Zoos are some of the most enjoyable ways to spend an afternoon. It's a way to entertain a family and give them a delightful evening to remember. Zoos are wonderful places that give you the chance to see interesting and unique animals. The word zoo is short for zoological park. Therefore, zoos count as traditional zoos and sanctuaries, as well as aquariums. There are approximately more than 10,000 zoos and aquariums worldwide and 2,400 of them in the United States alone. However, few people believe that zoos are not the ideal place for animals to stay. They believe that animals belong in their natural habitats and believe that captivity reduces the longevity of animals. Zoos are unethical for animals because most animals experience behavioral changes, zoos do not have adequate space for animals, and most animals in zoos are kept in captivity for profit. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Most of the debate about why zoos are unethical boils down to the fact that a large group of the population believes zoos go against animal rights. Of course, animals do not have the same natural rights as humans; however, we should consider what is best for them. PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, writes on its website “regardless of whether they are “cute,” useful to humans, or an endangered species…” PETA, as well as other members of society, believe that animals Animals deserve just rights like people. This is because animals are as alive as we are. If animals were looked at as if they were humans, you would understand why zoos could be equated with the American prison system. For the most part it's like comparing apples to oranges; these are two different things that are not very similar but when you look at them on a deeper level and not just at face value the pieces align. Usually, when prisoners are locked up they are analyzed from a sociological or psychological point of view while animals try to make themselves understood through ethology, the study of animal behavior and countless zoological studies. Comparing captive animals to people is an insult, especially if you compare the nature of animals and their behavior to that of humans. Before talking about the similarities between zoos and prisons we should break down the American prison system, the place where they don't exist you want to go, a place for people expelled from society. Going to jail or prison is a form of punishment that removes an offender from society and locks him in a cell where he is not allowed to be a repeat offender. It gives them a chance to remember and reflect on their actions and change their behavior. However, a prison cannot rehabilitate a person because the behavior is something that must be changed on its own. Make prisons more a place of confinement and punishment, rather than rehabilitation. With these out of the way, humans can be compared to animals that share close similarities to humans, such as birds, mammals, and other vertebrate animals. Just like humans, these animals fall into the same phylum, the chordates, and all have similar behaviors and senses to their human counterparts. This will make it easy to compare captive and incarcerated lifestyles. All living organisms are adaptive and will adapt to the environment in which they live. Psychology shows when it is moved to new areas that the body takes time to adapt and this can cause several disorders, theDr. Moran talks about this in his book, “Human Adaptability.” Dr. Moran says it is common to experience the following complaints: “Researchers have noted that insomnia, sleep disturbances, anxiety, depression, and irritability are common (“zoochotic behavior”).” A similar phenomenon occurs in animals known as “zoochosis,” which is defined as a repetitive, invariant pattern of behavior with no end goal. Which is caused by forced separation from their habitatsleisure, medications and medical fertility control. Captivity causes immense psychological damage, and a zoocotic animal should not be mocked just as a mentally ill human should not be mocked. In addition to affecting the animals mentally, the zoo also affects the animals physically by not having adequate space. No zoo or aquarium can replicate a perfect living environment for animals in captivity. Zoos claim to provide a safe habitat for these animals to live in, but if the shoe was on the other foot they would see how unfair they are being to the animals. If they were put in a bird cage would they feel more comfortable than at home? The average amount of land a monkey would typically occupy is usually 247 acres, and that type of land is not affordable for a zoo. Prison cells, like their zoo counterparts, don't have much room for freedom. The average prison cell size is 12 feet by eight feet and can hold two inmates who usually have to share a bathroom in the corner of the room. Both prisons and zoos have no privacy but, unlike prisons, animals in zoos are on large display. Due to lack of space, most animals experience frequent muscle contractions and their muscles become stiff, a symptom of zoocosis, because they cannot move freely in captivity. Did you know that some places euthanize surplus animals? The practice