Abstract

Animals are kept in captivity for many different purposes, such as recreation or entertainment, for their products, for medical experimentation and scientific research and education, for companionship, for their labor, and for their own benefit. Many of these animals have been domesticated, and this domestication process raises ethical questions of its own, but here we will focus on wild animals in zoos and the question of under what circumstances it is morally justified to keep them in captivity.