Everyone remembers the day when they were taken to the zoo as a child. The feeling of happiness that took hold of us as we gazed at majestic and exotic animals while snacking on cotton candy or ice cream is one that we have held onto tightly. Zoos and aquariums are considered institutions in our society on par with parks, museums, theaters, and libraries. This is because we get a great thrill by coming face to face with exotic and rare creatures. But is the entertainment value of such places enough of a reason for them to exist? All of these establishments rely on captive animals in order to subsist. If we are to continue to keep these animals away from their natural habitat and lifestyle then zoos must prove that their existence is necessary to our society. The question that I would like to explore is thus, do organizations like zoos provide enough positive services to both humans and animals to offset the negative impact placed upon the captive animals that these organizations confine?
I think there are three camps of people when it comes to zoos and like places. There are those that believe that zoos provide essential services to education and conservation, there are those that believe that zoos are unnecessary institutions that profit off of animal cruelty, and there are those that do not think about the subject except to dreamily remember a warm summer's day spent looking at chimpanzees. Unfortunately, I think most of the population are in this third category and I think that is unfair to the animals that we have kept away from their native homes. We owe it to these creatures to really explore this question until we have reached a solid conclusion.
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| Source: ParentMap |
