Rebuttal – marinebio18

Posted on November 9, 2015 by marinebio18

Having Animals in Captivity Does More Good than Harm

For many years there has been a dispute on whether keeping animals in captivity is ethical. Many researchers claim that animals who are held in captivity are being harmed by their environment. Today the world is facing many changes such as temperature change and rising sea levels. In the bigger picture of the world today, captivity of different types of wild animals does more good than harm.

Some animals that reside in captivity are endangered species. Zoo keepers and researchers who work with these animals devoted to caring for these species so that they don’t die off. In the wild they may not be able to fend for themselves on their own without help. These animals are provided with food to survive and the basic necessities to live. For example different types of birds can’t last well in hurricanes and storms. A such event happened in Puerto Rico in 1989 by Hurricane Hugo wiping a bird population to only thirteen birds. According to 8 Zoos Helping Animals Edge out of Extinction “Today, thanks to the efforts of zoo scientists at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, captive-bred birds at two aviaries number over 200 — and reintroduction is underway. Some 60 wild and captive-born Puerto Rican parrots now live free.” Without the help of the research at the zoo who took the species in their hands, these birds would no longer exist on the earth today.

Today there are rising sea levels and some animals natural habitats are being cut down, forcing animals to go into environments they are not suited for. According to Zoos through the Lens of the IUCN Red List: A Global Metapopulation Approach to Support  Conservation Breeding Programs , researchers suggest that ” conservation breeding programs (CBPs) may off the only feasible option to avoid the extinction of particular species until appropriate habitat can be found or restored”. During an animals time in captivity, they could be bred to produce more of that species under safe and conditions where there is the basics they need to survive and reproduce.

Although animals behaviors might change in captivity, such as some scientist are concerned, Captivity does more overall good than harm.  The captive animals don’t necessarily need to be put in zoos, they can reside in other places specifically for wild animals to help them safely grow and sustain their population.

Works Cited

Lombardi, Linda. “Animals Saved From Extinction By Zoos.” Vetstreet. Web. 8 Nov. 2015.
Conde, Dalia, Fernando Colchero, Markus Gusset, Paul Pearce- Kelly, and Onnie Byers. “Zoos through the Lens of the IUCN Red List: A Global Metapopulation Approach to Support Conservation Breeding Programs: E80311.” Web. 9 Nov. 2015.
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3 Responses to Rebuttal – marinebio18

  1. marinebio18 says:
    November 19, 2015 at 10:57 pm

    Priority feedback was requested.

    I still have not got feedback on my essay. I have made changes myself, but feedback for this post in the future would also be helpful for my next draft of this paper.

    Feedback provided.
    —DSH

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  2. davidbdale says:
    November 20, 2015 at 3:36 am

    P1. We can’t find your point of view in this dispute, marinebio. Controversial topics of course are disputatious, so it’s a little too obvious to open with a claim of controversy. Apparently you want a way to introduce the idea that captivity is ethical or that captivity is not ethical. We will find out in your fourth sentence that you think it does more harm than good. So make that clear in the first sentence.

    Your second sentence says animals in captivity are harmed by their environment. I honestly don’t know whether that means the wild environment they were taken from, or the environment of zoo captivity.

    Your third sentence suggests animals might be taken from places that are hazardous to them individually or as a species. That might indicate that getting them to zoos is a kind of rescue operation.

    You appear to accept this interpretation in your fourth sentence, concluding that captivity is more helpful than harmful, and possibly therefore also ethical(?).

    Here’s what I think your paragraph means as a Rebuttal:

    Defenders of zoos argue that keeping animals in captivity is not only ethical but actually benevolent. They point to research that demonstrates animals in the wild are threatened by the very environments into which they are born. As the world continues to warm and sea levels rise, many wild species will not survive in their current dangerous habitats. Considering the perils they face “at home,” supportive confinement away from their natural habitats might do more good than harm.

    I don’t know if that’s accurate or not, but it’s clearer. It would still leave you room to advocate for something other than zoo life. Most likely you don’t think that life in a small caged area exposed to hordes of Sunday family viewers is the best environment for the endangered big cats. It might be more harmful to the individual cats than whatever perils they’ve been “rescued” from. But maybe the species is saved in captivity and can be reintroduced to more supportive wild environments?

    Will this clarity help you revise the rest of your argument?

    —Not their dangerous native habitats.
    —Not the circus or the zoo, both of them ridiculously unnatural.
    —But perhaps a wildlife refuge where they can be supported, nurtured, encouraged to reproduce, and from which they can be reintroduced to more hospitable wild locations.

    The sooner you make your pro-active proposal of the OTHER type of captivity, the more sincere it will sound. If you wait until the end of your essay to suggest it, readers will wonder why you don’t have a good example of such a program to offer as evidence.

    Is this helpful, marinebio?
    Reply, please.

    Of course, considering the lateness of this feedback, I won’t expect your Rebuttal Rewrite on NOV 20. Take a few extra days to absorb and incorporate these notes if you find them helpful.

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