Captive Elephants

Deborah Nelson's article “Ringling Brothers Circus’s Treatment of Elephants is Cruel” says more should be done to help hurting Elephants. Nelson states Elephants are being beaten and dying for the way they are being treated. Even when the Elephants are clearly sick, they are still being beaten to perform in shows. Nelson says for years nothing has been done. Videos have been released of the beatings and still nothing.

That video depicts the backstage of Ringling Bros. Circus before the elephants go out to perform. That 's not all it depicts, as stated on http://www.wildlifeadvocacy.org, the trainers are using “bullhooks”

Stuck in a cement container that’s only eight meters wide for 14 long hours a day, practically motionless. That’s how his circus life began. Tilkilim, also known as Tili, was torn from his mother at the age of only two (A Killer Whale Gone Very Bad). He would spend 14 long hours in an eight-meter-wide enclosure with two park female killer whales, who viciously bullied him (A Killer Whale Gone Very Bad). Now today, he spends most of his time alone, drifting lifelessly in a pool at Orlando’s Seaworld (A Killer Whale Gone Very Bad).

Killer whales were initially captured in the 1960s, when a female orca was captured and put into a tank. Two days into the female orca's stay she repeatedly bashed her head against her tank wall and perished the following day. Unfortunately, people did not heed or take any precautions from this traumatic incident and since then killer whales all over the world have been captured for entertainment purposes and have been stored in facilities such as SeaWorld. From these types of facilities incidents continue to happen such as killer whales killing their trainers, killing themselves, dying due to medical conditions, and more. Continuous accidents such as these have caused suspicion among the public of whether killer whales live healthy and prosperous lives in captivity and brings up the concern of ethicality.

The elephant lives in the hot climate of the savannah. The animals are being studied but one is very difficult for scientists

Animal abuse is displayed in the novel Water for Elephants, by Sara Gruen by describing the animal’s living conditions and how the trainers treat them compared to circuses in current society. Passive animal cruelty is an indirect way of animal abuse,

In the circus habitat, elephants are not taught how to care for themselves like the ones in the wild are. Because they are taken care of for so long by humans, they can not live on their own in the wild. If the elephants are released after being captivated for entertainment, they will die from not knowing what to do. The AWA does not enforce the humane animal rights, and that results in populations

Animals in captivity at zoos constantly struggle with problems including stress, boredom, and confinement (Lin). This piece of evidence explains that small habitats in zoos conclude to many health problems. The last way that zoos make

Imagine living in the perfect home, the place you’ve always lived with friends, family and thousands of miles to roam around and explore. Only to wake up in a cage with the eyes of humans glaring and the flash of cameras reflecting off the glass wall. It looks like home, but the grass is fake, family and friends are gone, food only comes at certain times and the only roaming there is to do remains in the area of the closure. This is the life of an animal that goes from being wild and free to captive in zoos and aquariums. Zoos and aquariums are institutions that capture live animals and keep them in cages or large enclosures for public exhibition.

Animals our taken from their natural habitats and locked up in small spaces, the small spaces, the concrete floors and the unnatural social groupings are slowly driving the elephants insane while their feet and bodies deteriorate before our eyes.” such as an “ Asian elephant in the wild may roam freely over a range of 150,000 acres the show consists of just two acres of walkable ground subdivided into five smaller yards – not nearly enough room for the three resident elephants, Billy, Tina,

Elephants now join an elite club of social cooperator that helps us understand the skill that they have and how they use them. Elephants, both African and Asian have long been classified as an empathetic animal for an extended amount of time. In the first two articles “Elephants can lend a helping trunk,” and “Elephants know…” share the experiments and trials that help people understand the elephant's behavior. In the article " Elephants console..." has a different way of showing elephants action towards each other; however, all three articles share similarities.

Wild animals are called “wild” for a reason. How can we be educated about wild animals when we are not seeing them in their natural environment? Captivity lacks the ability to show animals true behaviors. A polar bear’s enclosure is one-millionth the size compared to its home in the wild (Derr). With nowhere to go the polar bear ends up spending 25% of its day pacing and walking around in tight circles (Derr).

Are zoos good or bad? Most people think that they are good… but they just do not know about the other side of zoos. Female african elephants live 17 years in zoos but when they are in the wild they live 56 years. Zoos are unethical and should let all there animals out because they are bad for humans, hurt and separate animals, and Unhealthy for animals.

As stated in “Do elephants belong in zoos?”, zoos not only fund research on wild animals but also contribute to reducing the conflicts between them and people, for example, by planting crops that frighten elephants away and exploring the cases of poaching that could affect their mortality (Cohn 717). Moreover, most of the scientific matter on elephants such as facts about their communications, reproductive physiology and behavior were originally gathered on the ground of captive animals (Cohn 717). In his article, Borrell expresses the same opinion. He states that zoos serve as “a living museum” that help scientists to find necessary information on species for the research, and these facts can be used to prevent the extinction of the animals living in the wild (Borrell 9). Besides, zoos are crucial for raising money for conservation programs by giving people firsthand wildlife experience that increases interest in wild animals (Borrell 9).

This leads to many concerns from the public on the physical and mental impacts of captivity on the wild animals. This essay examines the advantages and disadvantages of zoos to lead us to a possible conclusion whether it is ethical to place animals in captivity. We will also examine if zoos have the best possible facilities to keep animals in captivity. Body One of the advantages of having zoos, is to provide protection to some animals that are endangered.