Animal Captivity Research Paper

Can you imagine being taken away from the only family and place you’ve called home to be forced to adjust to a completely different lifestyle than the one you’ve had your entire life? Every day, thousands of animals are captured from their habitats, and are forced to adapt to an entirely new life; a life where they may have to live inside a cage, in a tank, or surrounded by walls so different from their native homes. Millions of people every year pay to see, pet, and take pictures of unhappy animals. There are over 10,000 zoos in the world where animals of every kind are confined and displayed to the public, similar to paintings in art museums. Animals should not be kept in captivity because it is cruel and unnatural, it results in human
When animals are in the wild, they have a great deal of space to roam free, though when held in captivity that privilege is stolen from them. Many places where animals are held in captivity cannot compare to the amount of space that the animals are used to in the wild. Many animals are kept in cages and others in tanks; these animals no longer have the freedom that they once had while living in the wild. Animals are used to swimming, flying, or walking for several hours and kilometers, but this action is restricted. For example, wild elephants generally walk up to 40 miles per day, though when held in captivity, this action is prevented because elephants are often chained up. Being chained up can also give elephants arthritis and several other severe joint and foot problems. This gives the elephants an even more challenging lifestyle while living in captivity. Research also shows that tigers and lions in zoos have approximately 18,000 times less space than they have in the wild; polar bears have one million times less space. When living in captivity animals are often brutally injured by the other animals in their surroundings. When the animals are taken out of their habitat and put into
Zoos have been around since the late 1700s, and provide exceptionally great business from millions of visitors every year all over the world. It is not only specifically zoos that are visited; there are also roadside zoos, park zoos, public zoos, wild animal parks, etc. While zoos make millions of dollars by attracting people of all ages, it is extremely life threatening for the millions of people that visit each year. Throughout the years since zoos have been around, there have been several cases in which the deaths of animal trainers and bystanders have been reported. In December 2007 at a San Francisco zoo, a 17 year old bystander was mauled to death by a tiger, trying to save his friend who was being attacked by the tiger. The 17 year old man died and 2 others were injured when the tiger had somehow escaped from its cage. The investigation concluded that the walls surrounding the tigers den were far below the recommended height. In the year of 2011, at the Knoxville Zoo in Tennessee, a 33 year old zoo trainer named Stephanie James was crushed to death by an elephant. The African elephant, weighing approximately 8,000 pounds, overpowered James with its humungous body and crushed her into the steel wall within the elephants stall. On February 24, 2010 at SeaWorld in Orlando, Florida, 40 year old Dawn Brancheau was killed while she was performing with a whale, as the audience