Zoos

This is an issue that bothers me a lot. The cries from people to stop zoos and release the animals seems to be increasing and public outcry about the captive conditions of some animals seems to be forcing zoos to reconsider their policies. I should point out that this is only dealing with zoos as marine parks, such as SeaWorld will be covered another time.

Zoos have positive and negative aspects but I am not going to lie when I say I support some of the zoos out there. Don't get me wrong, I believe that animals should be born free and live free but zoos do have some benefit Firstly zoos can offer stock for genetic variation and can take part in vital conservation work as with the Mexican wolf, the Sumatran and south china tiger as well as the pandas. Several conservation efforts are in part funded through zoos and some of these efforts may have not even started if it wasn't for zoos as public are more likely to donate money when they have seen an animal close up.

What is more, zoos have what I like to call an "exposure effect". People get to see animals up close and in person. Although people will argue that you can see animals in documentaries and online I can guarantee to you that it's a lot different to see animals up close. It usually makes little difference in adults but any difference counts. Even if one of those adults decides to look up tiger conservation, Scottish wildcat conservation and so forth and donate money or time towards a species conservation, then that is a small victory for conservationists everywhere. However in my opinion children are the group which benefits most about zoos. Sure zoos might at points give misinformation and sure children may get upset if animal living conditions are poor, but children are the ones who are more influenced by zoos rather than anyone else. A lot of the people I tend to talk to in my degree and other wildlife related degrees all agree that they do it because they love the animals and the environment. Not all of us however were lucky enough to have an animal experience which actually took place in the wild. For me the first wild animal experience  that I remember wasn't until I was ten years old and saw humpbacks of the East coast of the United States. Until then I was content with the zoo we had in Cyprus(which featured animals in horrible conditions), the rare wild animals of Cyprus and the museums. It was only through documentaries and the zoo that I grew up to love animals. As most children are fascinated by animals in the first place, a visit to the zoo only enhances that fascination. If from a school trip, three or four children end up being fascinated with animals and support a cause then again some small victories are gained.

On the negative side, the demand to see these animals causes animal captures, captive breeding where it may not be necessary and in the end some animals ending up in poor conditions. Not all zoos have proper living conditions for their animals and even so some animals may not be suitable for captive conditions and just die. A lot of animals die every year because of poorly managed zoos, bad living conditions, transportations, vet operations and so forth and this is a sad truth.  Although a lot of zoos are beginning to clean up their acts, provide better habitats for the animals and started aiding conservation efforts there is still a long way to go.

In my opinion zoos are a necessary evil. There may be a time when traveling is cheap and easy and the chance to see a wild lion is only a weekend and a few dollars but for now with travelling still being expensive for some, animals being elusive and rare in the wild, and the demand to see animals up close then zoos will remain around. All we can hope for is that the captive animals live a decent life and the zoos aid conservation efforts.