Animals in zoos
Is it morally wrong to keep animals in zoos?
The animal rights answer
It is wrong if animals have rights because:
- it treats the animal as a means to achieve some human end
- it fails to treat animals with the respect they deserve
- it violates the animal's right to live in freedom
The animal welfare answer
From the welfare point of view it is wrong to keep an animal in a zoo if the animal has a less pleasant life than it would have outside the zoo.
Reasons why people think keeping animals in zoos is bad for their welfare:
- the animal is deprived of its natural habitat
- the animal may not have enough room
- the animal is deprived of its natural social structure and companionship
- the animal is forced into close proximity with other species and human beings which may be unnatural for it
- the animal may become bored, depressed and institutionalised
- animals bred in zoos may become imprinted on human beings rather than members of their own species - this prevents them fully experiencing their true identity
- although animals may live longer lives in zoos than in the wild, they may experience a lower quality of life
There is more to treating animals in an appropriate way than keeping them healthy: It's possible (and used to be common) for zoos to keep animals in perfect physical shape, but in conditions that cause the animals to display serious behavioural problems.
Zoos and conservation
But where a zoo is keeping animals in order to preserve a species that is under threat in the wild, and treats its animals in an appropriate way, then this is morally acceptable from the welfare point of view.
Some animal activists argue that the conservation argument is flawed. They list the following weaknesses:
- a zoo may be unable to keep a large enough number of individuals to provide a sufficiently varied gene pool for the species to breed without problems
- where animals are rare and hard to breed in captivity, removing specimens from the wild to zoos may result in the population falling
- returning animals to the wild is difficult
- the benefits to the overall species population do not compensate the individual animals for the negative effects of living in a zoo
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Circuses
Circuses and other animal entertainments
The animal rights answer
The use of animals to entertain human beings is wrong because:
- it treats the animal as a means to achieve some human end
- it fails to treat animals with the respect they deserve
- it violates the animal's right to live in freedom
The animal welfare answer
The use of animals to entertain human beings is wrong from the welfare point of view because:
- it removes animals from their natural habitat and social structure
- it involves the animal in performances that are foreign to their natural behaviour
- it may involve cruelty during the show (e.g. bullfighting, rodeos)
- it may involve cruelty in training the animal
- it may involve cruelty in the way the animal is kept and transported
- animals can be taught to perform provided their minimum needs for food and shelter are met; proper respect for animals requires better treatment than the minimum
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