| Product: |
Zoos |
| Date: |
24.10.01 (702 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: See op
Disadvantages: See op
I remember looking forward to visiting the zoo when I was a kid. I can remember mum telling me I was gong to the zoo tomorrow and I couldn’t get to sleep because I used to so look forward to it. You can either call it a pretty sad up bringing, or…on the other hand, you could call it a normal Childs reaction at the thought of going to the zoo.
I never once gave a thought to the animals and their well-being, I was just happy watching the monkeys climb up the fences of their enclosures and seeing the gorilla banging on the walls of it’s enclosure. If any of you went to Drayton Manor Park about 15 years ago, you’ll remember that big old gorilla just as well as I do! I never once gave a thought as to whether that gorilla was banging on the walls to get out, or because it was happy to see us, I just knew it was banging on the walls, and also knew it scared the living daylights out of me.
Zoo’s back then were just what the name ‘zoo’ tells you, which is fun. Drayton Manor actually had a fairground type thing with it aswell, so that was the aim of the zoo, to make a good day out. Oh how times have changed. When I here of the word ‘Zoo’ now, it not only brings thoughts of animals, but it also brings thoughts of rainforests, endangered animals, animals becoming extinct etc. This is because the roles of zoos have changed. No longer are they just a form of entertainment for the general public, these days they help the conservation of wild animals and also the earth.
My local zoo now is Paignton Zoo, which is, of course, situated in paignton. Over the years that I have lived in the area I have seen this zoo grow and grow, I have also seen it change quite a lot in the way it’s laid out over the years. I have been about 4 times, and every time, something has changed, whether it be the pathways, the enclosures or the animals. But, these changes are not for the benefit of the public wanting to
see the cool little monkeys and the huge big elephants! These changes are for the benefits of the animals. I have seen enclosures get bigger, enclosures moved to better places for that animal etc. There is a new reptile house that not only makes it easier for you to see the animals, but also provides everything the animals need in their natural habitat, and more.
Let’s talk about the animals for a moment though. People seem to have to idea that these animals are deprived. Deprived that is of their natural habitats and freedom to roam. However, if these animals were never put in the zoo and were free to roam, they would have been extinct years ago and the more able species would have grown and grown. These animals are all bred within the zoo, they don’t know any different, a lot of them have never had the opportunity to roam different areas and look after themselves, they were born in a zoo and will live in a zoo, with all their creature comfort, the benefits of vets looking after their health and the food that they need to live delivered to them when they require it. Theres no need to be on guard all the time when their asleep and no need to run away from their predators all their lives.
Sure, on the other hand, maybe given the opportunity this is what they would prefer, but as I have said, they have never known any different, so why is it cruel? Yer, you may think it’s cruel to keep them where they have no choice, but that happens just as much in the human race, and no, I’m not talking about people in prison. I’m talking about people in 3rd world countries who are born there and will never know any different from what they are bought up to know. So why is it cruel for animals to be bought up in an enclosure and not know any different when probably 98% of us are guilty of walking past the person shaking the tin on the street for the 3rd world who don’t know any different.
I personally do not think it
is cruel. Their best interests are at heart, even if the animals couldn’t give one. They are treated superbly with all the regulations that zoo’s have to keep up to. That’s one benefit that zoo’s give us, they keep animals from extinction and keep them happy, using our money to do it.
Benefit 2 then. Education. I remember going twice to the zoo for a school trip where we were first sent to a hut where all the educational things go on. We were told about animals safety, extinction and loads more about rainforests and stuff. This room was full of things were were allowed to go round looking at and touching. We were then given an interactive session with some animals. I held a snake (pretty dangerous one too, was it a cobra? I dunno!) which I had never done before and have never done since. I held a lizard aswell, amongst other things. Then we were given lunch, which was all themed and then we were allowed to look around the park. So it wasn’t just a trip to the zoo, it was fun and educational all at the same time.
The zoo holds these educational ‘lectures’ all the time and there is a big building dedicated to just that. So that’s your second benefit, zoo’s are very educational and I sure learnt a lot that day, and as I was having fun, I was concentrating at the same time, which is rather unusual for me, I’m normally asleep in these kinds of things.
Another benefit, of many which zoo’s play a major role in is conserving rainforests, parts of the world which need to be conserved and also, they run a lot of projects. For example, Paignton zoo itself is running quite a few projects at the moment and one I think is the best is the Zimbabwe project. I’ve cut and pasted the general idea of it below:
“Paignton Zoo, together with Marwell Zoo, supports and manages the Dambari field station in Zimbabwe. Dambari has close links with the Department of National Parks
and Wildlife in Zimbabwe and is co-operating with them on several research projects. Major projects at present include breeding, nutrition and foraging ecology of small antelope, particularly several duiker species, and foraging ecology and diet quality of black rhino. It is hoped the station will soon be able to start breeding black rhino for reintroductions into their former range in Zimbabwe”
Now, that’s just one way in which zoo’s in this country are helping other countries do what they quite frankly wouldn’t be able to afford to do. So, the animals in my local zoo are infact, helping other animals across the globe live a better life and also, helping animals from becoming extinct, of which we have seen to much of already. The zoo has also sent a teacher from the zoo and also a zoo keeper to Africa to help educate people in America about animal welfare, and there are helping set up a snail farm aswell as conservation of the forest elephant. Obviously these people have to be paid to go to these places, and zoo’s in this country are helping to pay for all this.
To come to an end. Do I think zoo’s are cruel? In a short answer, no, but…on the other hand, zoo’s a few years back may have been a completely different story. I think zoo’s do a lot for different environments, education and supporting animals in poor countries. Without zoo’s I wouldn’t have seen half the animals I have seen that are not native to this country, I would have only seen them on TV, and that’s not really getting close to something, if it was, I’d feel as if I knew every celebrity that was on TV! Also, if zoo’s were banned, loads of animals would just become extinct as they can no longer live in their own environments because some species have grown to big for others and rule different areas.
We need zoo’s in todays hard world, to help animals, aswell as help our children gro
w up knowing about animals in the world. There will always be bad zoo’s, but they are getting better.
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