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Alligator behind glass. Lincoln Park Zoo, Chicago, Illinois.
We have gotten so used to thinking of zoos as centers of entertainment, but rarely stop to think about how they not only permanently alter the lives of the caged animals, but ultimately affect our ecosystem and the natural landscape in which the animals once lived.

Some consider keeping animals in captivity a way to lesson their likelihood of becoming extinct, and "protect" them from human predators. However, it is well documented that animals in captivity lose many of the natural abilities of the species found in the wild, and are no longer able to survive in the wild once released. What good is "saving" them if we forever--and sometimes irreversably--alter their species' evolved and natural traits?

Since family members are often separated or sold to other zoos, animals in captivity often lose their natural socialization skills. Animals in captivity also lose many of their survival skills, like hunting and predatory instincts, since they don't need these skills to survive in a zoo. Captive animals' physical and mental activity is compromised by the static quality of the zoo environment and the small size of the cages. Some animals even go deaf from the excessive and constant human and mechanical sounds to which they are exposed in captivity.

Sadly, these animals may lose their ability to properly raise their young, since their natural skills are minimized or non-existant and they have little to offer their young in the form of survival in an environment over which they exert absolutely no control over their food, exercise, and environment.

Therefore, animals in captivity are affected by extreme boredom, lack of appropriate exercise, poor quality food and a lack of variety of food, especially in poorly run facilities.

How does this impact our ecosystem? Animals that have been caged and then released into the wild almost always under-perform in both survival and reproduction, which are direct consequences of inbreeding and being reared in captivity for multiple generations. Since the development of their natural instincts and typical behavior has been stifled prematurely, animals in captivity that are released are unable to function normally in the wild. This lack of functioning in the wild can be extremely severe--for example, it was found that some animals in captivity that were used to being fed dead fish and meat by trainers were UNABLE to eat live fish and meat when released into the wild. These shocking patterns, created and maintained by humans, forever alter animal and plant evolution as well as the natural enviroment as we know it.

I sat by this alligator's cage for hours, watching hundreds of people knock, hit, tap, and pound on the glass cage. As demonstrated in this photo, some visitors had even gone so far as to scratch the cage to catch the alligator's attention. Some of those gashes were quite deep. To me, that's human impact on top of human impact.