Both Wonderful Husband and Bestest Daddy thought I didn’t make my point well enough in my article: Freedom is Priceless, it’s true – work is taking away valuable blogging time and the article suffered as a consequence.
So I’m trying again.
I’m trying again to convince people that zoos are not built for the animals, but rather for the money they can make from the animals.
Deep breath. Here we go…
I received a lot of feedback on Freedom is Priceless (version one), mostly saying that only some zoos were bad and that most of them actually cared about the rehabilitation of animals. However my argument is even in the ‘best’ zoos, animals are taken into captivity and suffer as a consequence.
Zoos are incredibly misleading. Working under the guise of helping animals whilst actually keeping them in cages. Genius.
Here’s an example… 
The ZSL Whipsnade Zoo in England has a Rhinos of Nepal exhibit (they even call it an ‘exhibit’!). If the Nepalese Rhino was in danger of becoming extinct then maybe ZSL Whipsnade Zoo could be seen as trying to save the species (although transporting rhinos from Nepal to England doesn’t sound that great to me). However in 2015 it was reported that the number of Nepalese rhinos had dramatically increased because the Nepalese army and anti-poaching associations in Nepal had been successful in deterring poachers. Nepal had made a fantastic effort to protect their rhinos, in their natural environment, without putting them in zoos and yet ZSL Whipsnade Zoo have stated
‘The captive population in zoos is now stable and viable as an insurance policy in case of extinctions of the wild populations.’
Oh so now it’s ok to pull animals from their natural environment, plonk them somewhere random, earn money from them, keep them in captivity for the rest of their life JUST INCASE they go extinct. Well that’s ok then!
You’re getting my sarcasm, right? Now here’s another example of businesses claiming to care for animals…
Below is the same picture as the cover photo above, it’s a bird’s eye view of SeaWorld in San Diego (you can find it on Google Maps). The blue outline represents the whale enclosure and the yellow outline is the carpark. A simple drawing like this gives us the very obvious, dark feeling that SeaWorld care more about finding space for customers to park, so that those customers can spend their money and watch the whales that live within the tiny confines of the blue line, far more than the actual whales.
Now people may argue that SeaWorld do great things for animals and they use all the money that they make from their parks to rescue more animals. However, imagine an adoption association that needs money to help the children they care for, so they take a very small proportion of their children and make them work in factories. Then the adoption agency takes the children’s wages and uses it to help the rest of the children. Would this be ok?
I genuinely hope you’re saying ‘no’.
Zoos are businesses that make money from exploiting animals under the guise of helping many more animals. This isn’t ok. And for the people that say some zoos are good… I challenge you, name me one. I look forward to hearing about the zoo that doesn’t keep animals captive, outside of their natural environment, whilst making money from them.
Thanks for reading 💚
The Crumby Vegan 
I agree with you whole heatedly….
The only zoo I have seen that has any merit is in Singapore where many of the animals are in parks rather than cages… in particular, the Orang Utangs are completely free to go out into the wild at any time they like… but obviously they come back for free food…..😉
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Thanks for this comment Keith 🙂
I checked out the orangutans enclosure at Singapore zoo and it doesn’t look like they have access to the wild, I could be wrong but I can’t find evidence of freedom online.
I completely agree though, of could parks are better than cages, although a park (with walls) is simply a bigger cage. We’d be upset if one of our family members were made to live in a big house and weren’t let out for example 💚
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I think this is a more convincing article. I like how you provided examples of how zoos keep animals captive. What I am wondering though is this: How can we as a society keep animals alive and thriving, but not confine them unnecessarily for people’s entertainment? How would we keep away the poachers from the animals’ natural habitat?
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Thanks for this Patricia! I think Nepal have done a fantastic job with their rhinos for example, using methods to deter the poachers – I’d much rather give them my money then head to a zoo. Lots of schemes are in place to protect animals and also we need to educate countries that the parts of these animals are not medicinal (which is usually the misunderstanding) and the reason for poaching 💚
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I agree! I haven’t really put too much thought into it before or challenged the idea, but I hear you! I see where you are coming from and you make valid points. I really like how you bring awareness to others on these topics and challenge their thinking. Keep at it girl!
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Thank you soooo much 🙂 Support like yours is invaluable! 💚
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ugh – I cannot stand zoos or places like Sea World – I’m actually really torn because my family is going to the Atlantis for spring break & my niece is dying to pet & swim with dolphins & it makes me so uncomfortable because I feel bad for them!
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Yea that must be hard, I feel like I’ll have the same problems if I ever have children, although all we can do is educate 💚
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Great point about the large parking lot and small enclosure. We have to remember that these places are businesses and are (usually) just out for the money.
-Jennifer
https://maunelegacy.com
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Absolutely Jennifer! It’s all about money and thank you for seeing that 💚
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Many of the places we enjoy visiting are businesses who are trying to make money. However, I don’t feel like this is the only motivation for being in business universally.
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It’s a good point but I’m not sure what that has to do with this article and zoos? 💚
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Very good that you are pointing this out. I read on so many blogs how cute attractions involving animals are. The worst part is, that these people are taking their kids there, too, so they learn from little that you can just use and abuse animals.
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This is one of the best comments I’ve ever had on my blog. You are sooooo right!! By taking children to zoos we are teaching them that it’s ok to keep animals captive – how screwed up is that!?
Thank you so, so much for your comment! 💚
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You know I never thought about Zoo’s being a bad thing until I read this article. I almost feel like I shoudn’t even give them my money anymore. I appreciate your way of thinking. It makes a lot of sense!
http://www.officiallychic.com
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I really appreciate you taking the time to read and think about this topic. Zoos are packaged so perfectly as a fun and educational activity for the whole family, but that is what advertising is supposed to do. If we really see zoos for what they actually are, then it’s a business that makes money from locking up animals.
Thank you so much for commenting 💚
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My husband worked for a zoo after college. They must have treated the animals humanely as he’s very passionate about treating animals well. I think he saw his role as trying to teach kids that animals are living and are meant to be respected (he was an educator for the zoo). But I can definitely see how there could be abuses at some zoos.
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Thanks for this comment Erica, but I haven’t argued that animals are being abused at the zoos. I’ve argued that it’s wrong to take their freedom away in order to make money 💚
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I love how representative the drawing of SeaWorld is- they have done a good job at making whales more accessible for people, but at the cost of the whales. I am a huge anti captivity opponent for orcas, and I agree that many zoos do not have the animals at the forefront of their minds. One zoo that I do believe does a great job in caring for, providing adequate enclosures for, and giving back to conservation efforts for animals is the San Diego Zoo!
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Ah I like that you’ve named a zoo… So I took a look at San Diego zoo. You’re right in the sense that it is rated top zoo in the world (according to Trip Advisor) and they might care for their animals, but clearly not enough to not put them in enclosures as well as climates that they are not used to. A quick read of the many reviews on Trip Advisor were saying ‘the animals seem sad’, ‘the pandas went inside for the air-conditioning’ etc. I really appreciate you coming forward with a suggestion though 💚
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It’s really sad to read how animals are treated in zoo and safari parks! I thought some of the big ones like San Diego Safari Park and zoo would be better but at the end, they are all tourist attractions and not really animal-care facilities!
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You’re right… They all depend on making money from the tourists, they can always get more animals so we know, unfortunately, where their priorities lie 😦 💚
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