Zoos: good or bad for animals?

I think Natural reserves should be created and do away with zoos. Build armored busses and take people on tours through natural reserves and do away with caging the animals.

I know this is an old post but I feel I have something to say...I had visited zoo's a few times in my life some good and some not so good...the only thing good about the ZOO is I can see an animal at close quarters which I could never see in the wild! but saying that I feel sorry for the animal kept in captivity...I know I hear all this talk about endangered species and we humans are trying to preserve the species but I ask my self what happens when the habitat for those animals are gone...when there is no way they can be fed any more what happens then? I know humans think they can save any thing even our planet! really? going back to the zoo situation I prefer to live my life free if I have to die because of climate change or deforestation so be it but at least I had a chance to have a free life...and not behind bars.

Some may not be good for the captured animals, while other may pass the test in term of caring and feed these animals especially the young. In the wilderness, animals are constantly facing threat from each other, they are constantly fighting over food and habitation, the weak and smaller one usually doesn't stand much chance to survive in the wild except becoming food of other either by hunters, poachers or bigger predators. Inside a zoo, they may not have to face this immediate and expanded threats especially if it is a cub or calf, on the other hand, it may lose the skill necessary for jungle survival when it grow up. I guess there is good and bad side for a zoo to exist.

The potentially horrific implications of zoos are something that I think that many people think about right in the back of their head. But it is really something that I don't think that they would really want to acknowledge for many reason. I'm actually surprised there has not been more of an outcry about zoos in general and how animals are being treated. Of course, there are times where those in charge do take care of animals well enough. And sometimes, not so well, where animals are just a source of money, for impressionable young minds. People don't think about what might be happening to those poor zoo animals, because it is obvious that would ruin what would be a fun family outing. Sometimes there are things that might seem seedy, but we don't want to think about them.

Hello dede28 I am not a fan of Zoos. I recognize that a lot of good happens in zoos. I think that the animules are mostly cared for. However, I have stared deep into the eyes of too many captive animules to think that they are truly happy in these habitats. I last went to a Zoo about five years ago, in Toronto. I watched a Silverback Gorilla staring at me with pleading eyes. He was in his own private hell, stuck in his prison. His eyes were pleading with me to free him from his torment. At that moment, I vowed to never again return to a Zoo and support this sort of captivity. I agree with PoppaDave that large preserves would be a better way to care for the animules.

I think no matter how zoos are made, they will always be bad for animals because that is not their natural habitat. Animals are suppose to roam free and learn to survive. When animals are put in zoos, they will naturally forget how to strive and find their own food because it's already provided for them, they don't even have to fight for it. When new generations arises from the zoo and if ever, released to the wild, they will die eventually because it is no longer their nature to hunt for their own food.