Imagine living your life in a bathtub.

Spending all day, everyday within four porcelain walls

with no socialization. Many people believe that zoos are concerned with the best interest of the animals
they house. They are under the impression that they are helping the animals to live longer, healthier
lives all the while conserving the species. In reality, zoos are a business concerned with making money
above all else. They treat animals as commodities, trading, killing off and borrowing them like baseball
cards. Zoos are in fact the detriment to the animal kingdom in that they lessen species diversity, reduce
lifespans and cause a life full of pain and misery, all of which is understood and felt by the animals
themselves. With these facts, I pose this question: If we wouldn't want this life for ourselves, why do
we condone it being thrust upon others?

Prior to contrary belief, breeding programs greatly reduce species diversity and are detrimental
to the health of various types of animals. The programs that zoos and aquariums have implemented to
rejuvenate endangered animals are all but an illusion. Zoo officials lead the public to believe that they
are putting forward their best effort to preserve species that are nearing extinction. This, however, is not
the case. A vast number of conservation scientists believe these programs to be a diversion for the
actual reason for a species' decline in population. The zoos give the public a false impression that the
animals are safe in order for habitat destruction to continue without any sense of remorse. In addition to
this fact, these programs greatly reduce species diversity. The removal of animals from the wild to put
them in zoos greatly reduce the diversity of the animals left. With smaller numbers, the remaining
animals in the wild have more trouble finding a mate. Furthermore, why should an individual animals
right to live a full, healthy life be infringed for the sake of a species? The conservation of said species is
reliant on another animals sacrifice of happiness. This isn't fair. All animals should be treated with an
equal amount of respect, despite their level of endangerment. They should all have the right to live fully
free and in the wild.

In addition to the great negative affects of breeding programs in zoos, animals are proven to
have a shorter lifespan in captivity then they do in the wild. Often, zoo keepers and officials maintain
that animals live much longer in captivity due to the well balanced diets, controlled environment and
safety from predators. This is not the case. Often animals are euthanized by zoo workers. Mauris, a
healthy two year old giraffe, was killed to prevent inbreeding in a Denmark zoo in February 2014.
Ignoring the offers of other zoos offering to take Mauris in, Lesley Dickie, Executive Director of the
European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA), gave the okay to have him killed. Her reasoning
behind this was that it fit within EAZA guidelines. Mauris was dissected in front of zoo visitors,
children included, and then fed to the zoos resident lions- all while the public looked on. Fewer than
two months later, these four same lions, two older and two younger cubs were also killed. These
animals, an endangered species, were euthanized for the simple reason that the zoo could not find a
new home for them. This form of death, amongst others, are common occurrences in zoos. Some
animals live less than half of their possible life span in captivity. Orca whales in the wild have an
average life expectancy of 30 to 50 years. The median age of Orcas in captivity is only 9. This
shortened lifespan is not only prevalent in whales and sea mammals. A study done by scientists from
the RSPCA and Zoological Society of London examined data on more than 4,500 African and Asian
elephants and found that those housed in zoos have a three times shorter lifespan than those who reside
in African Wildlife parks. Elephants had an average life span of 16.9 years in zoos compared with 56
years in Kenya's Amboseli National Park. The simple fact that zoos maintain that they love their
animals is completely made invalid by the fact that the euthanize them.

Above all else, the main reason why wild animals should not be kept in captivity is because
they are free thinking, sentient beings. They have unique thoughts and emotions and can feel pain and
hurt, just as how you and I can. Animals require stimulation and interaction with others in order to be
well rounded and healthy. An Orca whale in the wild would swim up to one hundred miles a day,

playing, hunting for food and socializing. Compare that to the tiny tanks they are housed in and
mindless repetitive tricks that they are tasked with doing, and the differences are apparent. Whales at
SeaWorld would have to swim the circumference of the main pool 1,900 times in one day to swim that
same distance. With the lack of space and stimulation, whales often begin exhibiting erratic and
harmful behaviour. Orcas in captivity gnaw at iron bars and concrete from stress, anxiety, and boredom.
Wild whales spend their lives travelling vast distances underwater. The water current and pressure
against the dorsal fin helps to shape it into an erect position. On the other hand, whales in captivity
spend most of their time floating at the surface of their small pools. Because they do not spend their
time submerged in great depths the dorsal fin, the pride of the male Orca, slowly begins to collapse and
flop over. A whale named Kiska is currently being housed in Marineland, in Niagara Falls Ontario. She
was taken from the wild as a calf and has been living in the cramped quarters at Marineland for her
entire life. She has since been called, the world's loneliest orca. Marine mammal scientist Naomi
Rose said of Kiska, Her fin seems to have some kind of progressive condition an infection that is
causing the tissue to lose its integrity. She is NOT in good condition. Having been to Marineland
myself as a child on a school trip, this is absolutely appalling. The facade that Marineland puts on is
absolutely false- they are not helping these animals, they are harming them.

Zoos and aquariums are inhumane and the people who support them are ignorant and cruel.
They may seem on the surface to helping, but this is not the case. These wild animals being housed in
captivity are suffering, and it is up to us to put an end to it. We must be the voice for animals who
cannot speak for themselves.