Are you against zoo?

In a perfect world all animals could live in the wild safely and without threat. Unfortunately this world is FAR from perfect. We've already lost many grand species to extinction, and some amazing animals that are threatened by it now. As much as I agree with you that animals should be in their natural habitats instead of zoo's, I can't ignore the fact that some species still exists BECAUSE of zoo's. And some zoo's try very hard to make their enclosures very similar to the species natural habitat, with enough room. But I realize that no matter how you look at it, they are in cages...which is bad. And I've interned at a zoo, so I know that the animals there are really loved and well cared for. They get on the food they need, and are safer than they would in the wild. However, I do know, if given a choice, animals would still choose to be in the wild. I guess there are good things and bad things about zoo's.

Hi Bulastica, That is a very noble thought indeed and I sincerely wish that all of us - Humans - had such thoughts. Animals are animals and must be allowed to stay at their natural habitat... but it is the Greed of some humans that have made a mess of their habitats. Some of the good humans believe to preserve the animals and they created the ZOO thing. (The Zoos too are in a messy situation here and that is again due to greed of humans). I Do NOT have pets and would never have any (not because of my thoughts that Animals should be free, but this has come from the long association and loss of my Alsatian(German Shepard). Cheers, theSids.

i am not against zoo but i am against those who are catching animals illegally.

very against i see elephants confined in this small space that only a evil human could take him away from mother Africa and let he live like that, alone! it's a horrible place and we help them by paying for that suffering, we should never go to zoos, see dolphins and poor whales do tricks and the circuses.

I guess there are always two sides to this coin. Some may say that the animals, although properly fed and cared for, might not be truly happy at all. But some good zoos have nice conservation programs. They take a few specimens of endangered animals, breed them, and release the offspring into the wild. Not all zoos are like that, though. Some of them are just for profit.

Its a good question, and like most things in this world it has 2 acceptable answers. I myself think zoos are a good thing (so long as the animals are treated fairly, with space to roam and balanced diet etc) The animals on display have a safe enviroment to procreate and exercise, away from predators. The animals arent aware of the outside wilds so I think they have a long contnt and happy life.

I go both ways on zoos. I don't like the fact that these wilds animals are being kept in such small spaces (compared to the wild)...but on the other hand zoos are responsible for saving some species from extinction and helping to bring their numbers up, so that's defintely a positive thing zoo's do.

I don't agree with you about this because I was raised on a farm and I've had a lot of pets in my lifetime. I've had horses, dogs, cats, you name it, lol! We also had cattle and when I was a baby, we had pigs and sheep out here. Check out my pictures on my profile page and you will see some pictures of the horse I own now. I used to go to the zoo a lot when I as a child but I haven't been in years. It's because the zoo I went to is in Birmingham and that's an hour drive from here. I like to see them in their natural habitat as well as in captivity.

I also like animals in their natural habitat, but I think that zoos educate people to look at them that way. Children learn there to like animals instead of abusing them and they are also taught that wild animals are not pets.

About this discussion, I just read a similar article about it today. In my mind, the animals should be free and returned to the nature. The money we spend on the zoo should be used for building up more protected parks to keep those species which are going to extinct. The living environment in the zoo will not be exactly the same as the origin of the animals. They should return to the origin, to breed, to maintain their hunting capability, to avoid suffering from being observing and so on. I personally agree to remove the zoo and to set up a protected park to keep those animals.

The purposes of some zoo is to protect those animals which are going to extinct. They try to achieve this by hving breeding programes, sometimes with animals from other zoos, so as to increase the genetic diversity of the species. They also protect them form their predators, lowering their risk of becoming extinct. However, some zoos uses these animals to make money, making them live in very poor conditions for which I feel really angry about. I agree with you that these animals should beong to the nature and should therefore be returned to the nature. Yet, this might not be the suitable time for such act as they are not well-prepared to go back to the wild and will die evenyually due to different reasons including lacking the ability to live in the wild after being taken after for such a long time. Hence, there are a lot of works for the experts to do and what we can do is to try our best to support them, such as donating money to related organization as you have suggested.

My opinion is that if it wasnt for zoo's and loving homes alot of the animals you see on animal planet or at the pet store would be greatly extinct. i meen yes they are taken from thier homes, but they have full bellys fresh water and no need of predators or poachers, they are protected and comfortable.