Recap of Captivity

For my final blog post I wanted to do a recap of everything I earned about what animals go through in captivity. To do this I found an article about the five things that zoos do not want the public to know about captivity.

 

Captivity Makes Animals Psychotic

In the wild animals walk many miles a day. In captivity wild animals are stuck in one specific spot without stimulation. This creates frustrated animals that are not only endangering themselves, but also the people around them. These animals develop zoochosis, a condition that causes repetitive behavior from swaying and pacing to even hair plucking.

 

Zoos Care About One Thing: Money

Many people come to zoos to see all of the new baby animals. Over breeding causes crowded exhibits. Zoos do not care about the animals' need and end up sending excess animals to other zoos, circuses, and even canned hunting. They will trade, loan, or sell the adult animals who aren't making as much money as they did when they were younger.

 

 

 

Zoos Do Not Help Animals

Many zoos claim the reason that they exist is to increase the animals population through breeding programs and protect endangered species. The animals that they claim to be released back into the wild will never be returned due to loss of instinct and the inability to fend for themselves. Keeping animals in cages does not help the wild population in any way. The only way to help protect endangered animals is to protect their habitats.

 

 

 

Zoos are Not Educational

Zoos claim to be educational tools for young audiences, but they only teach kids that it is okay to keep wild animals in cages. Visitors most of the time never read the display signs and rarely learn about the animals species. The signs barely cover more than the animal's species, diet, and natural range. An animal's normal behavior is not discussed because they do not get to live normal lives at the zoos.

 

 

Zoos are Dangerous for Animals and People

Many distressed animals try to escape their enclosures. This leads to animals and people being killed. Many animals have also died from eating objects that were thrown into their cages by visitors. Many animals also have hurt themselves on enclosures that were unsafe.

 

 

"5 Secrets Zoos Don't Want You to Know | Save Animals | PETA Kids." PETA Kids. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 May 2016.

Endangered Species in Captivity?

Many people wonder if endangered species should be kept in captivity. I found an article that relates to this topic. It is called "Should Zoos Keep Endangered Species?" by Doris Lin. Doris Lin is an animal rights expert an has many wonderful article about these topics.

 

Oppose Keeping Endangered Species in Zoos

Individual animals have sentience and have rights, but a species as a whole does not have sentience and no rights. Keeping animals in a zoo takes away their freedom the their ability to live a happy life. The main question is: Is it more important to save the species or for the individual to live a fulfilling life. Also, removing breeding individuals from the wild population further endanger the wild population of that particular animal.

 

Zoo Breeding Programs

Many zoo breeding programs do not excuse the ability of the rights of the animals to be free. The individual animals are suffering in captivity for the good of the species which all together in an entity that does not suffer or have rights. Zoos produce baby animals that bring in visitors, but leads to excess animals. These animals will never get released into the wild and therefore never rebuild the wild population. In 2008 an endangered Asian elephant named Ned was confiscated form a circus trainer after being sold to him from Busch Gardens Zoo. No matter if the animals is endangered or not people will continue to hurt the wild population.

 

Lin, Doris. "Should Zoos Keep Endangered Species?" About.com News & Issues. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 May 2016.                          

Alternatives to Captivity

For this week's blog post I wanted to talk about some alternatives than captivity. Many families still want to take their children to see animals and experience their magnificence. Other alternatives include sanctuaries and wildife perserves. As I was researching theses places I found an article by Doris Lin named "What is the Difference Between a Zoo and a Sanctuary?" She is a wild life expert and I also used another one of her articles for a previous blog post.

Zoos:

Zoos will buy, sell, trade, breed, and capture animals from the wild to make a profit. Many zoos are over populated in order to have a constant flow of baby animals in order to bring in more visitors. Excess animals are sold to other zoos, circuses, and even canned hunting. The animals in zoos are kept in small enclosures without room to roam. Many zoos spend their money on making the park look nice through landscaping and sculptures instead of focusing on the animals' needs.

