To believe that zoos are unethical and should be abolished?

[YourHonestOchreBeaker]

Keeping animals in cages for human entertainment seems cruel, no matter how ‘nice’ the enclosures are. AIBU to think that zoos have no place in a modern society?

What about rehabilitation and where the animal will not survive in the wild?

Completely agree, OP.
The fact that there are wild-caught animals in zoos in the UK is an utter disgrace.

Zoos moved on from this model like a century ago. They are primarily rehabilitation and conservation facilities.

Zoos actually do a lot of important work with conservation and returning animals to the wild. Without them there would be a lot less awareness, and a lot less animals left in the wild

Monkey world Ape rescue center would disagree.

You might want to educate yourself on their work.

This.
They are not like Victorian times where the animals were removed from the wild.
The animals in zoos now are either some sort of rescue, or were bred there.
And people visiting them, seeing them, and learning about them raises awareness to the plight of their counterparts in the wild.

As long as we ban pet ownership as well

Yanbu. Have you been to a zoo recently? Many support rewilding and conservation effort/charities in other countries/this country.

They are all about conservation, education, raising awareness, breeding animals.

What do you suggest as an alternative? We let endangered species die out?

This. OP your post is pretty ignorant to be honest.

Nah, you're wrong. There's a place for zoos. Otherwise species would be wiped out as they would get hunted down. It's much more than just for entertainment.

Zoos do a massive amount of work towards conservation and also in helping holt the decline of severally endangered species

The UK has higher welfare standards but some zoos in other countries made me cry. Seeing poor animals suffer, it's just cruel. The worst was where I saw a tiger in this tiny cage in Asia. It was going round and round in circles so unhappy. Overall much tighter regulation.or total ban, I agree OP.

Jersey Zoo might also disagree. Conservation and Education as well as entertainment. Enclosures are so good you often can't see the animals.

Reintroduction to the wild.
Breeding.
Saviour populations.
More common / less endangered kept as model species to learn from.

My children will almost certainly never see tigers and rhinos in the wild - our reluctance to fly would probably see to that even without habitat endangerment and potential extinction. But they have seen and loved these animals in zoos and it has helped to inspire a love of the natural world and wildlife. Zoos' role in exciting the next generation has never been more important.

What an uneducated goady thread to start. YABU

Agreed. The OP sounds like she's never actually visited a zoo. It would be a much sadder world without the work zoos do towards conservation and education.

I'm assuming OP has never actually been to a zoo and read the information posts on the work they do there

It also depends on the zoo. I am a Bristol girl, and our zoo had a tiger in a tiny cage. No big grassy enclosure. And they had polar bears that basically went insane and had to be PTS. This was a few decades ago now.

I understand that some zoos work on rehabilitation and conservation and in cases where an animal can truly not survive in the wild, responsible sanctuaries can be a solution. However, many zoos operate more as commercial attractions rather than genuine conservation efforts. If the goal is rehabilitation, we should be focusing on protecting habitats and supporting ethical wildlife reserves rather than keeping animals in artificial environments for public viewing.

I would rather certain offensive visitors making an absolute racket, shouting to the animals to pose for a photo and screaming to each other, be abolished, but I suppose the zoo needs their money...

Chris Packham on zoos.
Chris Packham on zoos - Discover Wildlife

I’ve never been to a wholly good zoo. But I don’t want to close zoos down; this makes me want to improve them. In the UK, zoos attract 25 million visitors a year but get no direct public funding. The ludicrously decadent monster that is English football gets over £25 million of our cash, despite having a turnover of £300 million! Absurd.
So if you visit a zoo and consider it is not up to scratch, instead of fantasising about releasing all of the animals back into some utopia, why not ask what you could do to help? How can you positively influence its future so that new generations of nascent naturalists’ fingers get nibbled?

You're morally against them, but you keep visiting them anyway?

They operate as commercial attraction because that's often their only source of income and allows them to do important work. When was the last time you donated to a conservation project? I haven't for a loooong time. So we can wax lyrical about the best course of action but unless you and I suddenly take off to improve orangutan habitats in Borneo, I don't really think it's our place to criticise organizations and people who put in the hard work from our armchairs.

Yep zoos should be banned.sancturies are different but zoos are horrendous id never take my kids to one.i can't believe anyone would let their kids see animals like tigers or bears or elephants in enclosures like that.but then I guess people have their kids eat animals too!.i went as a kid and can still remember the polar bear in a concrete pit.people can go to sanctuaries to see animals.or in the wild.the movie I bought a zoo is good though.