I am not proud to say it, we all live in a zoo. I feel like the earth is too small to live. In some kind of way, we all live in a zoo. It's either we live in a home compartment with some level of restriction by our spouse or parents, while some live in a zoo called prison with some levels of restriction too. We all think that only animals in zoo cages really live restricted lives, far beyond that, in the overall view, even humans are caged by the government with so many rules.
However, today we shall take a cursory look at the reason why animals are kept in zoos and what may likely be the advantages and disadvantages of keeping animals from the wild which is their natural habitat.
Education
The zoo serves as the learning materials which students need to understand or have the knowledge of the different species of animals in their academic study of biology, agricultural science and even veterinary medicine. The zoo serves as a closer view through which animal behaviours are studied up close. Without the zoo, we would only be able to read about animals and never have the opportunity to see them act, knowing that what the eye sees, it remembers, as goes the popular Chinese proverb.
Conservation
In Lagos, directly opposite the Chevron building on the Lekki-Epe expressway, there is a conservation of birds and monkeys which was founded by late S.L Edu to keep some species of birds and monkeys from going into extinction. Human activities like hunting and urban development have made the existence of some of these animals tough and many have gone into extinction. It is through the zoos that some of the animals are preserved.
Entertainment
Zoos present us with the gift and opportunity to see some animals we may never see with our two naked eyes in our lifetime. May I also say that some animals that are in the zoo may never have the opportunity to see human beings in their entire lifetime but thanks to the zoo. Seriously, animals that are kept in zoos become a light up for people who are depressed. Seeing nature through the zoo makes some depressed fellows regain hope and become more positive about their future.
Research
To know why some animals behave in some particular ways, the zoo helps researchers to facilitate scientific research as to animal behaviours, conservation and biology. This has helped over time in the study of animals in controlled environments such as the zoo and to contribute valuable knowledge to the scientific community.
Rehabilitation
Recently, I watched a documentary where an elephant in one of the parks in Kenya was rescued from injury that was already infected with bacteria. The zoo became a home for the elephant and prevents it from eventual death since there is no hospital facility among the animals. Most times, the zoo serves as a safe place for the animals because the wild is a dangerous place. The carnivorous animals depend on the herbivorous animals as a source of food. It is indeed dangerous out there in the wild. There is no gainsaying that the zoo provides important conservation for protecting the endangered species in the wild.
There is also the argument that keeping animals in “captivity” can be very harmful to their physical and mental health. The animals may become bored, fatigued and stressed from living in a restricted area. Some of the animals in a bid to scale from the confinement may suffer ailments.
Another school of thought has it that it is unethical to keep animals for human entertainment. In my view, I would say that all things are meant for humans only that man has become so developed that new laws are now made to guide our activities. Some, in the name of game reserve, some in the name of forest reserve and so on.
Generally speaking, I am of the view that the study of zoo (zoology) have created a new kind of job to people thereby creating the opportunity to be pulled out from the number of unemployed people around the world.