 

Sanctuaries/Wildlife Preserves:

Sanctuaries and wildlife preserves will never buy, sell, trade, breed, or capture animals from the wild. They obtain only animals that are unable to survive in the wild. This may include injured animals, confiscated illegal exotic pets, animals from zoos, breeders, circuses, and laboratories. Sanctuaries rescue the animals and try their best to provide a safe environment for the animals, so they can have a happy and healthy rest of their lives. Animals at a sanctuary or wildlife preserve have between 30 to 2,000 acres of open land that mimics their natural habitat to roam with built in dens and safe places to spend their days. They prohibit all animal performances and shows. The animals are able to run, play, forage, and show signs of natural instincts. They may also pick their own companions.

 

 

 

Happy animals with lots of room to roam

at Wild Animal Sanctuary

 

Lin, Doris. "What's the Difference Between a Zoo and a Sanctuary?" About.com  News & Issues. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 May 2016.

                  

"Zoos vs Sanctuaries - In Defense of Animals." - In Defense of Animals. IDA International, n.d. Web. 13 May 2016.

What is Sentience?

I was searching for an article to do this week's blog post on and I decided to go back to Doris Lin's website about animal rights. I found an article that discusses whether marine animal should be kept in aquariums.

Sentience

Sentience is the ability to suffer. All animal rights are based on sentience. Many people doubt the sentience of fish and other sea creatures. Many studies have shown that fish, crabs, penguins, marine mammals, and shrimp feel pain. Therefore, these animals are sentient and deserve rights. We do not know yet whether animals with simpler nervous systems feel pain such as anemones, jellyfish, and other creatures. Many animal rights activists still believe that keeping creatures with simpler nervous systems is wrong because they is no compelling reason to keep them in captivity.

 

Problems with Aquariums

Animals are confined in small tanks which can create boredom and frustration. Many aquariums will keep different species together to provide a more natural environment, but this leads to predatory animals attacking and eating the other tank life. Many animals in captivity were captured from the wild. These animals are stressed and are no used to now living in a small tank.

 

Marine Mammals

In the wild a dolphin swims on average 40 miles per day. The requirement for the size of a dolphin tank from the World Society for the Protection of Animals is only 30 feet in length. A dolphin would have to circle its tank more than 3,500 times in order to swim its natural range. Killer Whales in captivity have many skin problems. Also, captivity is the number one cause of dorsal fin collapse. In captivity the animal do not swim their natural lengths, without the support of the constant flowing water the dorsal fins collapse as the whale matures. All male captive orcas have dorsal fin collapse as well as many females. In the wild only 1% of orcas have dorsal fin collapse.

 

 

 

 

My Thoughts

I believe that no matter what species the animal is and no matter if the animal is sentient, all animals in captivity should receive animal rights. These creatures should not be kept in captivity nor bred for human purposes. All wild creatures are not our property and we can not continue to keep them in these captive situations. We are still able to make a change in our ways and how we treat these animals.

Lin, Doris. "Aquariums and Animal Rights - What's Wrong with Aquariums?" About.com News & Issues. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 May 2016.                         

 



Dangers Not Only to the Animals

With keeping animals in captivity there comes along with it many dangers not only to the animals. There have been many animal attacks that have led to serious injuries for not only zoo keepers, but also for people that have attending the parks and shows. The article I found is "What Are the Dangers of Captive Animals?" by Laura Agadoni.

 

Most of the animals that have attacked escaped their enclosures before they attacked the people. In 2007 a 17 year old boy was killed by a tiger that scaled his enclosure wall and jumped a moat. Roy from the show group Siegfried and Roy was mauled on stage by a tiger he raised since birth. The Oceanic Preservation Society states that dozens of people have been killed or attacked by captive marine animals over the past 40 years.

 

It is very unnatural to keep animals in captivity. Mark Beckoff, a professor of ecology at the University of Colorado, said that captive animals work nonstop to escape their “prisons.” In the wild the animals are always busy, hunting, looking out for predators, and building shelters. With these needs already met in a captive environment the animals become board and not stimulated. This pent up energy can create an immense amount of stress and can lead to attacks. It does not make sense to keep very intelligent animals in a place which causes them physical and mental pain.

 

Many of the animals carry dieses that are very dangerous to humans if caught. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warn about the dieses spread by animals in captive situations. Reptiles carry salmonella. Moneys can carry yellow fever, herpes B, tuberculosis, as well as other dieses. Rabies is common in animals such as raccoons, foxes, and skunks.

