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Zoos are among the greatest places to take your family for a fun adventure. In them, you will get to see a lot of exotic animals that you only get to see on TV or read in books. You will learn about interesting and fun wildlife, see animals you have never saw before and ultimately have an all-around great day. However, like any other thing, zoos also have good and bad sides to them. Let us take a look at their biggest pros and cons:

List of the Biggest Pros of Zoos

1. These establishments provide many benefits to animals that normally would have not received them.
Good examples of these benefits are proper nutrition and medical care for injuries for species that may not get them for themselves for some reasons. Also, these animals are supervised by zookeepers and staff who are willing to help them in the event of emergencies.

2. Education and research opportunities are available.
Zoos allow children and adults to observe wild animals up close, an opportunity that is normally not possible for many people. Having exotic and large animals secured in enclosures, these places also allow researchers and scientists to perform studies to better help us understand the way animals work. This could be helpful in saving more of them.

3. Zoos help with animal survival.
Out in the wild, some animals would have a very little chance to survive, especially those on the endangered list. As what we know, these animals are still hunted by poachers for their skins, bones and other by-products. Also, some of them have a more difficult time surviving in the wild by themselves due to pollution, destruction of their habitats, high level of competition for food, over-predation, diseases and other unfortunate reasons.

4. These places use helpful conservation programs under strict regulations.
Captive breeding programs are implemented to help preserve animals that have decreased in number, which is a good way to prevent extinction of some species. Also, the government and involved organizations normally set strict regulations on zoos, which require regular check-ups on resident animals and rigid procedures to acquire new ones.

5. Safety and security for animals, which they may not otherwise have in the wild, are provided.
Somehow related to the previous pros on this list, zoos provide a chance for people to learn more about some animals that they would not have a chance to otherwise. By caring for, feeding and working with the animals, zoo professionals can teach and learn from them.

List of the Biggest Cons of Zoos

1. Zoos pose several risks that particularly affect animals.
There are many problems that come with keeping animals in zoos. One of them is the confined spaces where the animals are forced to live in. Unlike their natural habitats where they can freely roam, these establishments keep them confined.

This is even worse for animals that need to migrate and move around a lot. For example, elephants normally travel long distances in groups, and by confining them into smaller spaces, it definitely goes against their migratory nature. Aside from elephants, other animals, such as lions, will not get the chance to hunt, making them more aggressive if they are not properly taken care of. This can arise more danger for zoo personnel, as well as visitors.

2. Natural animal behaviors are changed.
Captured animals that are brought to the zoos tend to develop behavioral problems, which causes concern for the overall well-being of all the resident animals.

3. Zoos take their toll on the mental conditions of animals.
For those captured from the wild, it takes a long time for them to adjust to being confined, and once they manage to adjust, they will be stressed out from the adjustment experience. And for animals that are born in the zoo, it would be like a double-edged sword for them because being released to wild risk their survival as they do not have the natural capabilities to hunt for themselves.

4. For critics, zoos are seen as places for human amusement.
Though zoos are seen positively when it comes to the aspect of entertainment, the fact that animals are captured and placed in captivity for the sole purpose of human amusement is one of the main reasons of the existing anti-zoo campaigns.

5. Many of the zoo establishments are struggling financially.
One of the primary reasons for this problem is the high cost of maintaining the resident animals against the lesser income from the visits by park customers and other funds. With this happens, a zoo would usually close down, leading to the animals either getting divided to be accommodated to other zoos, animal rescues or animals getting sold off to cover the debts the affected zoo might have incurred. What's worse, the animals do not always go to people who may have their best interests in mind. For these reason, zoos can be detrimental for not just the animals in them, but for the staff as well.

6. Conservation is sometimes a pointless gesture.
While these establishments are really trying to do their best to let animals mate, their offspring are normally kept at the same zoo or simply moved to another one, which does nothing for the numbers of the species in the wild.

Conclusion

The most serious issue with zoos is that, while they do provide security and safety for a lot of animals, they can also provide major problems for the animals themselves. And though they provide a lot of benefits for researchers, they do come at a cost, whether it is worth the risk or not. For many people around the world, zoos represent an opportunity to experience seeing species that would be impossible to do otherwise. It all boils down to zoos serving a function as an educational, entertainment and research solution, in addition to providing animals a place to be secure. On your end, is it fair for the animals in house? By weighing the pros and cons, you will be able to come up with a well-informed decision.

About the Author
Brandon Miller has a B.A. from the University of Texas at Austin. He is a seasoned writer who has written over one hundred articles, which have been read by over 500,000 people. If you have any comments or concerns about this blog post, then please contact the Green Garage team here.

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List of 11 Biggest Pros and Cons of Zoos

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Zoos are among the greatest places to take your family for a fun adventure. In them, you will get to see a lot of exotic animals that you only get to see on TV or read in books. You will learn about interesting and fun wildlife, see animals you have never saw before and ultimately have an all-around great day.

