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Cindy Ly
January 10, 2017
2A
Point by Point Outline
Are Zoo animals really wild?
Thesis Statement: Although zoo and wild animals are similar in many ways, the lack of

perspective from the animals point of view has made many people unaware of the
differences concerning the zoo and wild animals lifestyle, amount of freedom, and
animal rights and animal welfare.

I.
A.
B.
1.
2.
3.
C.

Zoos
Hook: Zoos serve as a form of entertainment for people.
Bridge:
Survey Responses
People go to the zoo to have fun
Most people do not see the reality of how animals feel behind the enclosures
Thesis: Humans lack of perspective from the animals point of view has made many people

unaware of the differences concerning the zoo and wild animals lifestyle, amount of
freedom, and animal rights and animal welfare.
II.

Animal Lifestyle
A. Zoo Animals
1. Zoos provide education, entertainment, research, and to conserve the animal species, but zoo animals are
incapable of surviving in the wild.
2. Source 1: (Mammals and Humans: Mammals in zoos) and Source 2: (Animals Suffer in Captivity)
3. Zoos have a positive effect on visitors; exhibit exotic animals; manage zoo population genes; keep animal
records; researcher are able to research efficiently; and conserve species and rehabilitate animals. Zoo
animals lack experience to survive in the wild. They are provided with food and a safe shelter by the
zookeepers, and they live in a artificial enclosed habitat.
B. Wild animals
1. Wild animals are capable of surviving in the wild
2. Source 2: (Animals Suffer in Captivity)
3. Wild animals forages for food, finds its own shelter, and defends itself from danger; and lives in a natural vast
habitat

III.

Amount of Freedom
A. Zoo animals
1. Lack space, have limited freedom, and are isolated
2. Source #1 (Mammals and Humans: Mammals in zoos), Source 2: (Animals Suffer in Captivity), and Source #4
("Dilemmas of Captivity" Ethics and Animals: An Introduction)
3. Caused zoo animals to exhibit zoochosis- pacing, self-mutilation, frustration, boredom behavior. Animals are
captured for: a healthy gene population in zoos, to prevent any harmful genetic mutations or evolution due to
isolation; sold and put into zoo exhibits; habitats/homes may be naturally destroyed or destroyed by man; and
for conserving an endangered species
B. Wild animals

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1. Animals in the wild have a healthier social life
2. Source 2: (Animals Suffer in Captivity)
3. Animals are free to roam, react to their surroundings, and to interact with other species.
IV.
A.
1.
2.
3.

B.
1.
2.
3.

V.
A.
B.
C.

Animals Rights and Animal Welfare

Zoo animals
Animal Welfarist support having zoo animals. Animal rights advocates do not.
Source #3 (Animal Welfare and Rights: V. Zoos and Zoological Parks), Source #5 (Mad about
Wildlife), and Source #6 (The Rights of Animals)
Animal welfare believes in satisfying the physical and mental need of the animal without making it suffer, and
accept using animals as a resource to benefit humans and as property. Zoo animals that suffer from zoochosis
is an issue involving both animal rights and animal welfare.
Wild Animals
Animal welfare and animal rights is a controversial issue
Source #3 (Animal Welfare and Rights: V. Zoos and Zoological Parks), Source #5 (Mad about
Wildlife),
Some wild animals are mistreated in inhumane ways and are denied husbandry. The view of animals having
rights like humans, such as property rights is still constantly being debated. Animal rightist believe animals
should be treated equally as humans treat other humans.
Human view and judgment on animals
Understand the reason why people are unaware of the difference between zoo and wild animals
Human values has shaped animal lifestyle, freedom, and animal rights and welfare
Human actions and judgments put upon animals create ethical conflicts

