ZOO'S- WHAT ARE THE ISSUES?

COVID-19 has taken the world by storm. With the surge in the number of cases all around the world, coronavirus is nothing less than a crisis, a kind of crisis that is affecting both the social & economical existence of humans. This has been the longest time in ages where human interaction is down to being negligible. Everyone is locked away inside of their cozy homes during these lockdowns. 

Even though not everybody is privileged enough to have a stable roof over their head or a cozy place to keep them warm and comfy during these crazy hours, still the government is making efforts to provide for the underprivileged & unfortunate. In order to stop the spread of Coronavirus the government's of different countries decided to put lockdowns of varying time spans in their counties, some have declared a lockdown for over a month to some extending it to over a year and even though people are understanding the need & necessity for them to stay indoors the undeniable fact is that people are starting to get impatient and bored staying inside of their homes all the time some are even comparing themselves to animals locked up in a zoo. But the sad truth is we are not even having a situation half as bad as the zoo animals have it for themselves. Comparing our cozy & comfy homes to a cold & concrete cell just makes it look as if we are mocking these beasts. 

COVID-19 as a pandemic may have caused severe damage to the human society but the truth is we also can't avoid the good it has been doing for the planet starting from the decreased levels of pollution to improvement in the environment all this is a way for us to see how are we destroying our planet even without realizing it. Coming to wildlife, the wildlife has taken over urban settlements now that all the humans are suddenly locked inside there posh cages, the amusing fact is they are not causing any kind of destruction or havoc as the human expects them to call out these animals as intruders only highlight the fact that it is not them but us who is intruding everywhere. 

Another important fact that this pandemic has made us see and realize what it's like for the animals in zoos. Every one of us as a kid must have visited a zoo and that must have been one of our best childhood memories. But now that we are in a similar kind of situation as that of the animals we must think about what they would be feeling & what memories they would be having of that same day. Even with facilities like a big house, multiple rooms, Internet, entertainment, technology connecting us to friends & us having value time with our families we can't stop complaining about how painful it is to pass time like this and how bad it feels to stay cooped up in our own house during these times, for animals living in the zoo it is what they must be feeling all their lives or maybe even worse, think about a life where you don't even know how going out, running wild & being free feels like how sad would that be, well that is what life is for animals who are born in the zoo itself. They have to not only stay inside their cages at all times but they have to be deprived of their natural behavior & habitat moreover they even have to serve as a means of amusement & entertainment to us humans visiting and also make us happy whereas all they feel is sad. This is nothing but plain torture, we are keeping them from being their natural self & live off on their instinct rather we train them to sit and behave the way we want them to be. They can't explore and experience the jungle or whatever it makes them feel because we feel letting them roam free is a threat to us and might result in chaos but there can be midway for this, a way where they can be kept safe & can be supervised but would not be a source of human entertainment. The answer to this would be a wildlife sanctuary or a natural reserve. Letting them be in their natural habitat in harmony with nature and giving them their space as well as keeping our own self inside our boundaries, trying not to take over what's theirs or taking over their habitats. 

Even though wildlife sanctuary & natural reserves still exist we must work in order to make the zoo & circus using animals non-existent. Pleading the government to close all zoos for good or replace the real animals with a life-like model so that no one has to stay inside cages. During this quarantine, we experienced what it feels to stay locked up in one place, no matter what kind of luxuries you are blessed with so this must enable us to see what the animals would be feeling like staying inside a cage locked up seeing others looking at them and walking free. 

We must join hands in order to make sure all zoos are closed and no animal is inside a cage, cooped up & deprived of its freedom. We must plead to the government to close down all such places that use animals as a means of entertainment rather than support the making of a wildlife sanctuary. So that if anyone wants to experience the wild they must go into the wild and not inside a zoo with animals behind cages. We all should boycott going to zoos and rather promote sending animals back to their homes. 

Thus, I hope after this quarantine we are smart enough to achieve a zoo-free state where there are no zoos, just wildlife reserves where animals stay in their natural habitat free & happy. As the world would be in balance with every being living in it, at a place where they belong and we all know animals belong in the wild and not inside cooped up cages. 

Even though this pandemic has brought us harm still it is helping us understand what we were doing wrong and how the planet should actually be a beautiful place if only we all do our duty to protect it and preserve it.