While a great many animal facilities could be called zoos, it is important that we define what a zoo ought to be according to animal welfare advocates and biodiversity conservation professionals alike. Therefore, once having so defined zoos we shall necessarily limit our discussion of their ethical implication to those institutions which voluntarily subject themselves to and meet at least minimum professional standards of care and well-being for their animal inhabitants, these standards being defined in the United States by the American Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA). In the common vernacular of both animal welfare advocates and conservation practitioners, these institutions are hereby defined as the zoo community. This essay means to address whether the keeping of endangered exotic animals in zoos is the most ethical way to conserve, preserve, and educate the public about these animals. I intend to argue that the modern zoo, with its four-fold mission of (1) scientific research, (2) public education, (3) endangered species conservation and (4) personal recreation provides the best means of conserving, preserving and educating the public about the plight of endangered species, and does so in an ethically responsible and defensible way, particularly when considered in light of the present reality that many species that reside in zoos are threatened and/or endangered with extinction in their natural habitats. Read More

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