Captivity Versus Wild Freedom
For ages, this question has been pondered by many. In several spheres of life, we often wonder:
What brings out the best in a creature? Is it a creature’s natural genotype, phenotype, and
natural environment? Or is it the social construct around it, to which it is gradually and
perpetually subjected, with or without its consent? Of all the situations across which this
enigma cuts, let us consider the Animals in Captivity.
Captivity Versus Wild Freedom in Africa
The Debate between NATURE and NURTURE. For as long as we can remember, this heated
debate has sparked many contentious controversies between the protagonists and antagonists
of animal captivity. Personally, the most intriguing part of this dispute is this: Both parties
profess a great love for animals. Below are a few of the many reasons that both sides
vehemently assert, as they defend their respective perspective in this highly sensitive matter of the
Animal Kingdom.
The Protagonists. Captivity Versus Wild Freedom
Many believe that wild animals should be ‘rescued from the wild’ and be given
a safe haven’ in steel cages and concrete walls. Part of their rationale is below:
Wild animals are safer from each other, from man, and from predators when caged under
captivity than when left to roam by themselves in the jungle.
Scientists carrying out research on animals have easy access to wild animals in cages
than those in the wild. Part of this intensive and extensive research on animals is used to
study the genotypes and phenotypes of caged wild animals, their resilience, and response
to disease and intense medication, as well as to mimic the masterpieces of engineering that
are evident in their bodies, especially when designing machines, such as Robotic
arms designed by mimicking an Elephant’s trunk, Bio-inspired computers mimic a
Cat’s brain and Bat-Sonar Navigation for the Blind, designed by mimicking bats
Wild animals entertain people in circus shows by performing tricks under the supervision of
and instruction of their circus masters.
Wild animals that are caged in zoos can easily be visited since zoos are close
proximity to many cities, without spending exorbitant amounts of money on traveling to
far-away safaris.
In zoos, wild animals are well-fed, monitored, and regularly treated by veterinary
doctors, as opposed to when in the wild, where they have to survive in a complex ecosystem.
In captivity, endangered species are kept under strict supervision and intensive care in
order to breed more of their kind and thus perpetuate their lineages.
The Antagonists.
The antagonists aren’t making it any easier for their counterparts, unleashing an
avalanche of criticism. These are a few of their reasons against animal captivity:
Animal rights activists extrapolate man’s fear of being caged onto the animals. These
caged animals have, on many occasions, expressed aggression when caged by banging
and scratching their cages. Upon release, they’ve been observed to run freely into the wild.
with reduced aggression and a general sense of relaxation and freedom, peculiar to that
of humans who have been freed from captivity.
Animals, like humans, cherish and enjoy spending time with their families, bonding
with parents and siblings, and hunting for food and mates. It is inhumane to deprive
anyone of that, even the animals. Consider, as an example, the love and affection enjoyed
by certain birds that mate for life. These include the Scarlet Macaw, Mute Swan, and Bald
Eagles, Black Vultures, Laysan Albatross, and the Whooping Crane Protagonists
shudder at the thought of separating the love birds by caging one of the spouses
Animals in the wild learn to survive and thrive by working their way through the
intricate ecosystem, thus accentuating their hunting skills, strengthening their muscles,
bones, and teeth, and improving their agility, speed, and awareness of their environment. For
For instance, the gorillas strengthen their muscles as they carry their weights up the trees in
defiance of gravity, swinging from tree to tree, which is in stark contrast to caged ones.
They also have stronger immunity and a harder set of teeth, owing to the wild food that
they eat, such as the hard bamboo, as opposed to those that are spoon-fed in cages.
Many, if not all, caged animals are exploited for money-making circus tricks, which
they perform under duress and an utter sense of monotony, and sometimes, after a
spanking or whipping from their circus masters as they force them to pull off some
amazing feat on stage. This is in sharp contrast to the freedom wild animals enjoy while
roaming freely in the jungle.
Caged animals are weaker and more susceptible to diseases as compared to their wild
counterparts. For example, some captive orcas have collapsed dorsal fins, which are
extremely rare among wild orcas.
To a considerable extent, caged animals have been observed to have a shorter lifespan
than those in the wild. For example, elephants in zoos have a much shorter lifespan than
those in the wild.
Captive animals usually experience pain as they tread on the hard concrete
tarmac, unlike jungle-dwelling wild animals. As an example, bears, whose paws are
meant for soft jungle ground, feel pain when walking on concrete floors for a long.
Experts have observed that caged animals experience stress levels high enough to cause repetitive behavior, such as route-tracing and pacing, and self-injury. Some have been
noted to poke their eyes, or to scratch, bite and injure their arms and wrists.
Well, given the aforementioned rationales from both sides of this contentious coin, we arrive at
the same enigma: Nature or Nurture? Both? In my innocuous opinion, I believe that wild
animals should be allowed to roam freely. In case of disease outbreaks, animal trafficking, and extremely endangered species, we should intervene, and as soon as their dire situations have been
remedied, release them back into the wild, to enjoy the adventures of our beloved Mother Earth.
