Against Animal Captivity Essay

Kassie Pinegar

Morgan McCauley

Schwab/ Kamei

15 December 2011

Against Animal Captivity

Everyday all around the world, animals are held captive under no free will. They’re tortured and deprived of the life they could have in the wild. So many people protest against this awful thing but it doesn’t change the fact that it’s still happening day to day. Zoo’s, circuses, and aquariums put on shows to show off the good looks of animals but deep down inside those animals are suffering. Using hooks, whips, electric rods, and other blunt instruments to get those innocent animals to do what they say to make the crowd happy is completely cruel. Proving to the world that this is wrong can be provided by so many facts and statistics and even people opposing this topic will make you agree that animal captivity is not right in any way.

Our opinion on this is being against animal captivity for so many different reasons that any person will agree with.” Zoo’s, circuses, and animal parks hold animals captive for a life of doom. These awful places are ‘educating’ us when they’re just trapping animals to make money.” We are basically paying to go into a place where they torture there animals for a living. Although we see what the zoo keepers portray us too, and that’s the animals being happy which they aren’t. These hopeless animals can’t release their energy in any way except for pacing back in forth in their cages. For people to think that, that’s okay then there must be something wrong with society.

Growing up as kids, everyone thought Flipper the Dolphin was happy and living the best life a dolphin could live. But little did we know that flipper was putting on a show for the whole world to watch. “The smiles you see on these animals are not true reflections of happiness. In actuality, they hate to be enclosed in their holding tanks and are often not fed until it is time to perform their daily routines.” Says Ric O’Barry in his book “Behind the Dolphin’s Smiles”, talking about the Flipper. These animals constantly have a smile on their face weather there happy or not and that’s what makes them a money maker. Flipper the Dolphin committed suicide by taking a deep breath and not coming back up for another one. For an animal to be so unhappy to kill its self is so sad and should never happen. Most people just think of an animal and for it not to have feelings, but this just shows you that they really do have feelings.

Many people feel as though keeping animals in captivity is saving them from the dangerous in the wild. Some also think that the places are rescuing animals from the wild to save their lives. As much as all those people want to look past those bars and see an animal happy that’s not always the case. In a year more than 100 million Americans visit zoos daily and even though more than half of them are against animal captivity, it doesn’t stop them. “I think that animal captivity is okay because they could save some lives of animals but I still think for the most part it is a horrible thing.” (Chelsey Pinegar) I feel as though many people with agree with this statement because we want what’s best for the animal but also for them not to be tortured in any way.  Any person should agree with if they have any love for animals or a heart.

Animals that are put into captivity is completely cruel and a harsh thing for animals to be put through. Yet they live day to day with the torture still smiles on their faces and enjoying what they have. A logically fallacy in a situation like this would be Red Herring because Sea World puts on shows to show how talented these animals are and act like they have a good life but behind the scenes these dolphins are actually very unhappy. There are so many facts, statistics, and examples that can prove that everyone should be against animal captivity. Should we really be keeping wild animals in captivity for our own entertainment? Stand up and help to let animals be free in their right environment and not in cages.