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Essay On Animal Captivity

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Jess Ramsey English 3 16 May 2017 Captive Creatures-Yay or Nay? The issue on whether or not to keep animals in captivity has been debated heavily for a long time. With species such as the panda on the verge of extinction to mistreatment of marine mammals in theme parks such as Sea World, keeping wild animals under the care of humans has been a struggle and a highly controversial topic. Even though many people believe that animals should not be kept in captivity because humans are incapable of fully understanding and providing specific needs for wild animals, certain animals can be kept happy and healthy in captivity, and these animals are an important educational tool for teaching people of all ages about biology, biodiversity, and the ecosystems of the world. For one thing, many animals in captivity are animals that were found sick or injured, and are being nursed back to health. Danielle Pucillo, a previous volunteer at a zoo, states, “the zoo where I volunteered rehabilitated various birds of prey, …show more content…

According to Savannah Miller, another author, animals born in captivity are not able to return to the wild. Miller states, “From the first minute of life, animals born in captivity are exposed to humans and captive-animal care customs. Because of brain development patterns and learned behaviors during infancy, captive infants do not have the ability to survive in their natural habitats. Release creates anxiety for the animal, as they cannot acclimate to the ‘foreign’ environment, and eventually they perish either by predation or exposure. By keeping them in captivity we save them from certain death.” Of course, this could lead to an argument against breeding animals in captivity, but many of the captive-born animals are likely born unintentionally. Releasing captive-born animals into the wild may end with them going right back to captivity, as one of the sick or injured animals in need of

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