Animals in Captivity
Running Head: Trapped Behind Bars
The zoo is packed with children, running everywhere. They laugh and smile as they watch the animals at the zoo sleep. What these children do not realize is that these animals are dying on the inside. Animals that live at the zoo are extremely depressed. These animals can suffer severe psychological disorders from being out of their natural environment. But others argue that keeping these animals in captivity will help keep endangered species alive. However, the disadvantages of keeping animals in captivity are becoming more and more serious, and more people are beginning to believe that animals should not be held captive. Animals should not be kept in captivity because of the negative impact it can have on their life.
On Christmas Day, in the year 2007 a tiger broke out of its enclosure at the San Francisco Zoo. Once out of its cage, the tiger attacked 3 people, severely injuring two people, and killing one. Unfortunately, this was not the first time that this tiger had shown aggression towards people. A year before this incident, this tiger had injured a zoo keeper during a public feeding (Roberts, 2008). In captivity animals are isolated from their natural habitat, and are provided with very little physical and mental stimulation. According to the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA), facilities with potential dangerous animals, must have appropriate safety procedures in order to prevent attacks by these animals. Sadly, these procedures were not followed at the San Francisco Zoo (Roberts, 2008). Another incident like this occurred with a killer whale and its trainer. Dawn Brancheau was drug to the bottom of her killer whale’s tank at Sea World in Orlando, Florida. Although these whales are called, “killers” there is no record of them killing human beings in the wild. According to the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, attacks by killer whales in captivity happens more than you think (McCarthy, 2010). Why do these
The zoo is packed with children, running everywhere. They laugh and smile as they watch the animals at the zoo sleep. What these children do not realize is that these animals are dying on the inside. Animals that live at the zoo are extremely depressed. These animals can suffer severe psychological disorders from being out of their natural environment. But others argue that keeping these animals in captivity will help keep endangered species alive. However, the disadvantages of keeping animals in captivity are becoming more and more serious, and more people are beginning to believe that animals should not be held captive. Animals should not be kept in captivity because of the negative impact it can have on their life.
On Christmas Day, in the year 2007 a tiger broke out of its enclosure at the San Francisco Zoo. Once out of its cage, the tiger attacked 3 people, severely injuring two people, and killing one. Unfortunately, this was not the first time that this tiger had shown aggression towards people. A year before this incident, this tiger had injured a zoo keeper during a public feeding (Roberts, 2008). In captivity animals are isolated from their natural habitat, and are provided with very little physical and mental stimulation. According to the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA), facilities with potential dangerous animals, must have appropriate safety procedures in order to prevent attacks by these animals. Sadly, these procedures were not followed at the San Francisco Zoo (Roberts, 2008). Another incident like this occurred with a killer whale and its trainer. Dawn Brancheau was drug to the bottom of her killer whale’s tank at Sea World in Orlando, Florida. Although these whales are called, “killers” there is no record of them killing human beings in the wild. According to the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, attacks by killer whales in captivity happens more than you think (McCarthy, 2010). Why do these
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