Going to the zoo is a guilty pleasure. On one hand, it lets us interact with animals that most people would never otherwise meet. It’s a firsthand experience with the awe-inspiring variety of wildlife on this planet, a three-dimensional, flesh-and-blood alternative to learning about animals through texts, lectures or documentary films. But we’ve all had that nagging feeling that something isn’t quite right. Visitors must also grapple with the moral conflict of keeping these majestic creatures in captivity for our benefit. We’ve been keeping menageries since 2500 B.C.E., and public zoos for 233 years. Is it time to set the animals free?
Let my zebras go
Keeping animals in captivity is unnatural. Specimens held in zoos and aquariums are utterly dependent on humans and their controlled environment to survive. They don’t even act wild. A study in the academic journal Animals found that 90 percent of surveyed mammal species and 60 percent of fish species kept in zoos changed their behaviors around people. The more crowded and noisy their enclosures became, the more that animals like jaguars and penguins exhibited aggression or avoidance behaviors, like pacing around their faux habitats or huddling for safety.
Life in a cage is physically harmful. Captivity increases the likelihood that animals will suffer preventable injury or early death. Deadly infectious diseases spread more easily in such close quarters. The public is another threat. In 2013, a veterinarian at a Scotland zoo revealed that in just four years he had performed 22 surgeries on gentoo penguins to remove gloves, socks and batteries the animals had swallowed after visitors threw or dropped them into their enclosures. Similar cases have since been reported in alligators, sea lions and mountain lions at zoos in Nebraska, Colorado and Florida.
Zoo animals experience psychological stress, too. Vets call it “zoochosis,” a type of complex post-traumatic stress disorder caused by captivity. It can look like elephants swaying back and forth, orcas swimming in circles or primates self-mutilating, picking and chewing their skin. “Neuroscientific research indicates that living in an impoverished, stressful captive environment physically damages the brain,” Bob Jacobs, a neuroscience professor at Colorado College, wrote in 2020. “Laboratory research also suggests that mammals in a zoo or aquarium have compromised brain function.” That can include a thinned cerebral cortex, which decreases motor function, or shrunken neurons, which diminish information processing.
There are countless alternatives to zoos and aquariums. For families who want their kids to have close encounters with animals, accredited wildlife sanctuaries and rehabilitation centers are more ethical options. They offer spacious habitats for rescued animals to roam freely, and abstain from harmful practices like breeding. Organic interactions at national parks offer the added benefit of witnessing how animals exist when they have their own free will in natural environments — something that can’t be replicated behind bars.
Stop lion to yourself
Zoos help us to care about the natural world, and that makes us better humans. It’s the only place for most people to meet a hyrax (a rotund little furball with fangs), a Chinese red panda (which looks like a cross between a fox and a raccoon) or any of the endless variety of species that share our planet. Studies show that these encounters boost empathy. People leave more emotionally invested and often inspired. “Zoos provide people, especially impressionable children, with the opportunity to see these remarkable animals up close,” wrote Robin Ganzert, president and CEO of American Humane. “People won’t protect what they don’t love, and they can’t love what they don’t know.”
Captive environments are essential for scientific research. Because zoos are a controlled space with known populations and frequent interactions with staff, they allow scientists to collect data and track outcomes with a consistency and specificity that would be impossible in any catch-and-release operation. This benefits humans. For example, zoological research on antimicrobial proteins in Komodo dragons and alligators has contributed to our understanding of antibiotic resistance in humans. Research on gorilla brains has deepened our understanding of Alzheimer’s disease.
Zoos and aquariums can also preserve endangered species. Hundreds, perhaps thousands of species have gone extinct since 1500. Scientists estimate that more than a million species are on track for extinction in the coming decades. Keeping these threatened populations in safe environments prevents unique animals from disappearing altogether. At least nine species owe their continued survival to accredited zoos and aquariums, from the bald-headed California condor to the cinnamon-colored American red wolf.
Not all facilities put their animals in harm’s way. Many cite the San Diego Zoo as an ideal — though few have that much space for habitat — and fly-by-night exotic animal farms as an example of the opposite. In the broad mainstream, accreditation through the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, or AZA, can help filter out bad actors. Fewer than 10 percent of the 2,800 animal exhibitors licensed by the Department of Agriculture are also AZA accredited. Zoogoers who are concerned about animal welfare and want to avoid supporting dangerous or stressful environments can opt for exhibitors that undergo rigorous screening to ensure best practices.
This story appears in the June 2026 issue of Deseret Magazine. Learn more about how to subscribe.