The earliest known zoos existed in 3500 B.C, known as Menageries,collections of exotic animals owned by the wealthy. Possessing a vast collection of animals was seen as a symbol of power, and a way to flaunt one's wealth by displaying creatures gathered from foreign lands.
Roughly 5,516 years later, zoos are still thriving, despite widespread criticism regarding the ethical implications of imprisoning sentient beings for our entertainment. Studies have shown that animals, particularly mammals, suffer psychologically from being imprisoned in enclosures which are tiny comparative to their natural habitats. The elephant typically walks up to of 30 miles a day in the wild, a far cry from the pathetic enclosures they spend their days at in many zoos. Being confined to artificial habitats often leads to animals becoming restless, and experiencing stress, anxiety and boredom. This behavior is defined as Zoochosis, and psychologically tortures many animals who live in captivity. Symptoms of Zoochosis include head rocking, swaying, pacing back, random biting, and obsessive head and neck twisting.
Zoos often get their inhabitants from the wild. The San Diego Wild Animal Park and Lowry Park Zoo, captured 11 African elephants from Swaziland, imprisoning the mammals so we can gawk at them. Some of the more disturbing aspects of zoos may be changing.
After a public outcry, India banned the capture and display of dolphins anywhere in the country. The Central Zoo Authority of India states, ''Dolphin behavior has suggested that the unusually high intelligence; as compared to other animals means that dolphin should be seen as ‘non-human persons’ and as such should have their own specific rights and it is morally unacceptable to keep them captive for entertainment purpose.” Evidence regarding the intelligent nature of dolphins and whales is staggering.
The evidence suggests that they are capable of cognitive thinking and communication, perhaps even more so then humans are. Their brains, particularly the Limbic System, which controls emotions, is far more complex then ours, and communicative abilities in dolphins and whales is far superior to ours, able to both convey and receive 20 times the amount of information we can with hearing, capable of literally projecting images to each other. Michigan State University gives an example; “So a dolphin wishing to convey the image of a fish to another dolphin can literally send the image of a fish to the other animal. The equivalent of this in humans would be the ability to create instantaneous holographic pictures to convey images to other people.”
These findings cast a disturbing light on zoos, and the dubious morality of imprisoning creatures who can communicate and experience emotion far better than we can. Not to mention the inherent danger of keeping wild animals on display, an example being Tilikum, a captured Orca, who killed three people while held in captivity at Seaworld.
Over 100 million people visit American zoos annually, and while many wildlife enclosures treat the animals humanely, and attempt to help and release captive animals, far too many exist primarily to profit off of the confinement of creatures that should be free to live their lives, far away from our prying eyes.
