THE TRUTH ABOUT ZOOS

Although many zoos define themselves as "animals´ hosts", they are actually places where some interesting species are collected to show them to an audience that normally gets dazzled by seeing them. Zoos seem to teach that there is no problem in having trapped, bored, alone and far from their natural homes animals. In fact, some shocking studies show that, for every hour that a person walks through the zoo, animals spend five years or more in there. In my opinion, this is not fun, but a real tragedy.

In zoos, all the natural needs of animals are cut down: migratory birds are not allowed to fly freely long distances, aquatic animals have much less water than necessary, some animals which are used to living in large herds have to live alone... Natural behaviours such as hunting or choosing a partner are completely knocked out by feeding regimes and mating programs.

It is also true that, even though many zoos act under the pretext of preserving endangered species which are currently facing extinction, the general purpose is to find ways to breed and keep animals in captivity. “Protecting species” sounds like a noble cause, but, in general terms, zoos give priority and support the exotic and popular animals (which attract many people) and neglect common species. If the aim is to encourage the reproduction and perpetuation of the species, it would be much more effective to prevent hunting and the destruction of their natural environments, taking drastic measures on the society.

Summing up: although it is true that there are zoos which differ a lot in size and quality (some of them count with huge semi-natural parks, and some others just consist of small places full of cages and iron sticks), and although there are zoos which carry out intensive animal care, I think we should let animals live in their natural habitats, where they can really develop themselves as natural species.