Agadoni, Laura. "What Are the Dangers of Captive Animals?" Animals. Studio D, n.d. Web. 7 May 2016

How Society Percieves Animals in Captivity

Every article I came across so far has mentioned something about how society perceives animals. I decided to search up an article highlighting this top and I found one written by Andre Mader. The article is called "What Is the Point of Zoos?" Mader is a conservation biologist and is very well trusted.

Many families especially with children visit captive animals locations every year. This includes zoos, aquariums, Sea Worlds, and circuses. These people are captivated by the pure magnificence of these creatures, but fail to realize the torture these animals go through every day to please these types of customers. The animal parks' main goal is to make money even if that costs many animals their lives and well being.

Captive animals parks claim to provide a new found love of animals to all of their visitors. Many animal parks are purposely located in cities to draw in many customers to view the animals that they would not normally find there. This is accomplished by displaying the animals in such a way that they look happy in their "natural environment." These animals parks play the biggest role on children. Many studies say that if a person visited a zoo at a young age they will have a stronger connection to the animals and would want to make more ecofriendly decisions.

 

Due to how society perceives animals through the internet and social media many people view wild animals as helpless. They believe that wild animals need humans' help in order to survive. This is not true in almost every case. In the cases in which animals need humans' help is when they are injured or their habitat got destroyed by humans. Captive animal locations take advantage of these cases. They claim to only keep animals in captivity that are unable to fend for themselves in the wild. This is only true to an extent. The animals kept in these locations have been captured from the wild and are now unable to fend for themselves because they have remained in captivity for extended periods of time, thus breaking their natural instincts and their ability to hunt.

Mader, Andre. "What Is the Point of Zoos?" The Nature of Cities. N.p., 22 Jan. 2014. Web. 03 May 2016.

Behavioral Issues

Many animals are very distressed due to being enclosed in small quarters. To figure out how zoos affect the behavior of animals I searched and found an article called "Zoos Drive Animals Crazy" by Laura Smith. Smith is writing about an interview with Laurel Braitman who is the author of a new book, Animal Madness: How Anxious Dogs, Compulsive Parrots, and Elephants in Recovery Help US Understand Ourselves. This article highlights the stress put on animals and how it changes their natural behavior. 

 

Stereotypic Behavior:

Stereotypic behavior is a repetitive behavior that serves no obvious purpose. An example of this is Gus, a polar bear at Central Park Zoo that would swim in figure eights in his pool for hours on end. This eventually earned him the name "the bipolar bear." Other stereotypic behavior includes pacing and bar biting. Trichotillomania is also very common in captive situations. Trichotillomania is the practice of repetitive hair plucking. Regurgitation and reingestation is also very common among these animals.

 

 

 



 

An elephant at Kunming Zoo in Yunnan, China

that is displaying signs of repetitive behavior

 

 

 

 

Causes:

These behavior almost never happen in the wild. These behaviors are so common in captivity the name, zoochosis, was assigned to them. The behaviors occur because of confinement and unstimulation. This is due to the animals' small living areas. Gus "the bipolar bear" was living in an enclosure that was 0.00009 percent of the size of the range of a polar bear in the wild. The disruption of a family or pack for the sake of breeding and selling in another issue that causes stress in zoos. Many animals that have lived together for their whole life get split up because there is a good genetic match mate at another zoo. Zoos also get rid of animals to create a more diverse range of animals.

 

Treatment:

Zoos treat zoochosis with a range of unhealthy drugs. Many zoos use pyschophamaceutical has been prescribed. They are used because they are low cost and cheaper than replacing a whole enclosure to make it more enriched. The most common drugs used are Valium, Prozac, and antipsychotics. In the United States in 2010 the animals pharmaceutical industry had $6 billion in sales.

 

My Thoughts:

I believe that the animals' health and well being show through their stressful behavior should not be sacrificed in order to keep people coming to the exhibits. Many animals are suffering from these disorders and we need to change how we keep these animals and what we do to correct our mistakes. Personally, I believe that animals should not be kept in captivity due to these reasons.

 

If you would like to learn more here is a link to a documentary on zoochosis:

 http://www.onegreenplanet.org/news/zoochosis-what-really-happens-to-animals-in-captivity-video/

Smith, Laura. "Zoos Are Fun for People but Awful for Animals." Slate Magazine. N.p., 20 June 2014. Web. 29 Apr. 2016.