of managerial euthanasia, in which zoos kill otherwise healthy surplus animals (Browning 486). Management euthanasia is usually performed when it is deemed to be in the best interests of the surplus animals that are to be culled for breeding. Some zoos and aquariums justify that this is necessary so that the species can thrive in captivity and not be overcrowded. Management euthanasia became a major ethical debate after 18-month-old Marius the giraffe was killed because "his genes were already sufficiently represented in the giraffe population of Europe's zoos". There was a huge ethical debate about it because he was euthanized as his "genes" were represented in European zoos; however, his brother was in an English zoo and this made Marius a “surplus animal”. But despite the mass outcry against it, Marius was euthanized, dissected in front of an audience, and his remains fed to the zoo's lions (“Zoo That Killed”). People were furious about this and several zoo spokesmen spoke of animal culling on an international scale, but Terry Maple and David Bocian denied this in the magazine "Zoo Biology". They stated that promoting animal welfare is improving the lives of animals in captivity from good to great (Maple and Bocian 365), and euthanizing animals in zoos is the way to do this. It decreases the possibility of overpopulation and inbreeding which would cause a mutation in the genetic pool of animals. The controversial Maple and Bocian paper offends many people, but most agree with them and think that zoos are doing what is best for the animals. Although zoos are unethical for animals because they interrupt animals' natural behavior and do not provide a sufficient amount of living space,they are especially unethical because most animals in captivity aren't even endangered. For example, owls, alligators, and black bears are animals commonly found in most zoos in the United States and other countries that are no longer even on the endangered species list (Arlington). The two common species of owls in zoos, the Eurasian eagle-owl and the milky eagle-owl, are two solitary nocturnal hunters that are not even on the endangered species list as they have stable populations throughout the United States. However, they are still in captivity and on public display year-round. Another animal exhibited all year round in zoos is the illustrious American alligator which has no longer been on the list of endangered animals since 1987; these animals have been safe for a full 32 years. However, it is common to see them in captivity and marketed as endangered. The Louisiana black bear, the animal associated with teddy bears, was removed from the endangered species list on March 10, 2016, but is still present in zoos to this day. The species became endangered due to mass hunting in 1902, while President Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt, a big game hunter, was in office and had decided to kill a bear in Mississippi. These three are among the thousands of animals in captivity, they are not even in danger of extinction but are still held in captivity. Some zoos help with conservation projects, but even then most animals resting in the zoo may never be released into their natural habits. . This is usually due to the destruction of their habitats, sale to other zoos, birth through a breeding program, or culling to stop overpopulation in zoos. In a National Geographic magazine, Benjamin Beck, former associate director of biological programs at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., found that over the past century, only 16 of 145 reintroduction programs worldwide have actually returned populations to the wild animals. Of the 16 animals, most were relocated due to government interference. Whenever zoos import endangered species or eggs from the wild, they perform a process known as "conservation breeding," which involves breeding a species so that it can be reintroduced into the wild. The Association of Zoos and Aquariums worked together to create a plan known as the Species Survival Plan (SSP), which contains guidelines on animal care and breeding of animals in captivity. The truth is that most breeding programs are unsuccessful due to the animals being placed in unnatural conditions. environments and forced to mate. After they begin to breed, most zoos put the cubs on display and attract customers to their new attraction. They have started making profits which in turn encourages the birth of more children. Because more puppies are sometimes desired (even if space is limited), a “surplus” is created that requires culling the animals. Now endangered animals are given away to another zoo or euthanized in secret so as not to go against SSP guidelines. Even the Copenhagen Zoo, which is home to the giraffe Marius, killed four healthy lions (two adults and two cubs) just to make room for a new lion they wanted to breed. Copenhagen Zoo tried to rationalize its decision by saying: "Due to pride in the structure and natural behavior of the lions, the zoo had to euthanize the two old lions and the two young lions who were not old enough to look after themselves themselves,” and that was the only reason the two 10-month-old puppies were.