Most animal advocates adhere to the point of view that any forced detention of an animal in captivity for the purpose of entertainment of people is inhumane in its essence, in the natural habitat, many fauna representatives lead a secretive lifestyle, and in the zoo, they are always in sight – this causes them incredible stress. It is not uncommon to find animals in zoos, especially predators who are in a state of complete apathy or demonstrate a high level of stereotypical behaviour (walking in a circle or from corner to corner). Biologists call the phenomenon “frustration” It is a negative mental state caused by the impossibility of satisfying innate needs, such as sedentary life, communication with the outside world and with their own kind, etc. Especially cruel trapping of animals from the natural habitat with the aim of placing them in the cage. No need to entertain illusions about the content of animals bred in captivity. They have a number of the same biological needs as animals living in the wild, to realize these needs in the zoo, is not possible. Of course, it's bad that the animals are in the cells and cages, they need freedom. For us it is good, interesting, and not very much for animals. The zoo does not perform educational functions! It is believed that zoos introduce animals to people and save rare species from extinction. But, as practice shows, most often they do not justify either one or the other purpose. Most often, the zoo is located on a very small area, on the plate next to the cell is indicated only the name of the animal, its diet and habitat. In the zoo, it is impossible to observe the natural behaviour of the animal, because it has no conditions for self-realization. Birds have clipped wings so that they cannot fly, water animals often lack water. Animals in nature live in herds in the zoo they are kept alone or, at most, in pairs. The way of food in the zoo is also unnatural: in normal conditions, animals get their own food, in captivity, they are fed besides not enough very often. In zoos animals do not get enough physical and mental stress, they suffer because in front of them all the time there are crowds of people. As a result, they develop abnormal stereotyped behaviour. A survey of zoos around the world conducted by the organization "Born free" showed that zoochosis is widely spoken everywhere. According to another survey, 22% of the time elephants, for example, are in a state of zoochosis. They bite the bars, shake their heads, etc., and the bears 30% of their life in the zoo roam the cage, which is also a sign of the zoochosis. Employees of one of the shelters, which receives rescued animals from zoos, reports that very often on the body of animals are visible traces of a zoochosis. So, there are cases when the chimpanzee all four extremities are covered with scars from bites. Animals bite themselves because of stress.
As for getting to know nature, zoo visitors usually spend only a few minutes at each cell, they rather need entertainment than knowledge. Observation of zoo visitors, conducted in Buffalo, New York, showed that most people did not stay at the cells long. When they talked about animals, then used words such as "funny", "dirty" or "lazy". To conclude: Don't support cruelty: don't visit zoos!