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Cindy Ly
English 111
Research Essay
January 10, 2016
Are Zoo Animals Really Wild?
Zoos serve as a form of entertainment for people. Based on a survey on zoos,
people often go to zoos to spend time with their friends and family and to see animals.
People tend to dislike the cost of admission, but they like seeing the animals and rate
their overall experience in the zoo as good, friendly, and clean. Despite the majority of
the responses being positive on the view of zoos, the judgment of people are usually
one-sided based on their own entertainment. From the results of the Zoo survey, it can
be inferred that many people do not understand the reality of how animals feel behind
the bars and enclosures of the zoos, and mistake it as the reality of wild animals.
Although zoo and wild animals are similar in many ways, the lack of perspective from the
animals point of view has made many people unaware of the differences concerning the
zoo and wild animals lifestyle, amount of freedom, and animal rights and animal welfare.
When people visit zoos, they are often in awe with the newfound experience of
having an opportunity to observe, learn, and interact with a wild or exotic animal. The
purpose of having zoos is to educate and entertain the community on animals on exhibit,
to research, and to conserve the animal species (Naugher 203). Zoos have provided us
with most of the educational research we have on animals today. In the wild, researchers
cannot observe the animals at their most desired range to get their data, but in the zoo,
researchers are able to get closer and interact with the captivated animals. Zoos work
towards the goal of replenishing endangered wild species and towards re-introducing

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captive born animals back into the wild. Unfortunately, the procedure of reintroducing
captive born animals back into the wild can be quite challenging, despite both zoo and
wild animals are able to acquire their needs to survive. The main problem is that the
animals greatly differ in the amount of space they have and the amount of effort exerted
to obtain their needs. In zoos, animals are provided with a safe shelter and an enclosed
artificial habitat. Food is usually served to the animals on a daily basis. Whereas wild
animals need to forage for food, find its own shelter, and defend itself from danger
everyday. Animals that are kept in zoos for a long period of time lack the experience and
strength to survive in the wild.
Compared to wild animals, zoo animals have so little freedom. Animals Suffer in
Captivity by Christine Van Tuyl, addresses the behavior and signs of suffering of animals
in the zoos. Animals are forced to live in artificial, stressful, and boring conditions
because the enclosures rarely match their natural habitat. Because of the limited space
and the lack of interaction with other animal species and their natural environment,
animals in zoos often display apathy, frustration, and boredom. These animals can
develop zoochosis, which are stereotypical behaviors including needless pacing,
swaying, rocking, and self-mutilation(13). In the wild, animals are free to roam, react to
their surroundings, avoid predators, forage for food, and interact with other species. The
lack of interaction of zoo animals compared to wild animals proves that the moral of the
zoo animals are generally poor. Zoos claim that seeing a live wild animal gives an
unparalleled appreciation of power and wonder of nature, but what we see in zoos can
give people a misleading view on wildlife (17). Visitors of the zoo usually see the animals
living a sedentary life rather than animals in their wild/natural state.
Zoos exhibit exotic animals that represent the species in the wild; therefore zoos
must keep a record of the history and ancestry of all the animals and manage the zoos

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population. New animals that are added to the zoo collection usually come from other
zoos, but how did the animals end up in a zoo in the first place? According to "Dilemmas
of Captivity" Ethics and Animals: An Introduction by Lori Gruen, a philosopher, explains
that animals are captured for: hunting game; a healthy gene population in zoos; sold and
put into zoo exhibits; for conservation of animal life due to endangerment, natural
habitat destruction, or destruction caused by man. Due to the rights and welfare of
animals, critics and advocates of the zoos are always controversially addressing it.
From what people see in zoos, they are being misled on the representation of wild
animals. Zoos want their visitors to believe that these animals are in their natural state
and are wild. Although these animals are a wild species, they are not in the wild and can
be potentially domesticated by the zoo. Because of this, ethical conflicts on animal rights
and welfare often arise. The source of having ethical conflicts is due to human judgment
based on human values, whereas the views of animals are inferred. Animal rights
advocates view animals as not property, and support the abolition of animal research,
pet ownership, animal agriculture, and commercial and sport hunting and trapping. They
also accept the idea that both humans and animals have inherent value. Tom Regan, an
advocate for animal rights and the author of the books The Case for Animal Rights and
The Struggle for Animal Rights, described:
Inherent value, then belongs equally to those who are the experiencing subjects of
life. Whether it belongs to othersto rocks and rivers, trees and glaciers, for
example we do not know. But we do not need to know, for example, how many
people are eligible to vote in the next presidential election before we can know
whether I am. Similarly, we do not need to know how many individuals have
inherent value before we can know that some do. (The Rights of Animals 35)

