Why zoos are harmful to animals

Even though some endangered species are safe in the zoos, life in harder for animals in the zoos. They experience hardships in zoos and at some point the same zoos that claim to protect animals put animal’s life in danger. Some of the hardships animals experience are, I. Animal cruelty A. Tough disciplinary measures are used in training animal. Their skins are often sold in the international market. B. The domestic laws do not really cater for the animals hence there are Poor living conditions in zoos. The above illustrations show that zoos do not make life easier for animals but only interrupt the normal life of an animal. Not only do the zoos interrupt the normal life of an animal but also endanger some species.

Additionally, since the zookeepers do not really care about the animals, once the animals get old, they are sold to other facilities. The zookeepers often prefer babies since they are crowd pleasers. Edith a chimpanzee in Saint Louis zoo was an unfortunate victim of her age. When Edith was young she was a big draw to many visitors and was loved by many. Unfortunately, when she turned 3 years she was sold and taken to various facilities away from her family. Take for example Tom, a gorilla who was transferred to a different zoo away from his family; he ended up being bullied by another gorilla in the new zoo. Due to all this stress, the animal ended up losing so much weight and suffering mentally.

A polar bear by the name Gus who was kept in the central park zoo was also reported to have suffered from zoochosis. The bear alarmed many visitors for swimming in figure eights in his pool for around 12 hours. He was reported to have adopted the behavior of staring children from his window. In fact, it was concluded that it shortens the lifespan of an animal. During a survey of observing 4,500 African elephants, the lifespan of an elephant in a zoo was 16. 9 years while the wild elephant had a lifespan of 56 yrs and mostly died of natural causes. One of the main reasons that reduce the lifespan for these animals is that some of them are actually killed in the zoos.

According to Foggo , in his article, “ Zoos kill healthy tigers for skin trade”, zoo keepers kill tigers and some endangered species. Another case was reported in Saint Louis Zoo where two polar bears died consecutively, one died after ingesting an object that had been in his cage. The other polar bear died as a result of an infection caused by a dead fetus in her uterus. In Virginia Zoo, a rhinoceros died in her exhibition from drowning in the moat. All the above cases could have been avoided if more money and time was invested in animal care. Unfortunately, this is not the case in many zoos Zoos may claim to be keeping animals in captivity for preservation and educational purposes.