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+\input mla8.tex
+\numberfirstpage
+\clas{AP Lang}
+\name{Holden} \last{Rohrer}
+\prof{Jones}
+\header
+\title{The Morality of Zoos}
+
+Zoos, in their modern form, began to gain popularity after the Age of  
+Exploration, during the Colonial Era. Explorers, or colonizers  
+searching for exploitable goods, like spices, people, weapons, or rare  
+animals. In the original conception, zoos were in no sense a  
+conservationist or educational institution. Rather, they were a tool  
+for profit and entertainment of the aristocracy. As those colonial  
+justifications became less just, ``conservation and animal welfare''  
+became the new explanations (Source B). There is limited educational  
+value and rarely any meaningful conservation being done by zoos despite 
+ their owners' noble intentions, so they shouldn't be perpetrated for  
+the sake of the animals but for entertainment value---meaning that  
+conservation should continue in the wild and zoos should focus on  
+entertainment value without harming the animals.
+
+Captive species' educational value is often tied to their 
+conservational value. Zookeepers believe that if an animal is visible 
+to the public, the public will believe in keeping that animal alive. 
+According to PETA and Zoocheck Canada, viewers' attention is 
+characterized by ``wandering the grounds,'' spending less than eight 
+seconds on minor exhibits and no more than two minutes even on major 
+ones (elephants), on average. So the purported awareness value is 
+limited if any. The conservational value is similarly overestimated
+unless zoos are talking about ``writing a check,'' which a Houston Zoo
+director claims isn't in the spirit that zoo directors claim
+(Source C).
+
+It's clear that directors and staff like Barongi care about the animals,
+and that they want to preserve animals' welfare inside and out of zoos,
+but flaws inherent to the institution---its focus on entertainment value
+(being financially motivated by increased viewership) and internal
+rather than external conservation efforts---mean that these wishes can't
+be realized. In certain cases, like organizations which only take in
+injured animals and avoid further breeding (because, according to Source
+A, captive-bred species are rarely released back into the wild),
+allowing visitors is completely reasonable but is better treated as a
+side effect than a sole purpose. The Seoul Zoo's case of releasing a
+captured bottlenose dolphin into the wild is exceptional, Source B
+saying ``interest surrounding the release was unprecedented.'' If
+release of captive-bred animals (not just return of originally wild
+animals) were the norm to bolster wildlife populations, zoos would be a
+much more moral institution. But this is not the case.
+
+According to Source A, the animals are mentally damaged by captivity,
+developing ``neurotic and self-harming behavior,'' which is unfortunate.
+But not all animals suffer from these outcomes, and in many cases, the
+income brought in by visitors---if used towards conservation efforts
+in the wild---is worth the harm. The direction that zoos are attempting
+to move in, towards ``pushing [patrons] to donate to the cause,''
+following the AZA recommendation to spend a notable part of their
+budgets on field conservation. These trials are valuable to actual
+conservation but don't go far enough. Zoos can't just be pushing
+messages about conservation to patrons if those patrons aren't paying
+attention; zoos could, for example, exhibit the change they've made in
+the wild instead of a live exhibit or embrace more closely the
+entertainment role they've taken on by limiting the number of species
+they hold in captivity and especially creatures like the polar bear
+or elephant which fare much worse in captivity (Source A).
+
+Zoo directors have good will for the animals they claim to serve, but
+the current financial, cultural, and logistic state of zoos doesn't
+realize the majority of their goals. Animals would fare better if zoos
+focused less on captive animals in the way zoos do now and more on
+actual wildlife---to take advantage of the popularity of zoos and
+aquariums for the benefit of the animals.
+
+\bye