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Well if you ask me, I have two opinions on Zoos... One bad opinion, and one good opinion.

1. GOOD OPINION:
Well they're kept safe within their place they live in the zoo... it's technically not a cage... more like a little mini environment ><
They get fed and cared for as well.

2. BAD OPINION:
Well... they're kinda kept in small areas at times. Like the birds/bats. They don't get much room to fly around. The other mammals, such as the mole rats, bairly have any room.

So, yeah... ninja
What're yous guysez opinions? neutral

Some zoos are much, much easier to identify as "bad" than others.
I do believe that the San Diego Zoo has done many wonderful things.

Keeping animals in habitats that could never compare to the actual wild for entertainment and exploit is wrong.

I'm still sort of trying to find my own stance on the zoo thing though. XD

There's some useful information about zoos here:

http://www.captiveanimals.org/zoos/factsheet.htm

Hmm... I think you make some good points.

Hypothetically, I would be in favour of a zoo if it:
1) Had a conservation program to breed endangered species (not unthreatened species) and return them to the wild where their habitat is also being protected.
2) Didn't catch animals from the wild, unless they were from a seriously threatened species and they were caught to be part of a breeding program with the aim of releasing individuals.
3) Had large enclosures which mimicked the animals natural habitat as much as possible where the animals had space to run and to hide away from human view when they wanted. No cages or concrete cells.

I can't think of any zoos I've come across that fufil the above critera although I'm open minded to hope that there are some. It is worthwhile to campaign for better conditions and bigger enclosures but there are some zoos in which the conditions are so awful they'd be better off closed down. One small zoo near me which I've helped campaign against is an example. The owner doesn't have the money (or refuses to spend it) or the land to increase the enclosure sizes. The owner was previously convicted of illegally breeding tigers and keeping tigers in unsuitable conditions. An investigation also found him out to be supplying tigers to a circus. A lynx was killed in the zoo by a keeper who hit the animal with a broom.
Wolves have been shot because of "fighting caused by overcrowing". This zoo is hopefully set to be closed down soon - I do hope they take the animals somewhere better though. sweatdrop

Although I agree that educating and fostering a love of animals in children is important - I don't think this is a justification for breeding non-endangered species just for display. It's fair enough for animals that are so friendly with humans or disabled in some way that would make them unable to survive in the wild to be kept in captivity - in the best possible conditions. As long as they have a good quality of life it's a far better option than euthanasing them or releasing them to a rapid and certain death.

As a young child I remember feeling sorry for the caged animals I saw in zoos. They always looked to me to be sad or bored. One I visited had a pair of Siberian tigers in a caged enclosure about twice the size of my living room with only a large log to climb on or try to hide behind away from people's gaze.
For me, theres a far greater pleasure to be gained from watching animals in their natural habitat. I have observed badgers from sitting in a tree, watched ospreys, kingfishers and other birds from a hide and come across other wild animals including foxes, moles, weasels, stoats and hares while walking in the countryside.

In my opinion there's a greater value for children to be able to see wildlife in it's natural habitat displaying it's natural behaviour (without disturbing it of course).

Badger, you also bring up some very valid points, and I'm definitely with you on getting that zoo shut down. There's no excuse for that; it's only pure laziness that someone would do something like that. It's horrible to think that people actually think that it's OK to let animals live like that. It makes me want to put that person through the same thing, just so they can get a taste of what it's like.

I'm also against circuses; I think it's incredibly inhumane to train otherwise naturally wild animals to do stupid tricks and live in poor conditions between shows. The circuses with clowns and tightrope acts are fine with me; just keep the animals out of it. It's humiliating.

Every year our state fair has an "exotic petting zoo." I remember my parents taking me there as a child, but a few years later I went (I think I was about 21 at this time) with a friend and she really wanted to see the animals. I refused to pay them for what they're doing to these animals. I eventually gave in, and to balance out my money given to them, I was doing mental "research." I saw several animals, large animals, like tigers, lions, and other big cats, as well as camels, kangaroos, etc in extremely small cages with no sun coming in (this whole thing was in a tent), with only straw bedding underneath. A lot of the animals were pacing their enclosures, and the extent of petting in this "zoo" was very limited. Me being nearly about to cry, we left the tent and I walked up to the lady at the cashier table. "Excuse me," I said. "Where do you keep these animals when they're not on show?" She looked at me for a moment, dumbstruck, and after some hesitation, she replied "They live ona huge farm in Missouri. They have a lot of room ro run around in." I nodded and continued. "Do you have any like pamphlets or information on your ranch?" To which she pointed in a direction away from the tent "The owner is over there if you want to talk to him." I took it as a no, and being the chicken s**t I am sometimes, decided against confronting him, also knowing that I wouldn't get much more information from him either. Needless to say, I was very upset.

I think places like that need to be shut down. They're not doing anything to benefit wildlife, and only themselves. If some of these places are using their profits for wildlife conservation, then I take some of my statement back, but they could find another viable way of making money.

So, sorry to go on a tangent there, but it's just a little example of how much I do agree with you on some things. I also agree that watching wildlife in natural habitat is much more enlightening for children, and much more educational. Unfortunately, a lot of children don't have the advantage of taking trips to the woods since we seem to be overpopulated with growing cities and less and less wildlands, another reason zoos may be more prevalant than ever before. Perhaps someday we (the world) can come to an agreement on zoos and the environment!

Eek, long post again. Sorry, I tend to ramble. redface

I don't like zoos at all... they're like animal jails. I hate watching sometimes on TV how depressive they look while people are taking pictures or throwing things at them even when they're told not to ¬¬. Zoos aren't necessary if you think well about it. There's National Geographic Channel, Discovery Channel, or any other independent channel that watches animals from the distance while in their habitat.

so zoo's are bad/good like everything else it's not fair to generalize but it's hard to keep an eye on all zoo's so maybe zoo's should be closed and only preserves should exist with access to the public for tours and such

In a perfect world where humans were capable of co-existing with nature instead of destroying it, zoos would be unneccessary, but in the modern world, with the rampant destruction going on today, I think it's good to have somewhere that animals of endangered species can live. I would prefer it was on wildlife preserves instead of zoos, but I'll take what I can get.