Karan Agrawal

 Are zoos cruel to wild animals?

An opinion-based essay

Animals! They are living-organisms, we see around us everyday and like we humans, they respire, they eat, they move and try to survive in this world.

These creatures have always attracted us by their beauty, their way of living, their abilities or skills (running, jumping, attacking etc). People have always wanted to see these beautiful things in real, which nature has created. But today, it’s very difficult for people go in a forest and search for these animals because it’s extremely risky and dangerous. There are numerous species of animals and there are many, who are venomous to our body. Secondly, it’s very daunting for people to take out time for this. That’s why, we have a place known as ‘zoo’, where people can fulfil their wish of looking at these animals in real without undertaking any kind of danger.

Zoos have been attractive and popular places, especially among children since a long time. People enjoy this place but are the animals also happy?

For me, the answer is a ‘no’. How can the animals be happy if they don’t even have the freedom to walk, wherever they want to? They are kept in a cage, which is nothing but a jail for them. They are prisoners who are behind the bars, just because they are so beautiful. The monkeys who live in the world of trees cannot live anymore. The birds, who rule the sky cannot even get a glimpse of it. These are just two of the unfortunate species of animals, who have forgotten, how to live life because of being forced to spend their rest of their life in a jail known as zoo. Therefore, we can say that zoos are cruel to wild animals. But there are some advantages too, which animals get as a reward for being in a zoo. Zoo does help the weak animals like rabbits, deer to be safe from the hungry predators. In a zoo, animals can’t attack each other as, there’s safe distance maintained between them and they are under-control. In this case, the preys are at advantage but the predators are at loss. Not because of being hungry (food at proper time is being provided to the animals), but because of laziness.

Each specie of animals has a unique skill, which they develop in their life span and other species may not have them. The nature has created their bodies or their structure in such a way that they can use those skills effectively for survival. And these god-gifted abilities become their identity.

For example, cheetahs are known for their running ability, eagles are known for their technique of catching their preys without touching the ground, snakes are known for their skill of grabbing their prey in fractions of seconds and also their accuracy in throwing the venomous toxins they carry, alligators/crocodiles are known for their monstrous jaws where no one can escape from it. The lions and tigers are known for their fierce looks, which is clearly visible on their face, their style of hunting and also the noise they make, what we call as ‘roar’. But can the animals do the same things in a zoo?

Can a snake use its flexible body to grab any animal, if it’s left in a small box? Can a cheetah run if he can walk only in a small area? Can a crocodile or alligator use his jaws to attack a prey if he doesn’t has any?

From this point, it’s clearly observable that zoos are making the furious animals, slow and lazy because they are not being allowed to do what they are made for. Just for the sake of earning money, forcing these animals to separate them from their homes, their family is something inhuman and cruel, which should be stopped. By doing this, we are not only torturing these animals but are also disturbing the ecosystem (Food chain, Food web). This has a negative impact on the whole earth as a biome.

Henceforth, from whatever discussed in the essay, I conclude that zoos are cruel to animals.

‘If the mankind extincts or disappears from this planet, the earth will flourish again but if the animals disappear from this planet, the world will be in a complete chaos.’

Thank you