What Are Zoos Unethical

To begin, zoos are unethical due to the fact that they take animals out of the wild and place them in artificial environments that have failed to meet their standard of living. For example, research has shown that some larger animals need for space is not fulfilled in their confined cages. One example of this is how the zoo environment can have a significant impact on the health and wellbeing of zoo animals. Captive elephants, for example, cannot exercise in the same way they do in the wild and typically endure long hours standing on hard surfaces. These conditions are major contributors to foot infections and arthritis, one of the leading causes of death and euthanasia among captive elephants. A survey of the records of 4,500 elephants both in the wild and in
Also the difference between what they get vs. What they need is alarming. In addition, the authenticity of the animals habitats is lacking causing many negative impacts on zoo animals. For instance some common traits found in zoo animals across the world is depression, stereotypic behavior, and self injury. This shows that the zoos lack of realistic habitats and opportunities to engage in physical activities are literally driving these animals insane. this proves that the lack of new changes in the habitats looks can cause the animals to harm themselves because they were driven to boredom. Lastly some statistics have proven that tigers and polar bears space would need to be drastically increased in order to sustain the animals enjoyment. One example is when large mammals and birds are not held in captivity they roam for very long distances. For instance a british biologist found that when in enclosures tigers have a roaming range 18,000 times smaller than out in the wild. Also polar bears have a million times more space in the open than in zoos. Acquiring the amount of land animals need is impossible in zoos. This shows that zoo enclosures can simply not replicate the animals habitats in