10 Reasons Why Zoos Should Be Banned (Part 1)

1. Zoos are miserable places for animals

Why Zoos Should Be Banned. Animals are not meant to live in cages or behind bars. The same misery and despair that humans feel when they are locked up in prisons and in jail cells is felt by the millions of animals around the world that are caged up in zoos. The only difference is that no one is even claiming that these animals have done anything wrong, unlike the humans that live their lives behind bars. The sub standard food and care that is evident in many zoos contribute to a miserable life for animals of all kinds. Isolation, boredom and abuse are the main ingredients for misery.

2. Zoos can’t provide sufficient space

In the wild, animals like lions or wolves would roam hundreds if not thousands of miles in search of food or a mate. The territories of some of our most loved apex predators are so vast that it is impossible for any kind of zoo or safari park to even come close to replicating it. When the focus is on profit and public entertainment, the constraints on space are squeezed even tighter, as more and more animals are housed within easy walking distance for visitors. The fact that many zoos are found within big cities is also more than enough evidence to show that space is at an absolute premium.

3. Animals suffer in zoos

Whether we like to acknowledge it or not, abuse occurs in zoos all over the world on a daily basis. A combination of low pay and the need to force animals to comply and behave can often result in some pretty harrowing eventualities. The abuse that has been caught on camera in recent years is disgusting and should leave no one in two minds about the future of zoos, or lack of any future. A recent study of lions and elephants in UK zoos showed that the animals displayed behavioural issues in more cases than not, proof that the suffering is more than superficial.

4. Animals die prematurely in zoos

African elephants have been found to live three times as long in the wild as they do than when kept in zoos. The shock value of that statistic is incredibly powerful and what a tragedy it is to realise that these beautiful creatures may only live for a third of the time that they might have, had they been allowed to live in the wild. It just doesn’t make sense to try and justify zoos as places of conservation or as ‘Noah’s Arcs’ against extinction, when the animals that live there only survive for a fraction of their natural lifespan.

5. Surplus animals are killed

They don’t tell you that on the brochure, but it’s true. A whole pack of wolves was culled at one UK wildlife park in 2006, as a result of the social hierarchy changing. It’s an incredibly uncomfortable fact for zoos and those in favour of them, given that there is plenty of evidence of zoos and safari parks systemically exterminating animals that they deem to be surplus to requirements. There are so many questions that this throws up, but the bottom line is that it is just not okay and now you know why zoos should be banned.