Zoo Perth Australia, Koala Habitat
Zoo Beijing China, Brown Bear Habitat
which looks more animal friendly?
Zoos do better for animals than worse because they give threatened and endangered species a chance to live through conservation programs, they allow scientists to study the animals up close, provide rehabilitation for injured and sick animals, and educate the public. Unfortunately, not all zoos operate for these reasons. Some zoos operate for money rather than for the needs of the animals. In many countries there are organizations that make sure that zoos are open for the right reasons. In the U.S.A. there is the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, in Australia there is the Zoo Aquarium Association, and in Malaysia there is the South East Asian Zoos and Aquariums Association. These organizations believe in conservation, rehabilitation, and education.
Conservation is a very important part of a Zoo because it is helping endangered or threatened species by making their numbers higher. Over the years Orangutan numbers have been going down tremendously all over South East Asia due mainly to deforestation. The Orangutans have no home and limited proper food so they wander into near by villages or farmlands looking for food. Sometimes they are treated well but most times they are killed for eating the food. In Sumatra there is SOCP The Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme that researchers have made. This is where they rehabilitate orangutans back into the wild. The Perth Zoo in Australia have rehabilitated several orangutans into the wild through the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme after breeding them in their orangutan conservation program. Good zoos use conservation programmes so that they are helping species that need help.
There are many animals in the world that need help, that is why rehabilitation programs in zoos are very important.They can take in animals that need help and can help make them well again, they can show them ways to live again, how to hunt, and things like that. You can teach an animal so many things, even up to the point of how to walk again. I read a story and watched a documentary on some elephants in Northern Thailand that had been found near the Thai-Burma border. The people of an elephant center walked with the elephants from the Burmese border to their Thailand camp. The elephants had stepped on land mines and had bits of their feet and legs blown off. The people in the rehabilitation center wanted to help these elephants. The elephants had already adapted to walking on three legs but the rehabilitation center people contacted a university and asked if they could build a prosthetic leg for each elephant. This was a hard task because each elephant had a different circumference of their foot and they weighed different amounts. Therefore they had to build one specifically for each elephant. This task was accomplished and they taught the elephants how to walk again using all four legs. Some had trouble but some were walking straight away and didn't want to stop. This center gave so much to these elephants and gave them another chance to survive using all four legs using their rehabilitation program.
One thing that everyone needs to know about animals is " to know about them ", to learn about them through education. Education is very important for all animals from zoo animals to pets. People need to know what they are dealing with and what things are needed for these animals to survive. Good zoos are very good about educating people because they provide information on the animals. In front of the animal's enclosure is a little sign that says things about the animal, like where they are from , how big they can grow , what they eat, etc. Zoos also have Zoo keepers that give talks and share facts on the animals. There are also zoos keepers who just stand in front of the animals enclosure and explain things about the animal and give you the information on the animal. In Australia, during the school holidays, I went to the Perth Zoo for a workshop especially for kids. The keepers taught us so much about the animals and how to take care of them. We built play toys for sun bears, we fed the giraffes and touched the rhinos. I thought this was a very good way for children to get education on animals because lots of the kids might want to grow up to be Zoo Keepers or people involved in animal conservation or rehabilitation programmes etc. The kids learned more facts about the animals such as how the animal eats and why the animal's skin is like it is. This really helped me learn more about the animals which tells me that good Zoos are doing a good job with education programmes for children and adults.
I believe that Zoos mostly do good for animals because good zoos provide all the things I have mentioned- conservation, rehabilitation, and education. Bad zoos do not have these programmes or people that to do these. Bad zoos are usually purely run for money and to make a profit. With good zoos the money goes back into the keeping of the animals and then the worker's wages. I heard a story about an elephant who got a bone disease because she did not have enough space in her cage and the zoo gave her medicine so that you couldn't notice her limping. Eventually she died because they did not cure it. Other zoos don't have proper homes and have cement cages for the animal and that just eventually destroys the animal. Little national zoos have these problems unlike home zoos and things like that. As you can see the proper zoos are the good and healthy zoos.
