Should Animals Be Kept In Captivity?

After reading 'Escape Artist Clyde' by Philippa Werry the Avengers thought about whether animals should be kept in captivity or not.

In the story ‘Escape Artist Clyde” an otter named Clyde repeatedly escaped from the zoo before eventually being moved to Australia. We evaluated the claim that ‘no animals should be kept in captivity’.

Reasons for not having animals in captivity are animals may be unhappy. For example Clyde escaped twice from his enclosure because it may have been too small compared to his space in the wild. He may also have been bored from just wandering around the same place everyday. Animals need to have the opportunity to act naturally as they would in the wild. Debate.org says that 74% of people say animals should not be kept in captivity. This shows that the majority of people believe that that animals should not live in an enclosure.

On the other hand some people say that some animals should be kept in captivity. Although only 26% of people on Debate.org think that yes animals should be kept in captivity we agree with them. Our opinion is that If the animal is endangered they can be bred in captivity to boost their numbers. For example there are only 1600 Giant Panda left in the wild. However there are 300 panda in zoos and breeding centres around the world trying to increase its population (Nationalzoo.si.edu). Zoo’s not only breed animals but also help them to live longer compared to in the wild. In zoos the zoo keepers feed the animals regularly instead of having to hunt for food that might not be available. Also if the animals are unwell the zookeeper can look after them rather than in the wild where they would probably die.

Overall we think alongside the majority of people in Room 3 that some animals should be in captivity. However the zoo or sanctuary that keeps the animals needs to be able to provide shelter, food and close to a natural habitat for the animals they care for.

What do you think should No animals should be kept in captivity?