Advantages and Disadvantages of Keeping Animals in Zoos (Lyceum)

Zoos provide people with the opportunity to peer into the wild without actually traveling to distant locations around the world, searching for rare or exotic animals. Zoos contain a range of animals, depending on the size; some contain large animals, such as giraffes, elephants and lions, and even large and venomous snakes.

Advantage: Education

• One of the central advantages -- at least in terms of human advantages -- lies in the education that people receive when visiting a zoo. They receive firsthand knowledge of how animals behave and act. Most zoos also provide interactive shows with some of the animals during specific times throughout the week. Surrounding the exhibits, zoos usually have information describing the animal, its history and natural location. Learning about animals also brings empathy to many people, raising awareness about their endangerment in the wild, which can often be attributed to human causes.

Advantage: Breeding

• Zoos often take an active approach in helping animal populations. For dwindling species, many zoos breed captive species in an attempt to increase the numbers. After raising sufficient numbers of the populations, the animals can then be released into the wild in an attempt to encourage population growth. Many animals have been tremendously helped this way, including famous zoo residents such as the white tiger and panda bear.

Disadvantage: Captivity

• The downside to keeping animals in a zoo is the captivity they face. No matter how nice the zoo is, room is limited for zoo animals, which can be especially troublesome for large animals that are prone to roaming. Taking animals out of their habitat serves as an ethical issue because of its focus on human benefit as opposed to animal benefit, with the exceptions of captive breeding and freeing animals from an otherwise dangerous situation.

Disadvantage: Upkeep Issues

• Keeping animals in a zoo in most circumstances and within most countries is acceptable because of the respect given to the animals and their environment; however, not all zoos are created equal. Although most zoos are built as nice abodes, others lacking proper maintenance can create poor living conditions for animals. These zoos’ poor upkeep can encourage disease and poor animal health.

Fill the gaps in the essay with the correct word or phrase from the list below.
 Another drawback is        One advantage of          Personally,          In addition,        On the other hand,      There is no doubt that           Another positive aspect of          To conclude,

 1 __________________________ the subject of keeping animals in zoos creates a lot of debate. Some people say zoos are traditional family entertainment and good for animals. Others say keeping animals in zoos is cruel and inhumane. 

2 __________________________ zoos is that they give people the chance to see and learn about animals. This makes people more likely to want to look after animals and protect their natural habitats. 3 __________________________ zoos is that they help to protect endangered species by offering them a safe place to live. 4 __________________________ zoos help to find mates for endangered species. For example, many pandas would not find a mate to breed with if they were on their own in the wild. 

5 __________________________ there are many arguments against keeping animals in zoos. Firstly, zoo animals often suffer from stress and boredom when they are not in their natural habitat. Secondly, unwanted animals are sometimes sold to circuses, hunting parks or for meat. 6 __________________________ that animals sometimes escape from their enclosures, which is dangerous for humans.

 7 __________________________ there are strong arguments for and against keeping animals in zoos. 8 __________________________ I think it is acceptable to keep animals in zoos, as long as they have enough space and are properly looked after.