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Animals Should Not Be Zoos

Decent Essays

Imagine being a zoo animal. Wouldn’t the animal want to be free, and not in captivity? There should not be zoos. From outside of a cage it is barely noticeable, but what is happening to the zoo animals is not right. There should not be zoos because animals cannot exercise which leads to health issues, they have little to no space which causes depression, and there are other places that help animals in a safer and more productive way. The history of zoos is that animals would be in tin cages, now, they live in fake terrain, so none of these habitats are appropriate for animals. Zoos say that they are helping endangered animals, but really they are killing them. Most animals in zoos do not get enough exercise as part of their daily schedule, and when animals exercise is lacking, health issues are occurring more frequently. For instance, stressed animals signal depression or psychoses. When elephants at zoos sway from side to side, the people outside of the cage believe it is a normal motion for the animal, but it is actually a signal of stress. Behaviors like these are mainly caused by a lack of privacy, mental stimulation and physical exercise. To help the animals, some zoos give tranquilizers or antidepressants to control these kinds of behaviors in animals. Animals do not deserve this, but still lack exercise. For example, cheetahs in the wild pace 0% to 5% of their day, but at the Milwaukee County Zoo, 64% of their day is spent doing this. Cheetahs are one of the most endangered animals at the zoo because at zoos they only live to age 16 or 17, while in the wild they live to be 30 or older. As a result of this lack of exercise provided by zoos, zoos are not matching the animals’ natural exercise behaviors, so the animals become unhealthy. Most animals stuck in zoos live by themselves even if they are meant to live in herds. While in the wild, playful african elephants live peacefully and splash each other with their trunks. In zoos with cages there is not enough space to play and enjoy themselves. The average size of elephants is 7 feet, and they live in 12 foot enclosed cages, so that leaves them with only 5 feet to move around. Elephants can not move, nor use their trunks and this causes them to die

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