The Humanity Behind Zoos
Imagine yourself behind glass windows where daily, hundreds of people may walk by and stare at you. Imagine your whole life will be spent behind bars or glass windows. You’ll live a miserable life in an undersized and limited place. This may be common occurrence through America and the world, but not many people are aware of it.
The American Zoo and Aquarium Association (AZA) estimates there are over 10,000 zoos worldwide. Some animals in those zoos will live terrible lives, in an undersized and small enclosure. Their enclosures will most likely fail to meet their needs and they fail to give them their freedom. Being put into a zoo will cause some animals to go insane. Zoos can cause animals mental issues and sometimes extra treatment is needed. One condition is “zoochosis”…
“Zoochosis” is a condition where animals act abnormally and some even hurt themselves from boredom and frustration. Zoochosis is actually very easy to spot in animals. Some animals will pace back and forth, some animals bob their heads, giraffes twist their necks and other animals sway from side to side. There are many more, but these are just signs that are easy to see in animals. These behaviors are commonly seen in bears, elephants, big cats (like lions and tigers), giraffes, and meerkats. None of these things are natural and they typically don’t happen in the wild.
In zoos, animals do not have the freedom to roam around. Which is a problem. Big animals like elephants, lions, tigers, and orcas in the wild, typically have a lot more space to roam around.
The average life span for an African Elephant is 56 years (in the Amboseli National Park), but zoo-born African Elephant females only live about 17 years.
A group of people found out that Asian elephants that were put in zoos from the wild, lived longer than the elephants that were bred and born in zoos. The elephants that were born in zoos died much earlier.
Another example would be orcas. In the wild, an orca’s life span can range from 30 to 50 years. Sometimes even longer! In zoos, the average life span is only nine years. This is a drastic change of years. Because orcas are become surrounded in so much stress, they become aggressive. Orcas have killed and injured people before. Orcas are also typically kept in very small enclosures.
Several months ago, I was in California. I went to a zoo/botanical garden with my family. While there, we went and looked at the meerkats. There was one meerkat that was pacing back and forth in front of the glass window. The meerkat looked really stressed and for minutes it continued to pace, but then it stopped. Quickly, it touched the electric wire that lined the enclosure. The meerkat jumped back, stunned from the electric shock.
This was that first time I clearly saw ‘zoochosis’ in an animal.
Now of course there are positive features to zoos. Zoos are very helpful in teaching the public and helping endangered species. The IUCN, The International Union for Conservation of Nature, listed 39 animal species that are extinct in the wild. All of these species could have died completely if it wasn’t for captive populations which are typically found in zoos.
An additional reason is education. Of course you can see animals in today’s high quality documentaries and movies, but not many adults or children get to see the animal in real life. Actually seeing the animal in front of you allows you to understand their habitat, watch what it does, and see its daily life. Just that, gives such a bigger understanding to people and hopefully gives them more view on wildlife conservation efforts.
One more reason could be that some zoos provide benefits to animals that they wouldn’t typically get in the wild. A few examples would be: good nutrition and medical care. Many animals have injuries and zoos are able to help treat them and give them good diets.
Personally, I don’t believe zoos should be banned. I do think that more attention and awareness needs to be raised on zoos. If people focus on zoos and how they are treating their animals, maybe zoos will be more honest and open with what they do. If nothing changes, some zoos will continue to mistreat their animals. If I were to leave you with anything, I’d want to leave the thought that you can start a change. Advocate for awareness and show people what you believe in.
