CONTEXT: Animal advocates like PETA argue that zoos may be nice for visitors, but they amount to a jail sentence for the animals. Should we close all zoos?

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Lions, tigers, and polar bears, oh my! The only place where you could be face to face with these wild animals who come from vastly different climate zones is at the zoo. For many, taking a trip to the zoo as a child was a fundamental part of their childhood. We live in a world deeply disconnected from the natural world so zoos serve as one of the only places we can truly be in close proximity to nature. But, where do we draw the line between educational conservation and inhumane cruelty? I think we’ve crossed that line. 

To date back, the earliest examples of zoos were called menageries. The wealthy built these small private collections of elephants, rhinos, lions, and several other wild animals to flaunt their dominance and prestige. Although the elitists who did have menageries employed animal handlers to ensure their collection of nature’s most exotic treasures thrived and produced offspring, this was still an act of self-interest with lack of consideration for the animals wants and needs. These animals were subjected to captivity for the sake of human entertainment. 

In today’s world, modern zoos try to say they sit at the corner of education avenue and conservation boulevard. But, where’s morality alley?

Ancient menageries are unmatched compared to the broad scale modern zoos have created. Instead of a handful of different animals, thousands of animals are presented for display and met with unlikely living conditions to sustain themselves on their own. They sleep at the hands of humans, they eat at the hands of humans, they live at the will of their captors – us. They are subjected to the same environmental factors day after day. They wake up in the same enclosure as they did yesterday with no room to explore and they’re eating the same meals day after day just as you’d feed a house pet. 

It’s time to acknowledge that although we have done a few good deeds for the wildlife who inhabit this Earth with us like saving a number of endangered species through conservation, we have done zoo animals a major injustice.  They have multifaceted lives but behind big glass walls or barred cages they can only react to their captive environmental factors. The livelihood of an animal’s life is not ours to dictate, they’re not our entertainment.

It’s time to say bye-bye to zoos. 

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