That we should ban zoos

jgestiot (PRO)

I begin by defining "zoo" as an establishment which maintains a collection of wild animals, for display to the public. This is the accepted common meaning of the word "zoo". Breeding programs for endangered animals (open or closed to the public) are not zoos. They are breeding programs, for example, the program to save Pandas in China. They are occasionally open to the public in an effort to raise money but they are not zoos. Neither are rescue programs or animal hospitals, which ultimately aim at releasing the animals into the wild.

Everyone knows the meaning of "animal" but at the core of my argument, what really defines an animal is its freedom to roam at will in the wild. It is the animal's adaptation to its natural habitat that defines it. Once an animal is placed into a cage or has its natural environment is severely restricted, it is no longer a wild animal. It is a prisoner.

Lions, tigers, bears, giraffes, are some of the most popular animals in zoos. When we go to the lions' enclosure, are we really watching lions or are they a shadow of real lions in the wild? What good is it to watch the king of animals if it is dragging itself miserably around an enclosure that is a tiny fraction of its territory in the wild? A lion that cannot catch its own meal is not a lion. Zoos reduces one of the most efficient killing machine in the world into a spoon-fed attraction for bored urban sprawlers.

By banning zoos, we stop kidding ourselves that we are either saving or helping animals. Zoos do not help animals, they condemn them to life in prison. Zoos do not help humans either because they show an illusion rather than the real thing.

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2018-02-09 18:11:19

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