Although this blog is about education, I occasionally like to point out some interesting and thought-provoking articles, such as this one in the Dallas Morning News about the future of zoos. It raises some pretty interesting questions. There seems to be a tension between people's entertainment-oriented vision for zoos and zookeepers' increasing belief that animals need to be kept in a much more natural habitat. An excerpt:
"Indeed, some zoo directors now say conservation is the only pure reason for keeping animals at all.
Yet within this noble notion there is a nagging problem: Zoos, despite their evolution, remain a form of entertainment, with the animals unwittingly playing the main roles. So if zoo directors are trying more than ever to do right by the beasts in their care, providing them with hyper-naturalistic, state-of-the-art exhibits and greater attention to what the animals might actually want, then it seems only a matter of time before they ask themselves some tough questions: Should they be keeping animals at all? If so, which ones, and why? Should elephants be in zoos? Should gorillas?"
Kelly Puente joined the Press-Telegram in 2006 as an editorial assistant and eventually worked her way up to general assignement reporter. Over the years, she’s covered everything from crime and breaking news to human interest and the cities of Bellflower and Cerritos. Kelly is a Long Beach resident and graduate of Cal State Long Beach. She’s new to the education beat and is looking for great stories.
The answer is NO. But until people started keeping endangered species in zoos people were not aware of the problem they face because of human encroachment on their environment. So I would guess you could say that we still need well run zoos.