Zoo: Compassionate or Killer?

Zoos are both environmentally-friendly and -harmful, and the same goes to how they treat animals. Since there is so much information on zoos out there, I've decided to make a pros and cons list:

Pros ("zoos are good")

• They save certain species from extinction, and through breeding, they can gradually release the animals back into the wild again.
• They teach people about wild animals and nature, while getting them away from a screen!
• They help injured animals get back to full health.
• They are great meeting spaces for conservationists, and a great way to encourage sustainable living.

Cons ("zoos are bad")

• They treat animals as "products". If one animal isn't wanted in a certain zoo, he or she is shipped away to another zoo-- surely a very traumatizing experience.
• The only thing they teach people about animals is how desperate any creature will act when confined to a cage.
• Many animals at zoos become so bored and upset that they develop emotional disturbances. They often have absolutely nothing interesting to do, so they make up movement patterns and obsessions to continually go through. Some people call this "stereotypic behaviour" or "zoochosis". This psychological torture must be abolished.
• Zoos rarely can get an animal back into the wild. The difference between zoos and the wild is far too big for a zoo animal to successfully be re-integrated back into a natural environment.
• Zoos sometimes even take animals out of the wild!

In my opinion, zoos are very often "bad", for the reasons I've listed above. They make me very angry, especially con #3; read more about it at http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-zoochosis.htm. The following video is rather disturbing, but, well, it tells you a little more visually what I'm talking about.

Conservation is great, of course, but that should take place on wildlife reserves-- not behind bars.
If you do go to a zoo, take pictures and send them to me at:
rabbit-catATvegemailDOTcom. However, my best advice is to avoid zoos. There are so many better things you could be doing: taking a tour of real nature, for example!
Please share this information with everyone who you know. Thanks, and come back next Sunday for my next post.