Generally, we assume wild animals have it much better off in captivity. After all, they can live free of predation fears and free of worrying about where their next meal will come from. Yet, a four-year study published by Oxford University in 2003 found that the median lifespan for an African zoo elephant was 16.9 years, but nature preserve elephants lived to be 56. They added that “the keeping of naturally wide-ranging carnivores should be fundamentally improved or phased out,” since bears, cheetahs, lions and tigers need far more space than they are given to roam.
Organizations like Animal Liberation Victoria rigorously debate zoos as positive forces of change. They argue that only 120 out of 5,926 endangered species are in breeding programs in zoos, not to mention animals like elephants and pandas are difficult to breed in captivity. Small populations may resort to inbreeding, which produces weaker offspring. The lack of survival instincts, poaching and habitat destruction threatens the survival of re-introduced wild animals anyway. Therefore, the argument that these animal exhibits promote conservation of exotic animals is a myth, ALV of Australia argues.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), is another wild animals protection organization opposed to zoological facilities, enclosed pens and wildlife spectacles. “Animals are often prevented from doing most of the things that are natural and important to them, like running, roaming, flying, climbing, foraging, choosing a partner, and being with others of their own kind,” their website says. “Zoos teach people that it is acceptable to interfere with animals and keep them locked up in captivity, where they are bored, cramped, lonely, deprived of all control over their lives, and far from their natural homes.”
Wild animals trapped in zoos often meet cruel deaths, PETA argues, pointing to several noteworthy examples. The Virginia zoological facilities saw the deaths of 10 prairie dogs from a tunnel collapse, a rhino that drowned in her moat and a zebra who perished from a broken neck when she bolted from her pen. In St. Louis, two polar bears died after one ingested objects that had been thrown into their animal exhibit and the other was found to have two dead fetuses in her womb. Gorillas in Dallas and Siberian tigers in San Francisco were shot to death after escaping their pens. Undoubtedly, animals are suffering in the wild too; but the argument is that if we can’t take care of these animals properly in captivity, then we shouldn’t be subjecting them to this cruelty.
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