Welcome to Gaia! ::

I am FOR WELL-RUN zoos as well as RESPONSIBLE privately owners of exotic species. Those do not remove animals from the wild, but instead work to breed animals who are threatened in the wild, PRESERVE the species, often keeping alive species who simply have no where to BE out there.

Also, but displaying these animals to the public they educate people and raise awareness of these animals. When a child reads a book about an elephant, sees a picture it doesn't mean much to them when they hear about them dying out. But when a child MEETS an elephant, if possible touches her, smells her, hears her, makes a personal connection, KNOWS an elephant and has that elephant in their heart... then they hear about elephants dying IT MATTERS. They DO something about it.

I do NOT believe in a hands-off approach to animals. Some do. I will respect the opinion of those hear that feel that way, but I do not. I think the closer someone can be to an animal, the better.

AND I believe that GOOD zoos (I am not talking scary roadside zoos with bars and shackles, mind you) are necessary to the conservation of animals today.

I agree with you all on it. There's a lot of rescue zoo's that bring in baby's because their homes have been destroyed and parents killed, and as long as, when an animal gets old, they don't sell them to poachers. Or zoo's that sell animals to circuses just to get more money. I hate circuses with a passion for what they do to the animals. I only went to one and that was when I was a young child. I didn't like that the handlers were whipping the tigers to go through the flaming hoops.