What happens at a zoo?!
Answers: What happens to the animals. Why do animal right vegetarians think their so bad?
Here is a referenced fact sheet that explains the problems with zoos:
http://www.peta.org/mc/factsheet_display...
Basically, animals in captivity suffer both physically and mentally because they are not able to perform their natural behaviors (running, foraging, mating, etc). Zoos still capture animals from the wild to put them on display, and older animals are often sold to roadside zoos or circuses where the conditions are horrible.
They think they are mistreated for some reason or they don't believe they should be held in captivity. It's no different then people having pets though, just a larger scale.
I also think many of them think it's bad because PETA says it's bad. Too many don't think for themselves. PETA could say that green is orange and they'd believe it.
You have to put yourself in their place. Would you like to be kept in a very constricted area? Eat only when they provide the food? And have your fecal matter left in that constricted area, till they remove it at the specified time? And you are only to be the only one (no friends)?
Since I turned vegan, it is hard for me to go to a zoo anymore and enjoy it. I see lions, tigers, and other predatory animals pacing back and forth like they are bored and want to run. I see little animals racing around knowing that it is food time and they look like they are starving. And don't even get me going on the fecal matter that is laying all over at the end of the day.
If I had to live in an apartment all my life. Wait for someone to bring me the take out (that I don't choose what I want. It is the same thing everyday). Can only flush the toilet once a day. And no TV, no internet, no people interaction, maybe just a ball and string to play with. I would go stir crazy (which winters do that to me already)!
I would want to be out and about. The animals I think would like their freedom to roam in their natural habitat (which we humans are also taking away from them) just as we do.
Alright, first thing's first:
I'm an animal rights veggiehead, and not ALL of us think zoos are bad. I think there could be better ways of doing it... but really, some of these animals have no chance in the wild due to stupid humans wiping them out (which is a whole 'nother rant).
The theory that zoos are bad is because there's no way to make an enclosure big enough to make a wild animal perfectly happy.
Because you have wild animals stuck in cages for profit. It's pretty self explanatory.
Zoos and animal parks have come along way from the old days when animals were housed in simple and cramped iron cages. Now there are animal wild parks and zooz where the animals are kept in "as close to natural as possible" shelters. The better funded zoos also perform a variety of tasks aside from being just a viewing stage for various animals. Since many of these facilities are staffed by land and marine biologists, zoologists and veterinarians, they are virtually animal shelters where rescued wildlife are kept until their release back into the wild. They are also study and research centers for the purpose of better understanding and care of not only the animals themselves but also the environment in which they live. They also create better awareness ( as well as raise much needed funds) among the viewing public about the challenges these animals face in the wild and how people can help protect them and their natural habitat. many of the most famous environmentalists such as the late Steve Irwin, Sir David Attenborough , Dr. Brady Barr and Jack Hannah are or at one time were affiliated with zoos.
Okay, first of all JEZEBEL, I've read a lot of your answers and most of them are a bit uneducated and ridiculous. Most zoos are not full profit organizations. A majority of the 'profits' go toward maintaining animal safety, health, and housing(most are constantly trying to create larger and better 'life like' habitats). And to second someone elses comment, most of these animals are rescued and don't stand a chance of survival otherwise.