10 Reasons Zoos Are Bad for the Planet

4. Kids Don’t Become Conservationists
As we’ve mentioned, zoos do 
seem 
to have a great impact on children. Seeing 
their favourite animals appears to make them more excited and interested in 
the topic of conservationism. The truth is that zoos don’t truly have this sort of 
impact. A study conducted by Conservation Biology found that the majority of 
2,800 children who visited the London Zoo demonstrated no positive learning 
outcomes at all. Not only were the children deemed to have not learned 
anything on the trip, but many even came back with a negative experience.

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Authors of the study argue that despite zoos promoting themselves as offering 
educational programs for children, the programs fail to impact kids. The notion 
that animals need to be kept in captivity to help educate children about 
conservation seemingly falls on its head. Other methods can surely be 
developed to make children interested in the wildlife without seeing animals in 
person. If dinosaurs can still be a fascinating for children, surely chimpanzees in 
the wild can.
5. Dangerous For Animals
Despite not having predators in their environments, animals are still in danger 
by living in Zoos. Years ago, at the Dallas Zoo, a gorilla named Jabari tried to 
escape. Jabari managed to jump over the walls and moats that imprisoned him 
and even evaded the electrified wires, only to be fatally shot by police. While 
seeking an escape from his confinement would be more than worthy for Jabari’s 
actions, it turns out teenagers were taunting the animal with rocks prior to his 
escape.
In 2005, two polar bears died within weeks of each other at the St. Louis Zoo, 
and both deaths were preventable. Churchill died after ingesting an object that 
was thrown into the exhibit, while Penny died from an infection that was caused 
by having two dead fetuses in her uterus. There are countless cases of animal 
deaths at zoos that were preventable and were caused by the nature of zoos 
themselves. If zoos repeatedly lead to the unnatural deaths of animals, maybe 
the zoos themselves have become the predatory entities?