Close the San Francisco Zoo

Zoos should no longer be allowed in the country.

Zoos are cruel to animals.
Closing up creatures in cages, no matter how roomy, still puts them in a cage. Predators want to hunt their dinners, not be fed scraps of food from a bucket. Protect their native areas, don't move them to a new home, a new continent, to fix the problem. What about animals that aren't happy in the climate conditions? Even controlled environments only do so much. You think those polar bears are really comfortable in the hot sun? You think safari creatures are okay in Alaska?

Zoos advocate environmental irresponsibility.
Instead of protecting animals' homes, we're removing the animals and continuing to destroy our own planet. When animals start attacking nearby towns, maybe the towns are too close to native habitats. What right do we have to force them to move, just because we have opposable thumbs?

Zoos can be dangerous for people too.
Despite what the zoo does to keep animals contained, these are wild creatures and predators. The 2007 tiger attack, for example. Wouldn't have happened if there was no tiger to do the attacking. This tiger should have been free, to hunt her own prey in the wild, not to be cooped up behind 13-foot walls and tormented by kids.

We should close down zoos, transfer the money to environmental efforts and educational funding. Fix the problem, not give people something to stare at.

Zoos help create awareness in our children. Kids have a hard time understanding things they can't see, and this helps create compassion and understanding. Some zoo animals are injured, or would never survive in the wild, like if they were captured and raised from infants illegally. Yes, the best answer would be to let animals run free wherever they wished, but that isn't going to happen. Since it can't, isn't it better that we care for some of the ones in danger rather then let them be killed senselessly?