Question I'm addressing:
Is visiting animals in captivity really benefiting us?
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| Source: Alpenof Petting Zoo |
Did you ever go to the zoo as a kid? If you did you probably enjoyed it. Imagine your kids never being able to enjoy a trip to the zoo. With recent incidents in zoos, it’s hard for regulations to justify keeping zoos open. Zoos make the argument that they are beneficial to humans, but there are others that also have strong points in opposition to zoos. Zoos provide us with an appreciation and wonder for animals that you can’t obtain without seeing them. With regards to the knowledge zoos provide, I think there is lots of room for improvement. However, I do recognize that there are bad zoos and bad individual exhibits, that I want to exclude from my support for keeping zoos open.
Marc Bekoff, professor at the University of Colorado, Boulder, one of the world's pioneering cognitive ethologists, informed me well on this topic in the article, "Do Zoos Really Teach Visitors Anything?"
STATEMENT: Zoos are an educational, fun, family activity that should remain open despite recent incidents because they indeed do outweigh in benefits rather than costs.
DISAGREE
People who oppose zoos mainly focus on the lack of knowledge people obtain and how biodiversity conservation is not well taught. There were “More than 6,000 visitors to over 30 zoos and aquariums across the world took part in this landmark study. Participants filled out pre- and post-visit surveys to evaluate their biodiversity understanding and knowledge of how to help protect biodiversity. The study found there was an increase from pre-visit (69.8%) to post-visit (75.1%) in respondents demonstrating some positive evidence of biodiversity understanding." Critics of this study take away that only a small 5.3% increase is not worth all the harm animals are put through mentally and physically by being locked up in large cages. They attest that it’s not worth it unless people are learning about biodiversity conservation. However, learning about some about the lives of the animals who are locked up in cages, without learning about the "need for biodiversity conservation," doesn't convince me that zoos are really doing much good. They believe that there needs to be an increase in education about what not to do or what to do to conserve energy, biodiversity, and for animals. Without that increase, they believe zoos are pointless, and the negative effects override the positive majorly. Could zoo visitors gain the same knowledge in others ways rather than at the expense of the animals who are kept in zoos? Probably, but I believe if the zoos were able to afford the new educational signs or possibly interactive games then it would be a win-win for both sides.
AGREE
My family & I were frequent zoo visitors, we even had an annual membership. As a kid, my favorite animal to see at the zoo was the polar bears. I loved to watch them and would always ask my mom to read the informational sign about them aloud to me. After my first visit to the zoo I would do lemonade stands on the busy corner outside my house and donate the money I raised to World Wildlife Funds which would help the polar bears because they are an endangered species. Sure, I wasn’t making or donating much money but over time and as I visited the zoo more, I brought people and made them aware of the beauty of these bears and told them how if we don’t do something they might not always be here. This is an example of what a zoo did for me. It made me appreciate and care about the lives of these animals. As many critics state that they aren’t teaching things such as biodiversity conservation, but they are, indirectly. When you go to the zoo you see these animals and appreciate their beauty and find new respect for nature, which makes you less likely to drive your car into grassy meadows, with fear of running over a rodents habitat or ruining the peaceful grass. You’ll be less likely to throw your cans in the ocean thinking of the dolphins you saw at the zoo. You will indirectly be aiding conservation of biodiversity.
Many people see zoos for only the bad exhibits and only the freak accidents that happen. People need to take a closer look on how zoos effect the visitors. The visitors are gaining an appreciation and love for animals and nature, which will indirectly allow them to treat the earth and animals with more respect. Opposition argues that it’s not worth it unless they teach conservation of biodiversity, which I agree with. Zoos do teach basics of biodiversity conservation, not necessarily the term, but they could do a better job of informing more specific ways to help the environment. That’s something that they need to work on but for the most part good zoos should stay open because of all the benefits they provide for animals and humans. I say “good zoos,” because I’m completely aware that there are bad zoos that need to be shut down.
