By: Karsten L.

Why should zoos be allowed to treat animals so harshly and not have to change anything?  Zoos provide a harsh place for animals and an unsafe environment for visitors.   Zoos should be providing a safe environment for the animals while also educating the public on the animals and why they should be protected.  Animals are trapped in a cage, pacing due to the lack of space. It is so small that a study by Brigham Young University, entitled “Mistreatment of Wild Animals in Captivity,” states that polar bears get 1,000,000 times less space than their natural roaming range. The largest polar bear enclosure is only 24 acres and a polar bear in the wild has 300,000 acres. But the worst part is that animals are repeatedly starved, teased, and abused and visitors are being killed and attacked. Zoos harm these animals more than they help them. 

Zoos provide a harsh environment for the animals but they also provide an unsafe environment for the visitors.  According to the Las Angeles Times, four teenage boys were antagonizing a tiger which provoked it to attack.   The boys were able to get into the enclosure, also causing the tiger to feel threatened.  It jumped the moat and killed one of the boys and injured two others before it was shot and killed by law enforcement. Its life was cut short because the boys were antagonizing it.  In the article “Five Lions Escaped their Taronga Zoo near the Roar and Snore Tents” by the DailyMail it stated that 5 lions escaped by simply clawing at the fence which caused a major panic. If it is that easy for animals to escape, how can visitors feel safe and want to visit again after escapes like those or helping to save the carnivores?

According to ProCon.org zoos are educating the public, however, my recent visit showed me that zoos only tell you where the animals are from and some other small facts. Zoos provide so little information. So why should they still be allowed to keep animals prisoner? On the other hand, zoos do save some endangered species but at what cost?  And this link The animals that they do save get mental health issues and problems with breeding. Furthermore, why not let the animal sanctuaries do it or the animal reserves, they are better for the animals well being. These poor creatures are being hurt in zoos. In China, according to the Guardian, 11 rare tigers were only fed chicken bones, which caused them to starve to death. Everywhere around the world, you can see animals pacing around, showing rare signs of mental health issues that are normally not seen in the wild. Yet, they must do greetings and performances in front of large crowds. Adding on, when animals are released they often do not survive. Of the 14 percent of zoo animals that are released, only 30% of them survive as long as they would if they were raised in the wild. This is because they lose the natural skills that they would have in the wild (Wiley).

Zoos should not be shut down but changed. The zoos should only keep the animals that are not endangered and are native to other countries that you do not see normally. So the zoo goers can see common animals from other countries that are not native to that zoo’s location.  There should be fewer zoos and more wildlife reserves and animal sanctuaries for these poor creatures, letting them hunt, roam, and these places should be reserved for the endangered species only.  This will also improve their chances of survival because they have been practicing hunting and their natural skills. It also helps because zoos cause a higher risk of newborns to have birth defects.  So fight for these animals’ rights. If the cities are not going to change anything about it, the people will have to do it.

About the Author

Karsten is a sports lover and player. He is a middle schooler who goes to L—– A———-. He is the middle child of 3 kids.