Discuss some arguments for and/or against keeping animals in zoos.

IELTS Writing Task 2 with sample answer.

You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.

Zoos are sometimes seen as necessary but not poor alternatives to a natural environment. Discuss some of the arguments for and/or against keeping animals in zoos.

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Write at least 250 words.

Sample Answer:
Zoos are the places, whether mobile or stationary, where animals are confined for exhibition to the spectaculars. Most of us, usually during childhood, would have visited zoos at least at one point of time with our parents or as a part of school program. However, zoo always evokes reactions. Many a people appreciates the opportunity to see the animals, save the animals which are on the verge of extinction, and educate the public, while the advocates of animal right contend that human has no rights to encage wild animals as the spirits of them have been suppressed by their imprisonment. In the following, I will discuss the argument against animals’ captivity in zoos.

First and foremost, it is impossible for a zoo to retain natural aura and environment so that animal can live with their natural instinct. Take lion for an example. Natural habitat for lions is thick grassland, open woodland, and brush habitat where they get enough cover for denning and hunting. The habitat also provides food for the animals lion prey on. It is extremely difficult to recreate these ambiances in which lions can get all things they have in the wild.

Secondly, champions of zoos like to argue that zoos protect the endangered animals from being extinction, seemingly sounds noble act. But in reality, zoos always opt for large and captivating animals who draw the large crowds of spectaculars. And eventually, it neglects less attractive animals that also need to be protected.

Last but not the least, in the artificial surroundings zoos severely preclude natural behavior like, hunting, swimming, denning, running, climbing, mating, and so on. The physical and mental stress of captivity may cause something called zoochosis in the animals, which can be compared to human Obsessive-Compulsion Disorder.

To reiterate, zoos take away wild animals’ instincts and natural behavior by confining them into an artificial settings. It indeed is cruel to keep wild animals in captivity. However, all that I would like to say that we must acknowledge animals’ rights.