http://tinyurl.com/ohd53

Is it just me?
Or am I just becoming more conscious of what we do to living things in the world? Do we really need zoos?
Do you go to the zoo? How do you feel about them?

Do you think a zoo is on the same level with a circus for using animals for their purposes but not to the benefit of the animals?

Oh that's sad.

I believe zoos play an important role if they "advance wildlife conservation and promote the study of zoology". Some zoos do this very well -- The Bronx Zoo, I believe does this very well. The San Diego Zoo also does this extremely well.

The circus, on the other hand, simply exploit the animals for profit, IMO. I dislike the circus.

I hate zoos. If they were doing a good job "advancing wildlife conservation" they'd be in the habitat protection business, not the reproduction-in-captivity business.

They are simply freak shows really. People look at each animal an average of 14 seconds and learn nothing.

If they played any role at all in educating people, from the Victorians to modern day society - we'd all be well informed on the subject (and doing something about it!).

Unfortuantely, if people want to learn about animals they have to get out in nature. Learning about an animal in a zoo is like understanding grapes without having ever had a wonderful wine.

There are zoos and there are zoos. AZA accredited zoos meet standards and regulations for animal care.

Wliwl: Many zoos are seriously involved in conservation efforts and in re-introducing species to the wild. Our local zoo has been involved in the re-introduction of the red wolf to the wild. Here's some info: http://www.fws.gov/alligatorriver/redwolf.html The captive breeding programs they mention were in zoos. Additionally, our zoo has and continues to raise $ to conserve wildlife habitat all over the world.

Many of these zoos try to educate and inform people about conservation; honestly, many people don't want to hear it. They may feel sorry for endangered or threatened animals, but they don't want to do anything about it.

That said, there are zoo workers who feel that some species (such as elephants) belong in reserves, not zoos.

As far as exploiting animals for profit, it's not only circuses; think of theme parks, dolphin swim programs, etc.

I would urge anyone who loves wild animals to become informed about conserving animals and their habitats.
http://www.worldwildlife.org/
http://www.wcs.org/
http://www.aza.org/

I won't go anywhere that exploits animals no matter how much good they do for wildlife conservation.

As one who donates on a regular basis to the World Wildlife Fund, the National Wildlife Federation and a few others: we are running out of space and habitat for animals. That's the bottom line. Zoos can help promote an awareness of wildlife and animals and the way things are going, the only place some of these animals will ever be seen is in zoos. Even if a species isn't extinct, when the gene pool gets too small, they don't have a great future. Until population explosion, poverty, war, exploitation of the land can be haulted, that's just the way it is. The earth has about 53 billion years left before the sun goes super nova, and there will be many changes, and my feeling is many of those changes do not included mankind.

I'm mostly against zoos based upon my belief but I don't feel as bad for the animals if they have room to roam as they do at the Pittsburgh Zoo. They have an African savannah section where they are not even in cages. At the Aqua Zoo part they've reconstructed larger tanks for the marine life.

Hi Scarlett, I believe the SF Zoo has or will be removing the last of their elephants.

I don't like to see animals locked up either. Even when I was a little girl it bothered me.

Zoos, aquariums, animal parks and marine worlds all bother me. I grew up at the beach and when I went to the Monterey Aquarium I didn't stay long. When we took the kids they wanted to leave after an hour.

I don't think the zoo is so much like a circus. I think zoos do serve a purpose for those animals that could not be returned to the wild after some event that caused them to be removed. It's not like they should be abandon but I wouldn't want an animal taken from the wild and placed in and environment solely for my entertainment. I'm not inherently entitled to see all animals up close and personal just because I live on the same planet as they do.