Written by By Aabha Talwar , a grade 5 student

I know many of us thoroughly enjoy visiting zoos. I for one do not like the experience at all. It gets me all saddened and pained. According to me zoos are merely places of exhibit where people can see animals from foreign lands.  

Animals suffer in captivity

No zoo in the world can make up for an animal’s natural habitat. By taking them away from their habitat and putting them in a zoo means taking them away from their home and natural environment, separating them from their families and taking them to an unknown place. Humans decide on when animals eat, what they can eat, the quantity they can eat, etc.

Animals suffer as they live in fear and are caged and can’t roam vast distances. Animals need their space. Due to the small spaces, many animals become bad tempered and display behavioral disorders. The zoo keepers give them medication to suppress these disorders in the animals. In some zoos, animals are trained to perform tricks and are tortured if they don’t do the tricks.

Many zoos fail to provide basic standard of care

Who knows how much food the animals are actually given? Most animals are not given enough food. There is a lack of veterinary care.

Zoos are not protection and conservation for animals, but are infact animal prisons. All cages in the world won’t stop animals from going extinct. Do our parents take us to the prison to study about prisoners? Then why do we go to a zoo to study about caged animals?

Therefore, I personally think that all zoos should be closed and the animals should be taken back to their natural habitats.

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