Why do some people hate zoos?

One of the obstacles we faced when opening the Cat Haven was the choosing of a name. To be quite honest, we did not want to use the word "zoo" in the name because of the negative connotations the word invokes in some people. We have found that some people (a larger number than some might think) will not visit animals at a place with the name "zoo" attached to it. Several reasons are behind this reaction and what follows are thoughts to the explanation why.

Zoos, for many years, were at best a menagerie where people could come see the wild animals in safety with no regard to the animals' well being. Small areas for the animals mostly made of concrete, for easy cleaning, were the norm. The job of the zoo wasn't to make the animals happy; it was to allow people the opportunity to see the wild beast (of myth and story) up close. The idea was to be able to have these animals close to home. That objective worked fine for many years until some in the public started to look at animals as living, thinking creatures. "If that animal was me, would I like to be in that situation?" We use a large word, anthropocentric, to describe this human way of looking at a situation. If the answer was "no" to the question above, people decided they didn't want to visit the zoo. A very wise director of a zoo once said that " A zoo should be therapy for people to come relax and enjoy the animals." In time, the concrete cages, that zoos thought were state of the art, were not allowing people to relax and enjoy the animals. The cages were having an opposite effect and depressing people. Zoos needed to change and some did, some are still in the process and some might not ever change. More natural-type habitats were built to replace the old concrete bunkers and the terminology started to change to make people feel better about their zoo. Cages became natural habitat enclosures, zoos became zoological parks and gardens, wild animal parks, or conservation facilities. Zoos had to change for two reasons; first, the people that work at the zoos wanted to have better conditions for the animals they work with. Second, zoos also realized that if people were not happy with the condition the animals were kept in, they would not visit the zoo and revenue for the zoo would go down. As sad as it might sound, money still drives the majority of change.

To this day, many people still won't visit zoos because they don't like to see animals caged. Animals should be free. But that is not a reality of life in all situations. We work very hard to make our cats happy here at the Cat Haven. They become our ambassadors for their wild cousins. That needs to be the new job of the zoos. Captive animals need to stimulate people to action, to preserve habitat and save those animals they come to love so dearly. Today, zoos have made great strides toward improving the conditions of the past. Now they face another difficult problem.

                                            What is the purpose of the zoo?