It's Necessary to Keep Animals in The Zoos

It's Necessary to Keep Animals in The Zoos Some say that a zoo is a poor alternative to natural environment, because animals that are confined with enclosures are losing their freedom and wild nature. But as we can see from the internet, Smithsonian National Zoological Park contains 2,000 animals of 400 different species, about one-fifth of which are endangered or threatened (National), and they all get good conservations and treatment. Thus, we have to admit that the zoo has its own advantages. A zoo is a facility in which animals are confined within enclosures, displayed to the public, and in which they may also be bred (Zoo). Keeping animals in zoos can really help protect wild animals, bring big economic profits and advance the science research and education. Zoos assist in safeguarding animals, especially the endangered species. Living in the zoo, animals are taken good care of by some wildlife professionals . And if they get hurt or ill, they will have good medical remedies which they may not be able to get in the wild. Nowadays, according to the scientists' estimation, every day there are about 150 to 200 species dying out from the Earth (status), and their habitats are being destroyed badly. The status of biological diversity is rather worrying, but zoos can serve as shelters for the homeless animals.So the situation eill be less serious. Many zoos like the National Zoo house animals in enclosures that attempt to replicate their natural habitats. They may have special buildings for nocturnal animals, special climate conditions created for animals living in radical environments and so on. These approximate animals' natural environments can contribute to develop animals' wild nature. Animals can live in big space and needn't worry about their food which are supplied in a regular time everyday. Zoos also support to propagate rare species through natural means and assist reproduction, and besides, they train animals for their return to nature. All these contribute a lot to the amount of the endangered and threatened animals. Besides animals, man does also gain profits from zoos. Keeping animals in zoos does aid to promote the development of economy. These days, thanks for their big assistance to the economic growth, the number of major animal collections open to the public around the world exceeds 1,000, around 80 percent of them in cities (Zoo). Zoos are becoming more and more popular. The Berlin Zoo is considered to be the most visited zoo in Europe and one of the most popular worldwide, with about 3.0 million visitors per year from all over the world. It had almost 3 million visitors in 2011(Berlin). Some zoos, for example Safari parks, allow visitors to drive through them and come in close contact with the animals. The owner of the zoos can really make a fortune from these paying visitors. There is also another kind of zoo called animal theme park which is a combination of an amusement park and a zoo, mainly for entertaining and commercial purposes. It contains more entertainment and amusement elements than the classical zoo, such as a stage shows, roller coasters, and mythical creatures (Zoo). All in all, in the progress of a country's economy, zoos are playing a more and more important role. Of course, animals kept in the zoos are largely responsible for a significant increase in revenue. There is no doubt that animals and the economy benefit a lot from zoos, so do science and education. As a matter of fact, zoos are opened primarily for the science research purposes and education, and man do obtain large quantity of useful information. In 1965 the National Zoo created the zoological research division to study the reproduction, behavior, and ecology of zoo species, and to learn how best to meet the needs of the animals (National). In the U.S., the Penrose Research Laboratory of the Philadelphia Zoo focuses on the study of comparative pathology (Zoo). Through all these studies, scientists and researchers will find new ways to keep the balance between human beings and animals. Zoos such as the National Zoo have developed public education programs to help students, teachers and families explore the intricacies of the animal world. With all such convenience, visitors especially kids are invited to a view into the animal world, and they shall feel more closed to the nature. Parents will have a good chance to tell their children how to love animals. Teachers will get a much more colorful encyclopedia to teach their students the wild animals instead of dull pictures in books. Everyone can learn the rules of nature and the preciousness of animals through his own experience in the zoo. Zoos can not only be the heaven of human, but can also be the paradise of animals, if the government and the public spare no effort to support the development of them and improve the circumstances in them. Zoos truly have some problems, but we can not ignore their benefits. These years have seen the great contributions that zoos make to the conservation of animals, the development of the economy and the progress of the science research and education. In a word, a zoo is to human what water is to fish. We humans shall live better with the existence of zoos keeping animals, for zoos give us the happiness that we need to subsist on and the knowledge which we can't get from any other thing. Works Cited "National Zoological Park (United States)." en.wikipedia.org. Wikipedia, 4 December 2012. Web. 5 January 2013. "Zoo." en.wikipedia.org. Wikipedia, 11 December 2012. Web. 5 January 2013. "The status of the earth's biological diversity." csr-china.net. csr-china.net., 16 October 2012. Web. 5 January 2013. "Berlin Zoological Garden." en.wikipedia.org. Wikipedia, 29 December 2012. Web. 6 January 2013.