Animals were created and given the wild to live and dominate as they reproduce generations after generations. Animals in zoos are confined and reared in cages where they are displayed to the public for viewing. A circus involves a group of entertainment firms which hold shows, and they use animals to play party tricks. Animals undergo training which enables them to entertain the viewers with no fail, and this helps in profit making. However, animals should not be used in zoos and circuses since it is the people who enjoy and have fun out of the animals. People seem to enjoy at the sight of animals in the zoos and as they entertain them in circuses, but they do not mind about their welfare. This essay will expound on the reasons why animals should not be used in zoos and circuses as opposed to what other people think while visiting animals in zoos and circuses.
Animals bred in zoos do not get the chance to enjoy the natural habitat due to the restrictions of space since the cages are small. Animals were created to live and explore in the wild with adequate space where they can move around freely. Confining the animals in cages is denying them the right to move to places they wish to as they interact with other animals. Zoos may be very pleasing, and the facilities are enough, but the life in the zoo would never be compared to life in the wild. Christopher observes that over time, people have raised questions over breeding of animals in zoos and concerned agents have started researching how to fix the practice (6). Caging the animals affect them psychologically due to lack of freedom which would enable them to feel satisfied in their natural habitat. The animals are unhappy in these cells as they cannot communicate with the zookeepers and their wish to move around is restricted when there are tourists who want to see them.
Circus entertainment firms capture wild animals and keep them in their training centers to enable in practicing to various parties. Wild animals are subjected to learn unfamiliar moves that should be done by human beings. This process ensures that the wild animals are tamed and do not return to the jungle. It is against the wish of the animals to practice procedures taught by the human beings, and they are expected to perform in front of an audience, and this tortures their mind, and they fail to retrieve back to their normal life. According to Tiplady (9), animals are captured forcefully, and they are transported to new places and forced to adapt to their new habitats, and this is a form of animal abuse. The animals are required to live like human beings by learning to listen and do what is expected of them and leaves them stressed and uncomfortable as they were used in living in the wild with freelance of doing what they are naturally capable.
Caging animals reprive them their right for their natural habitat and forces them to live in an unfamiliar environment. A zoo cannot duplicate the natural habitat of wild animals no matter how good it may appear. The zoos are built well, and this only attracts and satisfies the needs of the visitors but do not impress the caged animals. The animals are fed with stored food which is not fresh, and it may not fill them. In the wild, animals are used to hunting for their food and enjoy feeding on their struggles. They are used to feeding on a variety of food in the wild as opposed to the cages where they feed on what the zookeeper would decide, and these animals have a deteriorated health. The wild contain foods of unknown diet suitable for the wild animals and the zoo management may not understand the diet and subsequently provide the tamed animals with improper diet (Hosey, Melfi & Pankhurst 10).
Who knows how wild animals are trained to perform in circuses? They undergo physical assaults as they are forced to perform difficult moves and uncomfortable tricks, and they bleed and sustain bruises which lead to animal abuse. The circus parties should be restricted from using animals to play, and the authorities prosecute those found using animals in those events. The training is very vigorous, and the animals are whipped, and this could lead them to develop depression and become fearful at the sight of human beings. The trainers use electric prods to train the animals, and the lasers are used to ensure that the animals understand the tricks and failure to perform well can lead to shock. Excess torture can make the animal uncontrollable and can cause damage to the facilities and even harm the trainers. According to Wilson (14), after exploitation and abuse of animals through training, new signs appeared of minding the welfare of the animals.
Zoos are made in an attempt to protect the endangered species, and to increase the species breeding is necessary. It becomes unsuccessful since the zoo owners may fail to learn when the species are in need of reproducing and they subsequently apply artificial insemination which is not a sure method of breeding. There is boredom and loneliness as animals are caged alone and do not have the pleasure of staying with a mate. The separation between mates lowers the chances of breeding as the females will have no provocation to mating. Animals in the wild freely mate, and they increase their numbers than those in the zoo. Caged animals lack any opportunity for making their lives worthy like socializing and wandering in the wild. Christopher (9) stipulates that if animals are left to manage themselves, they yield better results as they do out of their conscience and will.
The time spent moving animals from one circus station to another makes the animals bored, fatigued and anxious as they do not know what will be expected of them. While on transit, they are chained on the walls of the trucks carrying them in case of big animals, and they are denied the chance to move a bit to relax their bodies. They are transported without anything to eat until they finish on their mission and starvation makes them weak. The transporting trucks have poor ventilation with uncontrolled heat, and this gives the animal discomfort and can easily collapse due to poor air circulation and overheating. If a normal human being cannot survive in such a condition, why should animals be let to suffer under things that can be controlled? Animals have a life, and they should get the best out of it but not suffer under the hands of human beings.
Both animals in zoos and centers of circus training are denied the chance of exploring their natural life. The captured animals undergo stress before adjusting to the life of confinement, and this makes them respond negatively to what is required of them (Tiplady 11). Some animals which migrate during specific seasons of the year lack this opportunity of moving to their desired destinations. Zoos and circuses are primarily established for the entertainment of human beings, and the animals are used as objects for fun making, and their welfare is not a core reason. Animals become depressed, and this leads to the development of dangerous behaviors including attacking the zookeepers and even injuring themselves. It is expensive to tame a wild animal than conserving it in the wild and keeping them in cages is a form of harassing them as a majority of their rights are violated.
The essay has explored the reasons why animals should not be used in zoos and circuses. It is against their wish to stay in cages where they do not get enough and the required food for their health. There is no space where they can play and move around in search of pasture or prey for the case of carnivorous animals. Animals are subjected to dangerous practices which affect their psychological setup and the bodies as well with the aim of entertaining human beings. Their breeding systems interfere, and these species reduce every year due to low production. Just like human beings, animals have a social life of interacting with other animals, but zoos and circuses deny them the chance. The authorities should consider this and formulate policies which will give the animals their natural life.
Works Cited
Christopher, Nick. Should We Keep Animals in Zoos? S.l.: Greenhaven press, 2017
Hosey, Geoffrey R, Melfi Vicky, and Pankhurst Sheila. Zoo Animals: Behaviour, Management, and Welfare. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013
Tiplady, Catherine F. A. W. A. E. U. Animal a - Helping Animals and People. 2013
Wilson, David. The Welfare of Performing Animals. Springer Heidelberg New York, 2015
