zoos should be allowed

So you think you can just go and shut down the zoo, chuck these animals away and expect them to survive by their selves? If animals were in the wild they would have to take risks to have food and might be attacked by predators. In zoos this cannot happen because the animals are separated. Now that zoos have been around for quite long and animals, especially those that have been born in zoos cannot be released back into the wild as they do not have the skills to hunt/forage for food, so we will end up with a stock of animals that cannot be released into the wild, because of this, we have to sell the animals to places which requires them to be shipped them over great distances which costs great amounts of money and effort and will just have to be put into care elsewhere which will defeat the point of shutting the zoos down in the first place.
Also animals are a lot safer in zoos. Most zoos give their animals plenty amount of room to roam free in, while being monitored to ensure that they are safe. It also allows children to see and learn about animals that they may not otherwise get to see and this experience may encourage them to look after animals or become vets which in the long run will help the animals because Seeing an animal in person is a much more personal and more memorable experience than seeing that animal in a nature documentary. They will get all the medicine they need when they get ill. A good zoo provides an enriched habitat in which the animals are never bored, are well cared-for, and have plenty of space. Zoos have medical staff on hand to care for animals which they wouldn't have in the wild.
The white rhinoceros are becoming extinct because rhinoceros horns are worth £30,000 per pound of horn. Isn’t it better to be safe from poachers?

Zoos are accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums and are held to high standards for the treatment of the animals. According to the AZA, accreditation means, "official recognition and approval of a zoo or aquarium by a group of experts."
Both accredited and unaccredited animal exhibitors are regulated by the federal Animal Welfare Act, which establishes standards for care
In the past zoos may have been cold, concrete cages that provided animals with no enrichment but times have changed.

To summarise these animals have been born in captivity. They do not miss "the wild" as they do not know what it is. Letting a captive-bred animal out into the wild would be far crueller as it wouldn't know how to feed or protect itself from any number of dangers of predators and pouching. In zoos, animals have their lifespan increased by up to 10 years- would you rather they have a shorter life? Zoos are relatively safe, stress free and give animals long lives, the wild populations of the same animals are being wiped out in nature due to excessive hunting and diseases. No matter what people say, animals in the wild are not free. They lead lives of necessity, are constantly hungry or thirsty or in danger or covered in fleas or infested with parasites.