Wade 2
Maddy Wade
Mr. Delisle
English Comp
12, November 2018
Animal Captivity
The zoo is an attraction that advertises fun memories, educational experiences and unique encounters with animals you can’t see anywhere else. Behind the scenes, these intelligent, exotic animals sleep all day, bloodstreams filled with antidepressants while children are running everywhere, laughing and smiling as they watch the animals at the zoo sleep. What these children do not realize is that the animals are dying on the inside for their entertainment. This is a debate between two authors, their beliefs on zoos are in the middle of being ethical, and another believing zoos are unethical for the Animals benefit. The PETA organization argues that animals in zoos are not endangered. The opposing article truly believes zoos are doing beneficial things. Dr. Hutchins explains “Zoos support conservation by educating the public, raising money for conservation programs, developing technology that can be used to track wild populations, conducting scientific research, advancing veterinary medicine, and developing animal handling techniques. These articles incorporate rhetorical devices to help push their argument to make a valid point.
In this article, “Last Chance for Animal”, the author chooses to view animal captivity as an unethical decision and explains how and why by appealing to the reader using logos, ethos, and pathos, for their sympathy. For example, Animals in zoos are forced to live in artificial, stressful, conditions. The enclosures are small and under stimulating, leaving the animals with nothing to do and nowhere to go. Often, animals sit still for hours trying to pass time with nothing to do. Removed from their natural habitats and social structures, the animals are confined to small, restrictive environments that deprive them of mental and physical stimulation (Last Chance for animals). The author chose to incorporate that excerpt in the beginning, it’s appealing to the reader’s emotion right away using pathos, makes the reader feel horrible, to the point where they ‘re saying to themselves “I’m done going to zoos, paying money just to watch them suffer before my eyes. Considering that, the author can better persuade people to care for the animals being held captive. The author uses logos in the article to show a form of credibility. Sharing with the reader research found on a condition of why animal captivity is unethical. For example, animals develop a condition, Zoochosis. According to Last Chance for Animals, “zoochosis can include self-mutilation, vomiting, excessive grooming, along with anxious tics that we might see in distressed humans such as rocking or swaying, excessively pacing b...
