10 Reasons Zoos Are Bad for the Planet

6. Animals Driven Crazy
There are telltale signs of when a human being has begun to descend into 
madness. Talking loudly to oneself aloud, twitching uncontrollably, and drastic 
mood swings. The truth is that animals can also demonstrate traits of mental 
illness.
In the 1990s, a polar bear named Gus, in the Central Park Zoo, scared visitors 
and caretakers alike by “compulsively swimming figure eights in his pool, 
sometimes for 12 hours a day.” Visitors witnessed Gus stalking children from his 
underwater window, which eventually prompted zoo staff to put up barriers to 
keep him from scaring them. Gus came to be known as the “bipolar bear.” 
There are numerous cases just like Gus’s of animals taken from the wild, unable 
to cope with losing their families and becoming withdrawn and sick. It’s a 

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reminder that humans need to understand that these animals are sentient 
beings that can feel, and that can experience pain.
7. Mistreatment of Animals
There are a lot of stories that will make you lose a little faith in your fellow man. 
We’ve decided to highlight just a few of these cowardly actions. Our American 
readers can breath a sigh of relief, as the worst instances have occurred abroad. 
In 2010, the Shenyang Forest Wild Animal Zoo allowed 11 of its Siberian tigers 
to starve to death in “cold, cramped metal cages.” To make matters worse, the 
Siberian tiger is an endangered animal.
Another horrific case of abuse also took place in China, with animal rights 
activists chronicling cases of “live monkey fights, bears forced to walk across 
tightropes, and lions that were beaten so that they’d jump through flaming 
hoops.” An internal review in China found that in just three months, there were 
more than 50 zoos that were documented abusing their animals. The 
outrageous behaviour continued on after the poor animals were dead, as many 
of the zoos were found to sell rare dead animals to dining establishments for 
supplemental income. For many endangered animals, that meant a journey of 
captivity and abuse to dinner plates.