Zoos allow for human-animal encounters that could not take place otherwise, and zoos are becoming increasingly pleasant places for individual animals. Many zoos offer extensive spaces for wild animals to roam, barring the ability of those animals to hunt or be hunted. For species preservation, zoos also serve a purpose. Zoos may even inspire visitors to pursue a career in the zoological sciences or a related field of inquiry.
Individual animals are safer in zoos than they are in the wild, in the same way that a house cat is safer inside than out. The animal is not in its natural environment and it depends on human beings for its basic survival needs. Therefore, the animal encounters at zoos are unlike those in wilderness because in a zoo the animal is behaving differently, perhaps even abnormally. In zoos that allow for shows and tricks, the abnormal behaviors of captive animals...
Zoos echo a deep-rooted instinct in human beings to prove dominance over nature. The act of capturing and killing an animal is a sign of species superiority. Keeping animals in captivity is therefore the ultimate showmanship, a powerful symbol that all zoo proponents should take to heart. Zoo environments sacrifice the integrity of animal behavior and the natural relationship between animals and their environment for the goal of human progress.
Works Cited
Baratay, Eric and Hardouin-Fugier, Elisabeth. Zoo. Reaktion Books, 2004.
Kisling, Vernon N. Zoo and Aquarium History. CRC Press, 2000.
Robinson, Phillip T. Life at the Zoo. Columbia University Press, 2004.
Smith, Athena. "Zoo Ethics." The Collegian. 2000. Retrieved April 25, 2009 from http://www.utulsa.edu/collegian/article.asp?article=223