Circuses

After my last post I knew that I wanted to go deeper into the treatment of the animals in captivity. I did some research and I found an article highlighting the torturous circumstances many animals in circuses go through. This includes instances of animal abuse and mistreatment.

 

Caged

Circus animals spend most of their lives in transportation cages. Animals are sometimes allowed to spend some time in an exercise cage. The only other times they get to be outside of their cages is to rehearse or perform. When elephants are outside they are chained by their front and hind leg. Many animals exhibit abnormal behavior such as socking and nodding.

 

Care

Many circuses can not afford to give their animals good care. Many are under fed. They also do not receive proper medical care or frequently cleaned cages. Training includes the use of brutal training methods to establish a dominate trainer to make the animals perform their tricks. Training devices includes tools such as shock devices, sticks with concealed screws or spikes, and severe beatings.

Baby elephant being trained at Ringling  Bros Circus

Embar, Wanda. "Circuses." Animal Cruelty -. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Apr. 2016.                         

Are You For or Against Animal Abuse?

Ever since my last blog post I kept wondering if captive animal locations actually benefit the animals. From my experience I know that animals are treated very poorly in places such as these, but I kept my mind open to why people think it is beneficial to keep animals in captivity. I searched up people's different views on this topic and found an article about the benefits and disadvantages of keeping animals in captivity. I looked into this article and found that it is very trustworthy. http://animalrights.about.com/od/animalsinentertainment/a/Arguments-For-And-Against-Zoos.htm 

 

Advantages of Having Captivity:
 

Many zoos and aquariums claim that they bring people and animals together. They also say that they protect endangered species through breeding programs and safe environments. This gives the opportunity for educational programs for people of all ages. They also have enrichment programs, so the animals will never get board and can lead healthy and happy lives in the habitats.

 

Arguments Against Captivity:

 

Animal rights activists say that humans do not have the right to keep animals in captivity as well as breed them for our own personal benefit. Many of the animals bread in zoos over populate the capacity of the zoos and are separated from the animals that they have bonded with. This separation leaves them with mental issues and depression. Studies have shown that animals in captivity suffer from stress and boredom as well as live shorter lives. One of these studies includes that elephants kept in zoos do not live as long as animals in the wild. They are very social animals and need to be with other elephants to have a satisfying life, which the zoos do not provide.  If people want to see wild animals they can visit them in the wild or visit a sanctuary that gives the animals freedom compared to a small enclosure.

 

My Thoughts:



After hearing both sides of why we should or why we should not have animals in captivity I feel that the reasons against it ways out the reasons for it. Animals do not deserve to be in captivity and caged up in such a small area. They are treated badly and have shown serious mental issues. There are many alternatives than having animals in captivity such as sanctuaries or just leaving them in the wild where they belong.

 

Lin, Doris. "10 Arguments For and 13 Against Zoos." About.com News &  Issues. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2016 

Captivity: Is It Essential?

Ever since I was a little girl I fell in love with animals. I was always fascinated by how diverse they were and how many species existed. My favorite part of summer vacation was spending time at zoos and Sea World looking at all of the animals. Later on, I hated going to these places and seeing the animals caged in small enclosures compared to the space they would normally live in outside of captivity. I now refuse to go to zoos or places such as Sea World. My logic was that if people stopped going to these places they would eventually close and stop having to keep animals under horrible conditions in order to make money. As I was researching this topic I found an article named "Zoos: Pitiful Prisons" by PETA

http://www.peta.org/issues/animals-in-entertainment/animals-used-entertainment-factsheets/zoos-pitiful-prisons/ This looked like a very reasonable source, so I decided to use it. From this source I learned that many animals died in zoos from poor care and conditions. I then asked myself why so many animals were dying in zoos when they claim to provide services essential to the animals' survival. Many species are doing especially well on their own in the wild without human interference. Although research provides strong evidence about animals living in the wild is better, why are humans keeping species in captivity when it is not essential for their well being?

                           
"Zoos: Pitiful Prisons." PETA. Ed. Virginia McKenna, Will Travers, and Jonathan Wray. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Apr. 2016.