10 Reasons Zoos Are Bad for the Planet

2. Ethical dilemma:
Putting animals in captivity raises an ethical dilemma where 
animals cannot fully hunt on their own or migrate.
3. Recreational activity:
Over the last decades, zoos are being used as a 
recreational activity rather than their initial objective of establishing a zoo to 
provide a scientific understanding of nature and its surrounding.
4. Changes in animal behaviours:
Most of the animals are known for their 
migration nature and keeping animals like elephant and other predatory species 
captive can make them more aggressive.
5. Inadequate finances:
Maintenance of the zoo is very expensive. Thus, many 
animal establishments struggle to maintain the animals in proper health.
6. No guarantee for animal survival:
Breeding programs established do not 
guarantee the survival of the animals in captivity. The new-born species that 
survive rely on humans for their entire life.
7. Restricts the animal needs:
Elephants are known to travel 30 to 50 
kilometers in a day and confining them in a small zoo is unnatural. This makes it 
difficult to serve the animal.
8. Animal abuse:
Most of the zoos do not focus on studying the animal’s natural 
behaviour and no proper protection is offered to them. Visitors can throw some 
objects to the animal, resulting in negative effects.
9. Killing of animals: 
Due to limited space in the zoo, surplus animals are killed 
or transferred to the new zoo.
10. Affects mental and psychological health:
When the animals captured from 
the wild are forced to live in confined areas, it results in depression.

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Arguments for and Against Zoos 
Do zoos still have a place in the world?
A zoo is a place where captive animals are put on display for humans to see. 
While early zoos (shorted from zoological parks) concentrated on displaying as 
many unusual creatures as possible—often in small, cramped conditions—the 
focus of most modern zoos is conservation and education. While zoo advocates 
and conservationists argue that zoos save endangered species and educate the 
public, many animal rights activists believe the cost of confining animals 
outweighs the benefits, and that the violation of the rights of individual 
animals—even in efforts to fend off extinction—cannot be justified.