For children, going to the zoo is often one of the most exciting activities — whether it is with family, friends or on a school-trip. With the opportunity to see exotic animals up close, many of them native to countries thousands of miles away, it’s not difficult to see why both kids and adults love it — particularly people with limited opportunities to venture to reservation parks in Africa, or jungles in South America. And yet, while seeing a lion, giraffe or an elephant with our own eyes is a wonderful experience, seeing them surrounded by fences should not be a part of that. This element makes it easy to understand why vegans and animal rights advocates object to zoos. But, why else should we choose to boycott these imprisoning institutions?
Many see zoos as a source of human entertainment that is, ultimately, achieved at the expense of animals. While taking youngsters to see these creatures may be considered enjoyable or educational, they are still being held in captivity for our entertainment. There are ways for us to educate children without taking them to see animals through the bars of a cage. What’s more, while some zoos provide large spaces for their animals to roam, these will never be big enough. For example, elephants walk up to 50 miles a day in the wild; no zoo can provide the space capable of allowing this. Similarly, orcas swim more than 100 miles a day in the ocean, and yet, they are expected to make do with living in sizeable pools of water in aquariums. To do the same in the average water tank used for captive whales, they would have to swim over 1,500 lengths per day. Regardless of the size of the tank, their natural habitat is the ocean — no tank can ever compare to that. It is truly heart breaking to consider that some whales (as well as numerous other animals) are born into captivity, never experiencing their natural habitat and never roaming uninhibited.
“Elephants walk up to 50 miles a day in the wild; no zoo can provide the space capable of allowing this”