Zoo's are inhuman

First off I feel like I should point out that inhuman has multiple meanings (both of which do have relevance to the topic, they were just used in the wrong context). 1.) Lacking human qualities of compassion and mercy; cruel and barbaric. 2.) Not human in nature or character. I may have got the word wrong as what I meant was inhumane which means: 1.) without compassion for misery or suffering; cruel. and the example off the online dictionary for this is: "confining wild horses is inhumane" This is the correct word and I apologize for my mistake. Now to the for real debate... I will attempt to rebuttal all of you points above. 1.) Zoo's allow a safe home for endangered animals. This is a good point as it is true physically but how psychologically safe are they is another question? Based on the statistics "only 1000 out of 6000 species contained in zoos are endangered" why do we need to have the other 5000 species in zoos if zoos are "helping" the endangered ones? What we have to take into account is the fact that animals are locked in a small containment area like a prisoner. Being in the same place for majority of these animals lives will most definitely take toll. What if you were the animal? What if you were in this small containment area for your entire life? Do you not think that there would be a psychological toll on your state of mind from the everyday routine and torment from people everyday? What we have to consider is the conditions it is done under. People come to zoo's every day to look at these majestic creatures. People are loud pointing and screaming around the containment area everyday. Don't you think that every day getting woken up by screaming and being surrounded everyday wouldn't make you feel trapped? Endangered animals do deserve to survive and humans can help with this. Endangered animals are generally put in captivity breeding programs true but there are other options other than zoo's, for example; wildlife reserves and conservation facilities. Putting animals endangered or not on display like paintings at an art gallery is inhumane, it is cruel making these animals miserable from doing the same thing everyday, seeing the same blade of grass everyday. Personally that would drive me insane in itself, but then there is more. These animals are are surrounded by noise of kids running around the enclosures screaming all day long. There are alternative ways that a zoo could operate such as; One-sided or allow small groups of people to go through at a time. Understandably this is less efficient but for the welfare for the inhumane treatment of animals I believe it is worth it. Besides it's not anyone's right to control these animals, who gave people the right to take an Elephant from its heard, a Parrot from its open blue skies, Pandas from their bamboo forest, you get the point. In a general zoo they unnecessarily stress the animals out, stress can lead to both psychological and physical negative effects including potential death. Please explain to me how forcing these animals live in "safe" conditions is more superior to living in their own habitat with their own kind living as nature intended it? So overall my point is that animals do deserve to get help reversing their endangerment, but this should be done in a way were they would not rather die. Being in a calm enjoyable environment such as a scenic reserve can also relate to a faster reproduction rate as the animals are not constantly stressed and concerned for their young. 2.) Another good point with but with a few flaws. You are completely right in saying that the zoo animals have their health and eating closely monitored by experts, but this brings me back to my last point about stress. If the animals are being constantly being poked and prodded by people, being watched by others majority of the day this causes stress, and stress can cause animals to go off their food which no expert nutritionist can force them to eat (unless they shove it down their throats" Inhumane). Your other point about a safe and secure environment is also only partly true as stress makes an environment unsafe as the animals can cause harm to themselves trying to escape the vision of spectators or escape in general. Also as another one of my links above states, animals in zoos are much more likely to catch diseases and sicknesses which even with being monitored constantly can be fatal . This is a quote from that website: "Most zoo exhibits provide animals with little, if any, opportunity to express natural behavior or make choices in their daily lives, and this can lead to boredom and neurosis. With nothing to do, animals in zoos sleep too much, eat too much, and exhibit behavior that is rarely, if ever, seen in the wild. Primates throw feces and engage in "regurgitation and reingestion""vomiting and then consuming the vomit." Wide-ranging animals such as bears and big cats pace incessantly. Primates and birds mutilate themselves, and chimpanzees and gorillas become overly aggressive. Hoofed animals lick and chew on fences and make strange lip, neck, and tongue movements. Giraffes twist their necks, bending their heads back and forth repeatedly. Elephants bob their heads and sway from side to side. Captive animals might show no interest in mating or alternatively become obsessed with sex. Marine mammals repeatedly swim in the same repetitious patterns in their tanks. Fish suffer too if not more. A study conducted by the Captive Animals" Protection Society concluded that 90 percent of public aquariums studied had animals that showed stereotypic (neurotic) behaviors, such as interacting with transparent boundaries, repeatedly raising their heads above the surface of the water, spinning around an imaginary object, and frequently turning on one side and rubbing along the floor of the tank. 3.) Animals require vast amount of space for example seven female tigers and two male tigers requires an area the size of the District of Columbia. Meanwhile in a zoo the animals is eating (almost always) food grown quickly using fertilizer that takes up much less land, and the animals roams much less land allowing more space for usage Sorry but i am partly confused by this point / statement whether it didn"t make sense or i simply didn"t understand what you meant. Are you trying to say that it would be more efficient for all animals to be in small containment (Or concentrated) areas so that we can grow food for both us and these animals? That would cause even more problems with inhumanity of animals, the only difference to before is that it would be on a much larger scale. 4. You say they are taught survival skills, but essential ones? I believe not. As you said earlier they enter the wild healthy, but how long will that last? training can only go so far. How do they cope when they do begin to starve? How do they cope when they are being hunted? How do they cope when they are being chased, after being in a containment area trying to sleep through the psychological torture of the everyday life of being a prisoner of the zoo. Part of surviving in nature is gaining the experience from growing up in nature. These animals may get a head start, but nature will catch up with them sooner or later. Also, do they have 'tests' to make the animals run for their lives? If they don't then I don't see how teaching them to get their own food is helping when they can't even escape a predator. Sources: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn... http://www.theguardian.com... These links above are very important as it shows that animals in zoos have a lower life expectancy(Not all animals obviously do but the point is still there). How is this beneficial at all to saving the animals? These animals could live twice as long in their natural home enjoying themselves and potentially being more reproductive. http://www.peta.org... This is less related to stress but is still very important at showing some zoo problems. http://books.google.co.nz... This link proves that stress decreases reproduction rates in animals, which zoos can cause. http://nique.net... This article here has the interesting stat showing that only 1'000 of the 6'000 animal species in zoos are actually endangered. Why are we causing unnecessary stress for the other 5000 species? http://www.peta.org... Some more points. Thanks for reading, sorry for the slow reply but life has ways of getting in the way...