shows a situation where an animal is put in a situation that would not have happen in the wild. It also shows that the caretakers from zoos and zoo officials may not be qualified to be handling wild animals. Also “Animals in zoos coast to coast have been poisoned, left to starve, deprived of veterinary care, and burned alive in fires. Many have died after eating coins, plastic bags, and other items thrown into their cages”(Zoos 3). This evidence shows that animals are exposed to danger that they may not have been exposed to in their natural habitats. Obviously some of these things could happen, but animals are exposed to a lot more danger when they are held