Hamish+Oral

Listen to my speech: media type="custom" key="4250287"

Zoos are places people like to visit a lot. Some people however, do not like the idea of keeping animals “locked up” in cages. I'm not one of them because I believe zoos are a good thing. Modern zoos now have large enclosures instead of cages. These enclosures allow zoos to teach people about animals that are being hunted and becoming endangered. Zoos also allow us to get close to animals in an environment similar to their native habitat. Zoos also give us a first hand experience with rare animals.

Firstly, buildings are being built in exotic places, meaning animals are coming close to having no natural habitat left. Zoos try to imitate the animal’s natural habitat using canopies and growing some of the trees and other plants found in the animals natural habitat. Zoos also provide protection from poachers for rare animals like the Golden Lion Tamarin with its fiery orange fur, and the African elepant with its long ivory tusks.

My second point is that zoos provide food so animals don't starve when there are food shortages in the wild or other natural phenomenon such as drought or due to man made problems like encroachment. If there is no water during the dry season grazers will die taking a link out of the food chain as their death or migration takes away the food of predators. Also if an animal gets sick zookeepers care for the animal and treat it instead of the animal slowly dieing of illness.

Finally, zoos help to breed rare animals and try to reduce the amount of different animals that are becoming endangered. For example, the Partula Snail, originally from the south pacific island of Tahiti, has now been extinct in the wild for around three years. Conservation efforts stopped the hunting of this tiny creature and introduced it to zoos, which began to breed them and to teach people about the animal. Attempts to reintroduce certain animals are now being made as they have been bred enough in captivity to thrive in the wild.

To conclude, I believe zoos do more good than harm to animals. Hopefully this has encouraged you to learn more about zoos and rare animals and maybe you will agree that keeping animals in zoos is a good thing.