Zoos are cruel....

[Ihateboris]

And should be banned. It's just so sad seeing animals cooped up, just for the pleasure of selfish human beings.

We'll have to agree to disagree that zoos are helpful😀

as other posters have said, zoos play an important role in animal conservation, because some humans slaughter them in the wild, and until that stops animals need help. One example is the Californian Condor, only 23 birds in the wild in the 80s, now over 400 because of work done by San Diego Zoo.

We could reduce the human population massively if people volunteered to die. But, humans are selfish and don’t actually want to do that, but they do want to tell other people not to have children to reduce the population!!!

Children is the operative word there. It's a numbers game.

We could reduce the number right now, but no one wants to volunteer for the greater good!!!

Only 3% of animals in zoos are endangered species that need help with breeding programs and conservation. The other 97% are there for human entertainment.
Zoos and safari parks are well know for killing surplus animals and there is still too much human interaction with zoo keepers and staff which leads to unsafe and dangerous working conditions.

Durrell Conservation Projects | Durrell

I thought zoos now did a lot of animal conservation work and so on. I think much more productive to focus on reducing cruelty in zoos etc than wholesale banning them.

The majority of animals in zoos these days are captive bred. Good zoos offer enrichment and natural habitats and vet care.

Before we worry about zoos we should perhaps look at the pet industry. Far more animals suffer for that than in zoos.

I don’t like the for profit ones but the ones primarily focussed on conservation of endangered species and raising awareness are necessary. Like Vulpro, although you probably wouldn’t even call it a zoo.

I would also gently encourage people to include the dairy and egg industry when questioning their ethical values.

So do you think non-human life is more important than human life? Weird take.

I believe in balance. Not one species taking over and destroying so much of the world. So not a weird take at all.

Also agree with pp who say we need to look at the pet, dairy and egg industries among others.

I agree OP and I am not an animal lover.

I understand there are some conservation needs and the raise money and research, but I feel very uncomfortable seeing them in enclousures.

Honestly, I don't know what the answer is. I just feel sadness when I see them cooped up 😫

So we should have mass culling of humans and take away the houses of the survivors?

Given that that isn not going to happen, a good zoo with a conservation programme seems a reasonable alternative.

Why do people feel they have to post such ridiculous nonsense?

Edited to say: There's quite a lot of culling of humans going on at the moment and a shortage of land is at least one of the reasons for it.

I’m torn about them because I love animals so like to see them. Some animals wouldn’t survive in the wild due to being born in captivity, illness or being saved from abuse, it’s easier to study animals in a zoo than the wild, and some species are only alive due to breeding programmes.

But at the same time they are in small enclosures, often in weather conditions they’re not designed for, living a completely different life than they would in the wild. I think zoos need to be much much bigger and have only small animals that wouldn’t travel very far. I’m surprised that we still have large animals like giraffes and elephants in the UK and particularly bears ☹️

Unfortunately zoo’s are essential now. Without them we would have more extinct species.

Animals that would have been poached or hunter are safe. They have dedicated breeding programs, and the enclosures now are not just bars and plants. The keepers go out of their way to make sure their animals have a good quality of life

We are superior. We’re the apex predators currently.

This is interesting. Thank you 😊

Stupid argument and nowhere near comparable!

Humans are not likely to become extinct for a while yet, there are over 8 billion around.

Some animals are near extinction and zoo breeding programmes are vital to stop them becoming extinct in the near future.

What do you think about wildlife parks that take in animals that need it.

For example Monkey World in Dorset?

Alison has been running the sanctuary for decades. She took in so many chimps who were used for beach props and other human entertainment. She has gibbons and other species all rescued.
she has dozens of marmosets all rescued from the pet trade.

She is the EU orangutan crèche, hand rearing babies, and when they are old enough, they are given to a nursery group of orangutans to be raised.

They can’t be released into the wild as many of the animals have mental and physical problems because of their captivity before the park

The Amur Leopard is critically endangered. There is a breeding programme in some zoos to attempt to keep it from becoming extinct. That's important.

There are an estimated 120 to 130 Amur leopards left in the wild. While this is one of the rarest big cats on Earth, dedicated conservation efforts have helped their numbers grow from a critical low of just 30 individuals at the turn of the century.

Some people are anti everything even when it helps animals due to a blanket 'I hate zoos' mantra.

They'd likely rather the animals were put to sleep than be rescued.