Youth Forum: Zoos today provide education and protection
Published 1:30 am Saturday, May 31, 2025
By Jessica Woods / For The Herald
People forget the good that zoos do; if it weren’t for zoos we would have so many more species extinct today.
But why do some think that zoos are harmful to animals?
You may have heard an argument about whether zoos are good for the animals or not, but there are so many good things that zoos do for our world today.
“Public zoos have been around since the 18th century, and over time zoos have evolved from being primarily entertainment venues to conservation centers, focusing on animal welfare, scientific research, and public education, with modern zoos prioritizing naturalistic habitats and enrichment programs,” writes Stephanie Mayo, an animal care specialist (Lady of the Zoos). Zoos, Mayo says, serve an important role in society today for animals, specifically endangered species.
Zoos play an important role in education, too. By being at the zoo and experiencing the animals and being able to see the environments in which they live gives children a better understanding of the animals and their habitats. “Zoos provide people, especially impressionable children, with the opportunity to see these remarkable animals up close. Just look at a child’s eyes at the zoo when he or she encounters a tiger or similarly majestic animal,” says to Robin Ganzert, president and CEO of American Humane Society.
Watching animals in person provides a better learning experience and a deeper understanding of animals as well as being amusing to young children.
“Zoos are a quintessential school experience for many young people. Children love learning about animals up-close in a safe environment; in fact, education is possibly the biggest advantage of modern zoos,” reports a study, “Zoos and Public Health: A Partnership on the One Health Frontier.” Overall, just visiting a zoo and getting to experience the animals up close can have a lifelong impact on children, encouraging them to have a passion for animals. Zoos not only impress young children but also aid endangered species and save the lives of many animals.
Zoos also are a way of protecting animals that have been injured and are not always capable of living in the wild or animals that are critically endangered. “Zoos can help to save endangered species by keeping them in a ‘safe’ environment. Safe as in protected from poachers, predators, habitat loss and even starvation,” according to the Green Eco-Friend website. Breeding programs are very important to animal reproduction due to habitat loss which is challenging for the animals to find a mate to reproduce. Zoos provide safety to animals that are venerable in the wild but also animals that have been injured due to humans or natural causes, helping nurse them back to health, and in some cases be released back into the wild.
Zoos are crucial for scientific research and finding solutions to our world today.
“Because so many diseases can be transmitted from animals to humans, such as Ebola, hantavirus, and bird flu, zoos frequently conduct disease surveillance research in wildlife populations and their own captive populations that can have a direct impact on human health,” according to Britannica. As a result, animal research allows humans to find solutions to health problems and can even find causes of disease.
“Good zoos have high standards of welfare for their animals. Visiting an accredited zoo is better than visiting one which isn’t,” writes Mayo. “For example, BIAZA ‘members are dedicated to achieving the highest standards of animal care, conserving the natural world through research and conservation, and educating and inspiring their visitors.” This piece of evidence proves that zoos provide a good resource for scientific research and being up close to the animals can help with the small details. Overall zoos provide a valuable source for scientific research and can help make a difference in the world.
Zoos are important because of their many benefits, not only animals, but people. Zoos provide a valuable resource for scientific research, a place to educate young children, and help animals species that are endangered or are venerable in the wild. In a world where wildlife faces constant threats from habitat loss, climate change, and human interference, zoos offer a sanctuary — a lifeline — for species on the brink. They are more than just places to see animals up close; they are centers of conservation, education and hope.
Zoos give us the rare chance to connect emotionally with creatures we might never encounter in the wild, inspiring the next generation to care, protect, and fight for the world we all share. Zoos matter because every life does.
Jessica Woods is an eighth-grader at Lakewood Middle School. She wrote this as a class assignment, joining other students whose work was published recently in The Herald.
