A less discussed topic in society is the need to dissolve circuses and zoos. Because humans have been considered the “measure of all things,” people have lived for thousands of years with the idea that they are entitled to do as they please with the other species around. Indeed, humanity can do whatever it wants. If we look at its ability to destroy anything we will see its inventiveness and strategy in destruction, even self-destruction (see Hiroshima, Chernobyl, two World Wars, etc.).
So, man can do terrible things from a physical point of view, he has shown us throughout history. The question is whether morally man is entitled to do so?

What is morality?

Morality is something invented by humans to stop their actions of madness. It was invented a long time ago to encourage the construction of a society and to manage interpersonal relationships. 

Morality is about a general set of rules designed to direct human behavior outside of animal instincts. 

It has been widely embraced by religion, which has laid the foundations of social behavior for thousands of years by encouraging values such as goodwill, tolerance, love, and discouraging theft and murder, and so on.

What is the problem?

People have respected moral values when it comes to other people. Even this was hardly respected considering that people were always tempted by bribery and violation of any rules to their advantage.
The problem is that man, considering himself the center of the Universe, as the highest creation of God, gave himself the right to abuse animals by killing them for pleasure, torturing them in cages for his own desires, and not caring at all if morally it is correct to have such a barbaric attitude towards the surrounding creatures.

Throughout this story, there is much to talk about, like the whole industries that live off the killing of animals for pleasure, or those that kill animals for furs, and so on. But we will discuss this topic about the selfishness of some people in the context of another post. We must understand that keeping animals in captivity just for us to see when we have the desire is an act of supreme selfishness on the part of the human race.

Circuses and zoos – immoral and wrong

In order to be moral and correct to the end, we should apply the moral rules in relation to every living thing on this earth.
In times when we have so many possibilities for fun; different possibilities to create natural habitats for animals where they can feel good and we can observe them in their harmony in nature; possibilities to create clothes from different materials that do not require killing animals; and so on we may consider it foolish and abnormal to still plead for things that harm animals for no good reason.

Solutions

For those who want to see animals, but also to help them from the harm produced by industries in order to entertain us, I would advise you to give up visiting circuses, where animals are electrocuted and beaten to act to the human commands and go visit animals in nature in large natural parks, were animals can behave and feel like in their natural environment. 

An example would be the Biopark from Valencia (one of the largest bio parks in the World, see the link at the end of the post).

Another solution would be to put pressure on your governments to dismantle zoos and circuses and build large natural parks where animals are better, and humans can see things more naturally and learn more about the world we live in.

Finally, we must be aware that an animal in captivity will not be half as much as an animal in nature. If you want to see how animals really behave in nature, if you wish them a happy life – support natural parks and donate to projects of this kind.

Giraffes in the Valencia Biopark*

Meerkats in the Biopark of Valencia*

*All the pictures in this post were taken by me in 2017 in the Valencia Biopark.

Useful links:

Valencia Bioparc, available at: bioparcvalencia.es/

Valencia Bioparc review, available at: tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g187529-d1064281-Reviews-Bioparc_Valencia-Valencia_Province_of_Valencia_Valencian_Country.html