Poaching In Zoos

Poaching is a worldwide catastrophe that not only affects the animals that are being poached but also the environment and the people around them. Poaching is the illegal act of over-exploitation of animals and the illegal trading and selling of them whether it be for killing them for certain parts or just the whole body in general. Africa is a continent in which its animals and people that have been strongly affected by poaching and it is now starting to change African economy and the biodiversity of its animals. Hunting has been a necessary part of human life since the first generation of people such as cavemen. More recently hunting has changed more into a sport rather than a means to survive. Hunting, just like any other sport has …show more content…
Elephants are known for living in an expansive amount of land where they have room to roam and walk around. They can walk for around 40 to 50 miles a day and are active for around 20 hours a day just browsing, foraging and other activities. Therefore, our zoos are not capable of meeting all the needs of such a large animal. Therefore these elephants should not be in zoos. Elephants in zoos have remarkably shorter lifespans compared to their wild counterparts. Females elephants born in the zoo live up to 17 years old while elephants born in the wild live up to 56 years old (National Geographic). For the people that take these elephants from their natural habitat, do so while knowing that the population of elephants is dwindling by the hour. Once these elephants have been taken from their natural habitat, they are no longer capable of having social companionships which are something that is crucial in their lives for social creatures like humans and elephants. These zoos tend to move elephants from one zoo to the next without any thought of how these animals endure the pain from being detached from a special bond which tends to lead to having psychological problems such as pacing or swaying just like we as humans would when going into a depression. Learning the story about Lucy is a big part of why zoos are not the best alternative. These elephants are there for the pleasure of the viewers and the profit it brings in. These people claim to say that they love the animals in the zoo, but they do not actually love the elephants they love the accumulated profit these creatures bring in. These elephants need space and they need other creatures to interact