In recent days, many people, especially young students, haunt zoos. Although some people underestimate the importance of zoos, I firmly believe that we can benefit from them in a variety of ways. This is because zoos are necessary for protection of the endangered species and visiting zoos is a good way of learning. First of all, zoos are essential for conservation of wild life. Once appropriate habitats for a variety of animals may no longer play their role since some of them are ruined and polluted severely. Thus, we should not let them live freely at their discretion anymore just as we did in the past. Instead, we should take active measure to supply them with decent shelter and to tend them by professionals with full veterinarian knowledge of these species. According to a report of College of Veterinarian Medicine, Tokyo University, the university started to establish special refuge for Akiwara monkey, which was classified as the animal with a high probability of extinction in 1980s, in 10 zoos over the country. After their 25-year-effort to take care of the monkeys, it was reported that over 5800 Akiwara monkeys live a peaceful life in 15 zoos across the country. Even 500 monkeys out of them have just returned from foreign countries where they were sent for exhibition. Also, zoos provide us with a lot of educational advantages. This is because, in the zoo, people are given the chances to experience the ecology and biology of various animals. For this reason, many schools offer students field trips to zoos. To illustrate this, from my own experience, I think the most significant reason to choose veterinary medicine as my major is a variety of experiences at zoos where I went for field trips. Especially, I have visited Ueno zoo, the oldest zoo in Tokyo, Japan, more than 10 times when I was an elementary student. By taking pictures of a lot of animals and sharing them with my friends, I could naturally become familiarized with animals. Moreover, whenever I had questions, I could ask them to my teachers both in zoos and in their offices by bringing pictures of animals to them. By asking them and finding answers for myself, I could get a lot of chances to learn about detailed information about animals and my interest in the study was gradually increased. It is obvious that precious experience in zoos made me a veterinarian.
In sum, the importance of zoos cannot be ignored any more. Both human beings and animals require the existence of zoos all over the world. The more people recognize the benefit of the zoos, the better our society becomes. |