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.

But why does it matter if some animals become extinct? If it’s a choice between breeding and keeping animals in captivity, wouldn’t it be better for them to go extinct?

Do you have evidence for your claims? So much unsubstantiated nonsense is spread about zoos

I am torn about things like this. Obviously we need to stop the problem at source but in the meantime we need to do the best thing for the individual animals. Whether that is to save them or destroy them I honestly don't know. Saving them feels better to us but is it really? I honestly don't know.

I always think about the orangutan who was used a sex slave in the palm oil industry. I don't keep up with her story as I find it too upsetting. I do question whether it would have been better to let her go rather than rehabilitate her. I obviously hope she has been rehabilitated and her life is now good but I just don't know.

Edited to say: I would urge those who think human beings are superior to other animals to read up on her story.

I understand this, i really do but decent animal enclosures and food and enrichment animals might be content, day to day, also the wild isn't all it is cracked up to be.

Species can become endangered in a very short timeframe. The hooded vulture lost 85% of its population in 50 years and went from least concern to critically endangered. So I think it is still important to maintain a captive back stock of species that are currently least concern, because you can’t predict the future.

Of course it would be preferable for humans to stop poaching, poisoning, destroying habitats, etc. but you know…. humans are going to be humans, so breeding programmes are necessary.

Why do you think human life is more important than non-human life?

Humans are very selfish and destructive. We are incredibly greedy. We take, take, take and sod the consequences!!!

Yep! Humans are the worst species on the planet!

I agree!!! We know lots of things are bad for the environment but we won’t stop doing it. Can’t possibly give up flying, why shouldn’t I fly when other people have private jets!!!!

Just look at the rubbish people leave climbing Mount Everest!!! Humans are inherently selfish.

I do understand, of course, that (some) zoos play an important role in animal conservation.

Plenty exist just for entertainment though, and they can get to fuck. I think the thing I hate most of all is bird displays - where they keep birds, many of which are not endangered at all, in tiny cages and wheel them out once a day for a bunch of baying monkeys to clap at them for getting 5 minutes to fly around.

Fuck. Right. Off.

I'd include horse racing, show jumping and most definitely dressage to the animal cruelty list. Also grey hound racing.

Why do you think it doesn't matter?

Good zoos don't just keep animals alive in zoos. They have programs of reintroduction which are important for restoring habitats.

I am a vegan who avoided zoos for a long time but I have come to believe there are some good ones doing important work.

This is quite extreme. We are not going to "reduce the human population massively" in the short term short of murdering people. It is going to peak and possible reduce on its own soon. But letting perfectionism get in the way of doing anything at all is the coward's and the fatalist's way out.

For some (but not all) species it is our fault because of loss of habitat etc. so maybe it is our responsibility to keep them alive. But then we are keeping them alive to just live in captivity. Hard one

It’s not keeping them alive just to live in captivity, it’s keeping them alive so that we can release their descendants to the wild when it is safe to do so once the situation causing their extinction has been dealt with. It is about protecting the species, not the individual.

I don’t think it’s ever alright to keep animals in captivity. Humans don’t like being locked up against their will, so why do it to animals?

I like zoos, I get to see animals that I would probably never see in the wild and most of them are well cared for and some would be extinct in the zoos hadn't stepped in with breeding programs and conservation.

Always been mixed on this. Zoo’s have changed radically since the days of chimps tea parties and tiny empty cages. That said I still don’t like the idea of them being caged, and find certain things particularly difficult, like the gorillas.
But many zoos now do incredible work in conservation, and there are animals in them that can no longer easily survive in their natural habitat.
I’m not particularly in to the theme park feel aspect of many zoos, at the same time if these places were only set up to help conservation and banned visitors they’d not financially survive. And too, if a child, let’s call her Jane, visits a zoo, see’s an animal, a chimpanzee maybe, they’d only ever read about and that then inspires them to travel to, say, Tanzania, and spend their life learning more about these creatures than anyone before, and then dedicates their life to saving them and campaigning for the environment and solutions to climate change, then isn’t that rather wonderful.

And who ever thinks it's a good idea to have indoor cats who are rarely allowed outside.

Animals that are alive already have to suffer so their descendants, that haven’t been born yet can live in the wild!!!

Absolutely, it's disgusting. 82 horses died at Cheltenham races between 2000 and 2026. 😪

Zoos also run programs to re-introduce species to the wild so its not just a matter of keeping the species going in captivity. And they run programs to support feeding when food sources collapse due to humans (i.e. pesticides and the like killing of insects that small mammals eat). Reducing biodiversity is a bad thing for everyone and zoos do a lot to try and address this.

Would it be alright to keep humans in captivity to breed? Is it alright to carry on ruining the planet, doing whatever we like and then let the next generation who haven’t been born yet sort it out?

No the ones already alive shouldn’t have to suffer. They should be cared for with the highest welfare standards. But I was just clarifying the reason for breeding programmes existing. The purpose is to eventually repopulate the wild, not to breed display animals.

The problem is humans!!! Get rid of humans and then animals are free to roam!!!

Sorry, why are you highlighting dressage as the cruelest (and so presumably most dangerous) of the horse sports?