No more Zoos ???

Link to Article:

http://www.peta.org/living/entertainment/reality-zoos/

Conclusions: 

     The article titled The Reality of Zoos by Michelle Carr was published on PETA's website. PETA stands for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. PETA is a animal activist group well known for its striking campaigns, infiltrating large companies dealing with animals and strong visuals. This article is a response from PETA regarding whether of not Zoos are good or bad. Carr's response aligns with PETA's idea that zoos are terrible places for animals.

Evidence:

    I can tell this author is against zoos and does not want anyone to go to them because she states, " Now that I know the reality behind zoos, I don’t go to the zoo, and I encourage my friends and family to boycott them as well. " This statement embodies the message of her argument the best. Another statement she uses that embodies her argument that zoos are cruel and horrible places that should not exist is , " To put it simply, zoos are imprisoning animals who want to be free. " Carr thinks of Zoos as places that imprison animals that just want to be in the wild. She mentions an incident where a gorilla who wanted to be free escaped from the zoo, only to be shot. Through these quotes it is easily noted that Carr is against zoos.

Fallacies: 

    While reading this article I did find a general fallacy and that fallacy was the Michelle Carr put human emotions on animals. You can not equate human emotion to animal emotion because different animals have different social behaviors and societies. For example, In America eye contact is a sign of respect but, to most animals eye contact is a sign of aggression. In fact if you were to look a dog or a cat in the eyes right now they would probably look away to signal to you they don't want a fight. Carr puts her human emotions on animals when she says, " But once I saw them “up close and personal,” I realized that the animals were miserable. It instantly became very clear to me that the animals imprisoned in zoos are sad." Thinking that an animal is sad does no mean they are sad. To prove, assumptions that someone is feeling a certain way is often false. Some people may have facial features that make them look angry or sad but, that doesn't mean they are. Furthermore, In the gorillas social structure solemn looking faces are a sign of contentedness. Ultimately, when Carr gives animals human emotions her argument becomes a fallacy.

My Conclusions:

       Personally, my opinion on this topic can be seen as bias because I had a wonderful experience volunteering for the Philadelphia Zoo. So, I have had the pleasur of seeing hoe zoos are ran and working with the people who work for zoos. Unfortunatley, I have also dealt with activists who use emotionally charged language and situations out of context in order to gain support for their cause.  I'd like to mention that the Philadelphia Zoo is a non- profit organization and AZA accredited. AZA accreditation means that measures are taken by the zoo so that each animal is cared for properly. For example, each animal must have a certain amount of space that has been deemed appropriate by experts and that each wild animal in our care must have limited contact with humans in order to promote natural behavior. 

        In my experience animals love zoo and zoos provide animals with everything they could ever want. Carr states, "Captive animals are deprived of everything that is natural and important to them." but, what is important to animals? All animals want is safety, to reproduce, to have food ,to have shelter, and to live. Zoos provide animals with a safe place to live all the food they could ever eat , others animals to breed with, enrichment so they are never bored and amazing vet care and nutritionist so they are never sick. Animals in the wild suffer from diseases, hunger, and stress from being hunted by human and other animals. Zoo animals never have these problems in fact zoo animals have a longer life span and are often overweight compared to animals in the wild. The practice of taking animals from the wild is outdated and seldom used most zoos work in conjunction with other zoos through breeding programs. I do believe that some zoos are bad or not the best living situations for animals but, there are also many great zoo who are AZA accredited and strive to have healthy and happy animals.