Captivity Pros and Cons

     Zoo Cons

• Maggie the elephant,  was forced to stay in a small metal enclosure due to the freezing temperatures until the Alaska zoo closed its doors in 2007 , and refused to use the elephant sized treadmill the zoo gave her so she could exercise.
• At the National Zoo in Washington D.C. zebras starved to death due to the lack of food and being given the wrong food
• At that same zoo red pandas died because they ingested rat poison
• Even though zoos have gotten rid of the metal barred cages and replaced them with more natural looking places, David Hancock's, a zoo consultant and former zoo director, says "its a mere illusion" that they aren't improved space wise. Animals are showing signs of severe distress: Elephants bobbing their heads, bears pacing back and forth and wild cats obsessively grooming themselves.
• many of the animals have precise needs that need to be carried out and the zookeepers are just beginning to understand what they are.
• "Of 145 reintroduction programs carried out by zoos in the last century, only 16 truly succeeded in restoring populations to the wild" "About two-thirds of them were actually strong enough to survive in the wild" (http://www.globalanimal.org/2014/11/19/are-zoos-good-or-bad/)
• People are starting to notice zoos aren't benefitting people as much anymore. they will be talking about something completely different and will only spend a few moments at each display.

      Zoo Pros

• Zoos have improved significantly over the past 4,000 years.
• the old metal bar and cold cement cages have been replaced by "natural-looking barriers like moats or ditches to separate animals from people, and have mini-habitats that resemble the animals’ natural environment."
• Some zoos are taking in abandoned animals, the Baltimore and Detroit zoos have taken in polar bears from a traveling zoo and the Bronx zoo has taken in a snow leopard that was abandoned.
• "although zoo animals aren’t treated quite like guests at a four-star hotel, their care has improved tremendously." Zookeepers have realized that animals need to be engaged in activities to prevent boredom and mental deterioration.
• Zoos don't just entertain they try to engage learning.

Its definitely a toss up whether zoos are benefitting or not. I personally feel that most zoos are bad. Limiting their animals to roam only as far as their cage goes, and zookeepers not fully educated in what each species needs on a day to day basis. Animals should be able to roam as far as they feel and not be tormented by people tapping on their cages trying to get their attention or throwing things into their enclosures, when whatever they are throwing in there could endanger the animal.