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He argues that animals have inherent value by the way they live, and we do not need to
prove whether or not they really have inherent value because as humans, we recognize
that humans have inherent values, therefore animals must have the right to be treated
equally as well. As the founder of PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals),
Ingrid NewKirk famously said, A rat is a pig is a dog is a boy(58). In contrast, critics of
animal rights believe that giving animals rights is inhumane. The goal of animal welfare
is to regulate unnecessary pain and suffering of animals. In other words, animals should
not suffer at the hands of people. Animal welfarists accept animals as property and that
animals can be used as a resource for humanity, such as experimentation,
domestication, and killing animals under specific circumstances. For example, a pond
owner found a number of dead fish around her pond after an otter problem was
discovered. The owner then accused the otters of illegally fishing from the pond because
the otters had no right to fish. Because the pond fish was portrayed as the rightful and
exclusive property of people, the ownership of property overruled the otters fishing for
regulating their habitat and for survival. This view made the otters seem like criminals
for stealing fish from humans, instead of being wild animals foraging food to survive
(Mad about wildlife 133). By way this is addressed, the otters had no rights to survive
and to practice their natural behavior. The treatment of the physical and mental needs of
zoo and wild animals are constantly evolving due to the change in animal behavior based
on what they interact with. In zoos, animal husbandry must always be satisfactory for
animals to prevent inhumane treatment and zoochosis. In the wild, animals are
sometimes challenged by humans with the ownership of property.
Human judgment has impaired the view between zoo and wild animals. Animals
are put into zoos for education and entertainment, but visitors see the animals
represented in the zoo as truly exotic, natural, and wild. The lifestyle, freedom, and

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rights and welfare of zoo and wild animals have been shaped by human values rather
than by the animal due to captivity and ethical dilemmas. Although humans and animals
can peacefully coexist together, it is the actions and the ethical judgments either
positive or negative taken by humans that can cause conflicts to the zoo and wild
animals lives.

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Works Cited
"Animals Suffer in Captivity." Zoos and Animal Welfare. Ed. Christine Van Tuyl. Detroit:
Greenhaven Press, 2008. 12-17. Issues That Concern You. Gale Virtual Reference
Library. Web. 8 Dec. 2016.
Dunlap, Julie, and Stephen R. Kellert. "Animal Welfare and Rights: V. Zoos and Zoological
Parks." Encyclopedia of Bioethics. Ed. Stephen G. Post. 3rd ed. Vol. 1. New York:
Macmillan Reference USA, 2004. 208-212. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 8
Dec. 2016.
Gruen, Lori. "Dilemmas of Captivity." Ethics and Animals: An Introduction. Cambridge, UK:
Cambridge UP, 2011. 133-41. Print.
Herda-Rapp, Ann, and Theresa L. Goedeke. "Devils, Angels or Animals: The Social
Construction of Otters in Conflict over Management." Mad about Wildlife: Looking
at Social Conflict over Wildlife. Leiden: Brill, 2005. 34-35. Print.
Ly, Cindy. Zoos. Survey. 19 Dec. 2016.
Miller, Debra A. The Rights of Animals. Detroit: Greenhaven, 2009. Print.
Naugher, Ken B. "Mammals and Humans: Mammals in Zoos." Grzimek's Animal Life
Encyclopedia. Ed. Michael Hutchins, et al. 2nd ed. Vol. 12: Mammals I. Detroit:
Gale, 2004. 203-212. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 8 Dec. 2016.