The Bronx Zoo

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Animals Deserve to be Free The capturing and displaying of animals has been around for nearly 200 years, the practice first being exercised by the Zoological Society of London in 1826. Ever since then, capturing animals to display for the public's enjoyment or “education” has become more and more popular all over the world. These zoological societies take animals from their wild habitats and families in order to show them to the public, with the excuse that they’re educating unknowing citizens, or protecting and saving these animals from injuries and extinction. At what cost though? These animals may be getting help while educating the public, but at the expense of both their mental and physical health along with their happiness. The Bronx…show more content…
On the contrary it is one of the most inhumane zoos in the world. The Bronx Zoo is known for its large space… and small enclosures. The Zoo is very large, boasting 265 square acres, but is known for its extremely small habitats for its animals, especially its elephants, ironically the largest animals there. The zoo has even put one of their elephants Happy, into solitary confinement for the rest of her life solely for the reason that she doesn't get along with the other two elephants at the zoo. That is no life for such an intelligent animal. Don’t get me wrong though, the Bronx Zoo has definitely improved since 1906 when they put Ota Benga, a 4 foot 11 inch, 103 pound African man, on display in the monkey pen. This poor man was captured from the Mbuti Pygmy tribe in Africa. At the age of 23 he was shown around and if even referred to as a human, he was referred to as a boy because of his small stature. Being kept up in a cage his entire life, Benga began to become extremely depressed. His psychological turmoil persisted even after being freed 10 years later. In 1916 working at a tobacco factory in Virginia, Benga committed suicide. The Story of Ota Benga, one of our own, a human, at the Bronx Zoo is shockingly similar to so many other captive animals, especially the extremely intelligent…show more content…
SeaWorld rebutted against Blackfish’s stories on the heartbreaking capturing of Orcas in the wild by SeaWorld with the statement in their new commercial “SeaWorld does not capture killer whales in the wild. Due to the groundbreaking success of our research in marine mammal reproduction, we haven’t collected a killer whale from the wild in 35 years.” In some underhanded way this is true. the company that runs SeaWorld, Blackstone group, has not captured orca whales for the purpose of display at SeaWorld since 1985, but continued to buy Orcas from third party capturers. In addition SeaWorld insists that their whales life spans of 35 years or so is equivalent to that of wild orcas. First of all, the median life span of a SeaWorld orca is only 9 years. The average lifespan of a wild orca is about 80 years, and can even surpass 100 years in female whales. The difference is

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