Since jungles and forests are the natural habitats for many of our wild animals, keeping them in cages or zoos takes away their freedom and restricts movement. They lose their liveliness and playful activities and start living like prisoners. Facing unwanted, curious visitors all the time is all the more irritating.
No time to jump, play, eat or rest! Quite often they suffer a lot as the visitors force them to behave according to their whim, or give them harmful things to eat. This, naturally, raises the question, ‘Are animals better off in zoos or jungles?’
When folks commit crimes, they are sent to jails. But animals are caged in zoos without their having committed any crimes. They need a wide, open space to move about freely, and food has to be self-earned.
Image Source : newevolutiondesigns.com
ADVERTISEMENTS:
Zoos do not take into consideration these requirements. And to add fuel to the fire, people and children throng to the zoo day in and day out and become a permanent source of their added agony and discomfort.
But leaving animals all alone in their natural habitats is also dangerous and risky for them. This makes them easy targets of poachers, causing great threat to their very survival. Left on their own, animals maintain the proportion and balance to their species in the ecosystem. But no sooner does man enter their realm, than they begin to disappear until they are extinct.
Where does then lie the real solution? The governments must create wild life sanctuaries, where animals can roam freely, safe from the cruelty of man. The authorities concerned have to adopt all the safeguards to see that self-seeking hunters do not invade the space.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
The sufferings of animals increase manifold in a zoo where they suffer because of the neglect from the staff and denial of adequate hygienic and other facilities. They are cramped in small spaces, and forced to spend the rest of their lives in rage and frustration. Many creatures cannot adjust to the unnatural living conditions and die ‘Unheard, Unwept and Unsung.’
It is good that the last few years have witnessed many state governments making sincere efforts to improve the living conditions of the endangered animal world. They have established wild life sanctuaries, where a variety of animals and bird species co-exist peacefully.
In certain wild life Actuaries, visitors are allowed into certain sectors in coloured cars, so that they can see the glory of the animal kingdom.
The trips of this kind are highly educational, innovative and full of great fun and excitement. It is not bad to go to a zoo for a picnic or an outing. However, it is our moral duty not to disturb the poor creatures there.