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With the number of species that are declining or disappearing altogether, many believe we are in our 6th mass extinction. There are a number of conservation efforts being put in place to try and alleviate the effects of climate change and anthropogenic activities. Zoos have become increasingly involved in conservation work. That said, the debates surrounding whether zoos should be used as a viable technique of conservation are also increasing. This article looks at some of the pros and cons presented by zoos as a conservation method splitting them into 3 headings; effectiveness to achieve its goals, efficiency and the moral reasoning.

Effectiveness of achieving goals
While in the past zoos primary function was to entertain, satisfying human's curiosity for the exotic, today most zoos have four main objectives - entertainment, education, scientific research and conservation.

* Entertainment - involves people paying to visit the zoo to see animals that they wouldn't otherwise have the chance to. This brings in the money which the zoos use to achieve the other three objectives. Many zoos are now registered charities meaning that any profits are put back into the conservation and scientific efforts.

* Education - is becoming more and more important in zoos. In an aim to educate the wider population about different animals, where they come from and their status, zoos have a huge range of educational material available ranging from information plaques on the animals' enclosures, special exhibits for select species, to collaborating with schools and universities and providing educational courses. Education doesn't stop there however, often zoos have schemes to educate the communities found near the animal's wild habitat leading to in-country conservation. That said however, there are issues with education. Zoos have be criticised for focusing too heavily on the education of children and non-decision makers, and not enough on educating policy and law makers. Furthermore, while we know zoos provide a range of extensive education services there has been little research on just how much of the knowledge is absorbed. If zoos continue to be seen as purely places of entertainment they may be underutilised.

* Scientific research - having the animals under controlled conditions provides opportunity for much needed species observation. A number of studies have taken place in zoos such as looking at the relationships between climate change and animal health.

* Conservation - zoos will often have captive breeding schemes to encourage the survival of species' populations. These are extremely thought out and therefore fairly complex with the collaborative effort between zoos to ensure as much genetic diversity as possible. As zoos are unable to sustain entire populations, this leads to 'meta-populations' with the movement of animals between countries. While this is vital, it can be hindered by various exotic animal import and export policies. As well as off-site/ex-situ conservation efforts, today's zoos often have on-site/in-situ conservation as well. This entails conserving species in their natural habitat. While there is less control when working in the natural environment, there are a number of positives such as conserving entire ecosystems and therefore other species. New and innovative conservation methods are always appearing, such as the new EDGE species programme ran by ZSL which focuses on species that are of evolutionary importance but have had very little conservation attention in the past.

Efficiency in running
* Cost - Zoos are very expensive in comparison to other prominent conservation methods. For instance, maintaining an African elephant or rhino is roughly 50 times more expensive than conserving them in national parks. It would be more financially beneficial to develop captive breeding for small bodied species. However the larger flagship species, which may not be in the ones in most need of conservation, are the most popular to the viewing public.

* Staff - In the past zoos have been criticised for having staff that do not have enough knowledge of the broader issues the animals are facing. Experts in veterinary science or biology may have little knowledge of the wider ecological issues which are key for conservation. More integrated understanding of the surrounding issues may increase the efficiency in the running of zoos. Furthermore, studies have shown that there has been a lack of communication within zoos between different ranking staff such as between the rangers, scientists and administrative staff causing differences in values, ideology and practice.

* Waste - zoos use up a lot of resources and produce a lot of waste. Exhibitions have to be lit and heated and the animals given fresh bedding and food regularly. Zoos often also have a number of shops and cafes and produce should be sustainable and ethically sourced. In recent years the push for zoos to become more sustainable has increased. For example some zoos, including Jersey Zoo in the US, are using the waste from animals to fertilise their organic farms to produce food for the animals.

Moral reasoning
* While philosophy is in no means my strong point, I think there are two ruling arguments of moral obligation towards animals. Firstly, zoos have criticised for keeping animals in captivity. Animals are taken from their natural habitat across long distances to alien and restricted environments effecting feeding and social behaviours. Treating animals this way could be argued to be disrespectful and immoral. Questions as to whether the poor treatment of a few individuals is worth the survival of the species have been raised.

* That said however, we also have a duty to do what we can to save failing species. Many of today's extinctions are due to human activity so it is our responsibility to ensure species' survival. Furthermore, it could be argued that animals have a better experience in zoos as many exhibits are naturalistic, animals are feed regularly, and they experience longer life spans due to lack of predation or disease.

Personally, I believe that zoos can only be justifiable if involved in conservation and breeding. If species are failing in the wild zoos are needed to provide support, sometimes being the only reason some species have not yet gone extinct. Over the last few decades zoo policies and aims have evolved considerably and will continue to do so in a society were conservation efforts are more and more valued, with zoos continuing to play a key role. However, the debate is continuous and the issue complex - so what do you think, should zoos exist?

(All photographs taken by Abi Gardner at Chester Zoo)

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With the number of species that are declining or disappearing altogether, many believe we are in our 6th mass extinction. There are a number of conservation efforts being put in place to try and alleviate the effects of climate change and anthropogenic activities. Zoos have become increasingly involved in conservation work.