Are our zoos cruel to wild animals?

Many of us have enjoyed a visit to the zoo and regard it as a fun day out. Seeing real tigers and elephants, especially if it is for the first time, can be an interesting, even thrilling experience. Yet how many people stop and wonder whether the pleasure the animals give to us means that the animals themselves are suffering unnecessarily?

It seems to me that no zoo has enough money to provide even basic habitats or environments for all the species they keep. Most animals are put in a total artificial environment, isolated from everything they’d encounter in their natural habitat. As I see it? This isolation can amount to cruelty. In some zoos you see cages with no trees or foliage. I’ve even seen cages for burrowing animals like rabbits which have concrete floors. Cruelty doesn’t just mean starving or physical abuse – it can be much less obvious than that.

Big predators are designed to chase and hunt, and by depriving them of hunting, I believe you are depriving them of one of the main reasons for which they have evolved. The big cats lie about in a zoo because there is nothing else for them to do. Their food is provided for them. And the problem is not just with big cats. Animals like polar bears and chimpanzees too may become very frustrated in a zoo. They are highly intelligent, curious animals and need a challenging environment. Imprisoning them in an often totally inadequate amount of space cannot be right.

Zoo supporters argue that zoos provide an educational service, but often the captive environment can be misleading. For example, tigers are solitary animals which like space and privacy but if you go to a zoo you’ll often see them caged together in packs. Zoos may try hard to promote education and conservation to get themselves a better image, but few have a genuine education programme. Another claim often made is that, if we didn’t have animals in zoos, we wouldn’t see them at all. But we aren’t living in Victorian times. Most of us have television and go to the cinema so we know what wild life looks like. If an animal is suffering by being kept in captivity, isn’t it kinder to see it on a film?

I appreciate that it would be realistic to be against captivity of some kind, if that’s the only way we can save some animals. But I’m convinced that there are better ways of protecting endangered species than putting them in zoos. In my view, the focus should be on conserving animals in the wild. If the conventional zoo were to give way to special, protected sanctuaries in the wild, our concern for animals would indeed be demonstrated.

Ex. 4. Explain these animal idioms. Ask each other the following questions.

1. Is there a black sheep in your family?

2. Do cars stop at zebra-crossings in your country?

3. Do people in your country have hen parties and stag nights?

4. Which is faster, e-mail or snail-mail?

5. What’s the difference between pig-headed and big– headed?