TOEFL iBT Writing for an Academic Discussion Is it acceptable to keep animals in zoos? (Revised)

Some people argue that zoos play an important role in conservation, education, and research, providing a safe environment for endangered species. Others believe that keeping animals in captivity is inherently cruel, as it deprives them of their natural habitats. Given these perspectives, do you think it is acceptable to keep animals in zoos? Explain your opinion on this question by offering specific reasons and examples.

 

 

☆Let’s Think

	Conservation	Education	Research	Others
Pros.
Cons.

 

 

☆Hints for Points

Acceptable

1.        Zoos contribute to protecting wild life. Today’s zoos provide a better environment for animals to live in than their natural habitat. Animals in zoos live longer than their counterparts in the wild. Also, endangered species are successfully kept, bred, and returned successfully into the wild.

2.        Zoos provide educational opportunities to learn about life and the importance of conserving the environment. Open display shows the characteristic behaviors of animals.

3.        Observations of animals in zoos can facilitate studies of species, especially those endangered.

 

Unacceptable

1.        The contribution of zoos to conservation is not substantial because the original environment of the endangered animals has been lost or changed. Sending them back to nature usually fails. Rather than fumbling with the reproduction of individual species, it is vital to clean and revive the environment as pollution has even had negative impacts on the health and reproduction of us humans. Removal of toxins like chemical fertilizers, microplastic, and PFAS from the entire ecosystem should be the top priority.

2.        The educational value of zoos is questionable. Animals in zoos look and act differently from those in the wild. Also, it is ethically wrong to show children the practice of keeping life in confinement.

3.        Displaying animals in cages violates animal rights. It is no better than a freak show. Humans should evolve to have no zoos in the future. True animal lovers are to go into the wild themselves, not the other way (a)round.

4.        Zoos are bad for animal welfare. The place animals are kept is unnatural, unclean, and stressful. No matter how much improvement has been made, the artificial environment is no match for the natural environment. Also, studies show that animals have more delicate brain activities than we think, something similar to our emotions and thought. Thus, confined animals might be aware of the situation they are in and suffering. In fact, zoo animals often display mental distress such as behavioral disorder and hair loss.

 

 

☆Sample Response

【Thesis】Of the three points to support zoos the professor mentions－conservation, education, and research－ the second seems especially vulnerable. Keeping life in enclosure for education is unnecessary and corrupting.

【Supporting Details】Although the role zoos play in the study of non-indigenous animals is always pointed out to prove their legitimacy, animals in captivity look and behave differently from those in the wild as they are confined in a limited space away from their natural habitat. Birds in cages, for instance, not only look miserable but cannot demonstrate their ability to fly to the full. Even the least active birds that stay within their territory fly around within a circle several kilometers in diameter, many of them flying more than 100 meters high in the air. No zoos can fully recreate this condition for their birds, and when birds are not free to fly, they are not exactly birds as an existence. Videos and books can provide more quality information of ornithology, and the same can be said about other creatures in the zoo. Interactions with real animals may be effective for learning about life and nurturing love of nature, but it is not essential. Daily experiences with domestic animals and common wild life are sufficient for the purpose. At any rate, most people go to the zoo not for study but for entertainment, few reading the information cards in front of the cages. In the end, blind acceptance of exploitation of living things for our benefit makes children ignorant or hypocritical of animal rights and animal welfare, which would be detrimental to the development of their sense of ethics and distort their understanding of reality. It may even help build the foundation of a sadistic attitude towards the voiceless.

【Conclusion】Therefore, zoos are not in the least acceptable for educational purposes. (297words)