The Ethics of Wildlife Captivity: A Personal Reflection

Its no doubt that humans have the natural instinct to want to gain control at all times over every other species which is also part of the reason we go far into the forest to capture and tame these wild animals, some for research purposes, personal boost of ego, recreational purpose and also for financial gains.

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But should this keep happening, shouldn't the wild be left to survive in their natural habitats? I have been to the zoo just once in my entire life, and it was at a very young age, I was probably 7 or 8 years old then, and was very excited to join my school on this trip to the zoo, at first, my mum was hesitant about me being a part of the excursion but my persistent disturbance made her yield to my request

A trip that left a long-lasting memory, I remember seeing the crocodile, lion, monkey, an over 100 years of age tortoise, etc These were animals I had only seen on TV., Having the experience to see them live was an exception and educational experience. So yeah, the zoo is not entirely a bad idea.

The only problem I found in the zoo was that unlike the way the lions looked healthy and brave in the wild from documentaries like Nat Geo Wild, these animals in the zoo were rather looking tamed, which I had no problem after all there would always be humans around them so we don"t want them going wild on us, but why were they also looking malnourished, you could cleanly see their bones popping out their skin, they looked weak. I couldn't help but ponder if zoos truly serve the best interests of these animals, or are they simply catering to human curiosity and entertainment? These are animals that have the natural instinct on how to hunt for their food and eat to their satisfaction, now they are being given rations which can't meet their needs, thereby destabilizing their body system, it might even be far into their gene making them reproduce unhealthy cubs or even become sterile.

Well, this is an occurrence in my country, I'm not sure it's same in other places, for this reason, I think the wild should be left to survive in the wide so they don't go into extinction due to our involvement, there are even some set of people, hunters and consumers who thrive on consuming wild animals, and refer to them as bush meat, there should be a standard Wild life conservation rules on how much they can hunt or else very soon, our forest will be empty.

Our desire to always be in control of other species for whatever purpose, always brings a disturbance to the natural world, so should we continue to disrupt the world's natural balance for our own

It is high time we start reconsidering our relationship with wildlife and the natural world. Rather than trying to control and dominate other species, we should work to protect and preserve their natural habitats by adopting safe wildlife viewing, such as the safari, this method will surely improve conservation efforts and in my own opinion will even be a better experience if you have the mind sha, than watching wild animals become weak and confined in cages.