Are Zoos Ethical?

April 4, 2022

The first American zoo opened in Philadelphia in 1874. Today, more than 200 zoos operate in the U.S. Many of them have seen an influx of visitors in the past year, as people searched for more outdoor recreational activities during the pandemic. At the same time, animal rights groups have continued to question whether humans should keep animals in captivity. A zoo industry official and an author of a book about the relationship between humans and animals square off on whether zoos are ethical.

Today’s modern and accredited zoo is not only ethical in how it operates, but also extremely important to saving wild animals and wild habitats. In 2020, facilities accredited by the Association of Zoos & Aquariums (AZA) contributed more than $230 million to conservation efforts.

The California condor provides an example of what zoos can accomplish.
In 1982, only 22 California condors existed in the wild. Conservation breeding and management of these animals in zoos increased this population to almost 200 birds within 20 years. By 2014, there were 425 of them, including 219 living in the wild.

Zoos (and aquariums) rescue and recover injured or orphaned endangered animals, such as grizzly bears, sea turtles, and Florida manatees. A dramatic example of this occurs each winter, when hundreds of cold-stunned sea turtles wash up on shores around the country. Without the rescue and rehabilitation efforts of AZA-accredited facilities, all these animals would perish.

Zoos connect people to the natural world and promote conservation efforts.

Zoos also undertake cutting-edge science that is unlocking mysteries about animals and how we can save them from extinction. The birth in 2020 of Elizabeth Ann, the first endangered black-footed ferret to be cloned, shows the potential of the science being carried out in zoos. She was cloned using material from San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance’s “Frozen Zoo”—a collection of some 10,000 cells and embryos from different species that provides an invaluable resource for conservation and assisted reproduction for threatened and endangered species.

With more than 200 million visitors a year, zoos and aquariums accredited by AZA also have an important role in educating the public about climate change and how it affects species such as the polar bear and the monarch butterfly.

And in a world where more and more people live in cities, zoos and the animals that call them home provide a valuable connection to the natural world, helping to inspire people to take action to protect it.

—DAN ASHE

President and CEO, Association of Zoos & Aquariums

There’s no doubt that reputable zoos work hard to take good care of animals and do important conservation work. But despite all their efforts, zoos are places people go to be entertained by animals that are not living in their natural environments.

There is heartbreaking evidence that many zoo animals don’t enjoy living in captivity. When confined, they rock, pull their hair, and display other tics. Some zoo animals bite or otherwise mutilate themselves. Captive tigers pace back and forth. Elephants bob their heads over and over. Giraffes endlessly flick their tongues. Some studies have shown that as many as 80 percent of zoo carnivores, 64 percent of zoo chimps, and 85 percent of zoo elephants have exhibited these kinds of compulsive behaviors.

Elephants are particularly unhappy in zoos, given their great size, social nature, and cognitive complexity. Many suffer from arthritis and other joint problems from standing on hard surfaces. Elephants kept alone become desperately lonely, and all zoo elephants suffer mentally from being cooped up in tiny yards while their free-ranging cousins walk up to 50 miles a day. Zoo elephants tend to die young. At least 20 zoos in the United States have already ended their elephant exhibits in part because of ethical concerns about keeping the species captive.

There is evidence that many zoo animals dislike living in captivity.

Many zoos use Prozac and other psychoactive drugs on at least some of their animals to deal with the mental effects of captivity. The Los Angeles Zoo has used Celexa, an antidepressant, to control aggression in one of its chimps. Gus, a polar bear at the Central Park Zoo, was given Prozac to stop him from swimming endless figure-eight laps in his tiny pool.

And some zoo animals try to escape. Jason Hribal’s 2010 book, Fear of the Animal Planet, chronicles dozens of attempts. It’s impossible to read these stories and many more without concluding that these animals desperately wanted out. It seems clear that keeping animals in zoos isn’t an ethical choice.

—EMMA MARRIS