Zoos have come a long way from their grim beginnings. Once full of tiny cement-block steel cages, the larger zoos now boast simulated jungles, veldts, steppes, and rain forests, all in an attempt to replicate the natural habitats of the incarcerated animals. The attempt, however admirable, is misguided. It is morally wrong to keep wild animals in captivity, and no amount of replication, no matter how realistic, can compensate for the freedom these creatures are denied. A wild animal's life is spent in finding food, avoiding enemies, sleeping, and in mating or other family activities...Deprivation of any of these fundamentals results in irreparable damage to the individual. The fact that humans may be stronger or smarter than animals does not give them the right to ambush and exploit animals for the purposes of entertainment.
             We humans take our own liberty quite seriously. Indeed, we consider liberty to be one of our inalienable rights. But too many of us apparently feel no obligation to grant the same right to animals, who, because they cannot defend themselves against our sophisticated methods of capture and because they do not speak our language, cannot claim it for themselves.
             Animals, like people, have interests that are harmed if they are kept in captivity. They are separated from their families and prevented from behaving according to their natural instincts by being removed from the lives they know, which are the lives they were meant to lead.
             Some argue that animals interests are not being harmed when they are kept in zoos or aquariums, that no damage is being done to the individual, but their claims are highly disputable. Some will say that wild animals in the zoo rather resemble estate owners. Far from desiring to escape and regain their freedom, they are only bent on defending the space they inhabit and keeping it safe from invasion. It is impossible to believe that these animals do not want their freedom. An...