Notes

Maggie Akin English 6-4
June 7, 2017 Argumentative Essay

Have you ever gone to the zoo to see the happy and beautiful animals that live there? Seeing the animals joyously munch on scrumptious foods and swing from vines may make you not realize the sadness the animals are going through in zoos that is constantly occurring behind those glass cages. If you care for the animals in those enclosures, you may want to steer away from most zoos because a lot of animals don’t want to be there because of loneliness, anger, and unhappiness. Would you want to sit in a cage that doesn’t have enough room or the type of comfort your old home had? To add to that, everyday you have people stare and point at you! I believe that zoos are harmful to the animals that live there. Animals in the zoo aren’t living as long as those in the wild because of unnatural living conditions. Also, some other problems in zoos are that the animals may not be comfortable behind bars or in enclosed areas because they might have been taken from their homes and family in the wild. Lastly, animals and people are suffering from the poor living conditions of some zoos because of disease and sickness.

My first reason why zoos are harmful to animals is because animals in zoos aren’t living as long as those in the wild. According to the article, “Wild Elephants Live Longer Than Their Zoo Counterparts”, the author, Maryann Mott states, “Wild elephants in protected areas of Africa and Asia live more than twice as long as those in European zoos, a new study has found.” This means animals are starting to have shorter lives while living in enclosures. I think this is bad for the animals because animals are not able to run free in zoos. Also, many animals may be suffering because of the conditions of zoo enclosures.

Another reason that zoos are harmful to it’s animals is that animals may not be comfortable in fake environments and with food being fed to them. In the article, “Zoochosis”, the author, Michelle Carr states, “Captive animals are deprived from everything that is natural and important to them.” This means animals behind bars don’t live in their natural and habitats, they don’t hunt their own food, and they can’t live with who they want to live with. I think this is bad for the animals because animals are supposed to run free and live a life being able to hunt their own food and live where they
want to live. Another reason I believe this statement is true is because many animals who live in captivity are uncomfortable and sad because it isn’t their natural habitat.

My last reason is animals and people are suffering from zoos because of the terrible living conditions that they have for their poor animals. In the article, “Zoochosis”, the author Michelle Carr says, “Traveling and roadside zoos are even crueler… People have also been sickened and some have died from animals in petting zoos.” Meaning, inside zoos and petting zoos, the living conditions are so bad, not only the animals are sick, but the people who visit get sick, too. Animals barely have enough space to enjoy time, but they usually only have a tire or log to keep them company and after a while, the animals get sick. Once the animals are sick, the visitors come and become sick, too. In fact, some have died from the terrible sickness the animals carry around with them.

Even though zoos may have some negative things that may upset the animals, zoos are trying to help endangered animals by creating programs called the SSP (species survival plan). The problem with this is the zoos don’t let the animals live in completely open land for breeding and other things such as sleeping, eating, and playing. Zoos don’t give animals their own choice of their mate either but in the wild or protected areas of the wild, animals do have a choice.

Zoos don’t give animals free space, time, and choice which is leading animals to become lonely and sad. Because of this, I think zoos are harmful. I think zoos have positive things about them like teaching children about the animals and saving species, but you never know if your local zoo could be abusing animals by punishing them or giving them bad environments to live in. This is why I believe zoos are harmful to the animals that live there.