I hate all zoos, circuses and animal amusement parks, such as Sea World.

[LordGlenconner]

61. Key words being "educated populace"

The OP is not part of that population, apparently. If they were they'd know that the vast majority (in some cases as much as 90 percent) of animals in an AZA accredited zoo are born in captivity. They are not technically wild animals as they have never known what it was like to be wild.

AZA accredited zoos also participate in the Species Survival Plan, which is more or less self explanatory. Zoos trade animals for breeding purposes and, to you know, help ensure species survival which to some of us is something worthwhile.

Our local zoo is very active in this endeavor and also has spent a great deal of time and money educating visitors about palm oil deforestation that is killing habitat for some tigers and orangutans.

There is a great deal of conservation work that goes on at a good, metropolitan zoo and there are a number of them across the US.

I had many of the same reservations and criticisms about zoos before I started working, through my job, with the staff at our zoo. I've seen these people, many of whom make peanuts, give countless hours of their own time for the betterment of the animals they care for.

As far as SeaWorld goes that is to me a completely different animal. Your local zoo is not going out into the ocean and steal whales from pods and drag them back to a THEME PARK (your local zoo is not a theme park) with extremely high admission costs (many local zoos are funded primarily through sales tax initiatives and have low admission costs) run by a for profit mega corporation like SeaWorld.

And even in SeaWorld's case they do a good amount of conservation work through that wing of their operation but in my opinion it is not enough to offset stealing highly intelligent animals from their families and placing them in tanks.

I do not patronize circuses either because I don't think it is possible to care for animals humanely while constantly touring. And in many cases the animals in circuses have been acquired in ways that are not ethical.

At any rate, it's not a black and white issue. There is a fair amount of nuance, at least to those of us who are informed.