It is inhumane for animals to be kept in a zoo

My opponent claims: "What my opponent fails to recognize is that often times Zookeepers are not held subject to a strict code of conduct as Zoos operate in a monolithic sense. Those these people are supposed to be trained in working in this profession I know of a few teenagers who work at zoos and to say that these mere children accurately know how to care for an animal is quite absurd. In addition, I do agree that zookeepers do in fact get attached to the animals it does occur where zookeepers are downright out of line in the treatment of the animals. There have been instances where Gorilla cages have not been cleaned out for weeks, as well as times where zookeepers beat the animals if they do not do what they want. " I am not sure where my opponent has gottent this information from but I do know that zoos are required to have a liecenced zoologist on staff. These people have dedicated their lives to animals it is hard to imagine that they did so while caring so little for animals that they would let them be put in danger or subject to inhumane practices. Additionally the government created the Animal Welfare Act to help govern zoos and zoo practices. -. http://www.animallaw.info... One of the provisions states that the purpose of the act is to establish standards of humane treatment and to monitor and maintain compliance with the act. Basically the government has said that if zoos do not follow the laws for humane treatment then they will be shut down. My opponent claims that there is no law over zoo employees but it couldn't be more clear that there is. The federal government, through the USDA, is charged with making sure that all employees of our nation's zoos are maintaining high ethical standards when it comes to treatment of animals. My opponent also claims that animals are better off in the wild. I believe that this is false for two reasons. The first reason is that animals live longer when they are held in captivity: Signs of senility, or extreme old age, are seldom seen in the wild. Animals living under natural conditions rarely approach their maximum possible age because of very high death rates due to infant mortality, diseases, predators, bad weather, accidents, or competition for food and shelter. For this reason, most of the reliable information about the length of the life span comes from zoos, where accurate records are kept and animals live under conditions almost ideally suited to prolong life. A mouse whose life is measured in months in the wild can survive years of captivity. -. http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov... The second reason I believe it is false to say that animals are better off in the wild is because humans have a tendency to humanize animals. We ascribe to them our own thought process and emotional strata. I agree that animals can certainly think and certainly feel but I believe it is a mistake to humanize them too much. I have heard before that animals long to be free. My opponent did not out right say this but I believe that was the implication in her second argument. I just don't believe this is the case. I believe that the need to be free is a concept that human minds can conceive of, but not animals. I don't believe that animals know what it is to be free, I don't believe they can conceptualize it. I think that many animals would be hard-pressed to tell the difference between a built habitat in a zoo and the real one in the wild. Animals live longer in zoos and lack the ability to be sad about being there. My opponent also contends that animal interaction is not always common in zoos. I have no evidence to back up what I'm about to say other than my observations but I will say that I have been to three zoos in my life, the San Diego zoo once, the Detroit zoo at least twice a year every year for the past twelve years and the Toledo zoo many times but I'm not comfortable setting an exact number. In all these visits to zoos I have never seen a lone animal. There has never been just one elephant by himself or one tiger roaming about. I have always seen at least pairs and usually more than that. So I can't accept the argument that animal interaction is not common in zoos. I will not state that it never happens, but my point remains that when it does happen it is an uncommon occurence.