Erin Dennis

Dr. Mitchell

UWRT 1104

22 September 2017

Annotated Bibliography

Jett, John. Journal of Marine Animals and their Ecology. 2012, Zoo. Accessed 15 Sept. 2017.

This article gave multiple explanations for why animals should not be placed in zoos.

Orcas that are captive are vulnerable to mosquito-transmitted diseases, in fact they have killed 2

captive orcas in US theme parks. St. Louis Encephalitis Virus was part in the 1990 death of the

male orca Kanduke, located in Seaworld. The West Nile Virus killed male orca, Taku at Seaworld

in 2007. Captive orcas are held in geographic locations receiving high UV radiation which acts

as an immunosuppressant. Many facilities do not offer shade in some of the exhibits. Many

captive orcas have broken, ground, and bored teeth through which bacteria may enter the

bloodstream, which compromises their ability to fight various pathogens. This information will

be useful to me when I have to give reasons why zoos are unhealthy for animals. It will back up

my statement that animals in captivity do not receive proper care.

Ranganathan, Romesh, editor. Zoos are Prisons for Animals. The Guardian, 13 Mar. 2017.

According to this site a zoo in Cumbria is having its license revoked as a result of

nearly 500 animals dying there over a two-year period. A lot of zoos play the conservation angle,

which is a rationale that has been reverse engineered. When Cecil the lion was killed, the general

public were so incensed that the doctor who shot him became an international hate figure; the

perfect example of the public picking and choosing when to give a shoot about animals. Its

really bad to shoot Cecil despite the fact he has a much better life than the huge number of lions

that we continue to keep in captivity. This will be useful in supporting my claim that outsiders of

the zoo should care about animals in zoos all of the time and not just when they are shot and

killed.

User, Super. Last Chance for Animals - Zoos,www.lcanimal.org/index.php/campaigns/animals-

in-entertainment/zoos. Accessed 15 Sept. 2017.

In this article it stresses the influences that zoos have on animals. Animals in zoos are

forced to live in artificial, stressful, and downright boring conditions. Zoos claim to provide

conservation, education and entertainment, their primary goal is to sustain public support in

order to increase profits. Zoos claim to practice conservation, or in other words, the preservation

of various species. They claim that without zoos, certain species would become extinct.
However, if they are truly concerned with the preservation of species, they would focus more to

preserve the animals natural habitat. Zoo-goers are unable to witness how multifaceted the lives

of animals truly are. Instead, we observe the animals reactions to boredom, depression, and

stress. There are very few zoos that practice relevant and reliable research. In their natural

habitat, species develop immunities to naturally occurring illnesses. Zoo animals usually do not

form resistance to the most ordinary of ailments and are more prone to catching viruses that they

would never encounter in the wild. Zoos also seek out baby animals knowing that they are the

most appealing to the public. When the baby animals grow older, and less attractive, they will

often be sold or killed. This article backs up my point on how people only go to the zoo for

entertainment, not education. They want to see the baby animals more than the fully grown

animals and zoos know that. This also backs up my point that animals in zoos are forced to breed

with another mate. When the zoo wants an offspring they pair 2 animals and make them mate.

Zoos and Other Captive-Animal Displays. PETA, www.peta.org/about-peta/why-peta/zoos/.

Accessed 15 Sept. 2017.

Peta says the the physical and mental frustrations of captivity often lead to abnormal,

neurotic, and even self-destructive behavior, such as incessant pacing, swaying, head-bobbing,
bar-biting, and self mutilation. Zoos breed animals because the presence of babies draws zoo

visitors and boosts revenue. Large, well-known zoos engage in unscrupulous practices, such as

dumping unwanted animals or taking animals from the wild. Wild-animal parks and zoos almost

always favor large and charismatic animals who draw large crowds of visitors, but they neglect

less popular species that also needed to be protected. It is almost impossible to return captive-

bred animals into the wild because animals who are reared in zoos are denied the opportunity to

learn survival skills, can transmit diseases to their wild counterparts, and often have no natural

habitat left to return to because of human encroachment. Warehousing animals for life is not the

way to save them from extinction. Their salvation lies in protecting habitats, not in creating

animal prisons. This article will be useful to my argument because it explains how zoos do not

include uninteresting animals and how depressed animals get while being in captivity.