Do zoos keep animals for money?

Zoos follow a fundamental principle: You can't sell or buy the animals. It's unethical and illegal to put a price tag on an elephant's head. But money is really useful — it lets you know who wants something and how much they want it.



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The unwanted adult animals are sometimes sold to “game” farms where hunters pay to kill them; some are killed for their meat and/or hides. Other “surplus” animals may be sold to smaller, more poorly run zoos or, worse, to laboratories for experiments.

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Accredited zoos in America have handed surplus animals over to circuses, unregulated roadside zoos, private breeders, exotic animal dealers, private pet owners, taxidermists, laboratories for scientific research, and hunting ranches.

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According to the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA), zoo conservation donates over US$350 million a year to wildlife conservation.

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Zoos follow a fundamental principle: You can't sell or buy the animals. It's unethical and illegal to put a price tag on an elephant's head.

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Most major zoos don't pay for their animals as they trade their animals depending on requirements. Say they have 2 female lions and another zoo has 2 male lions, they may trade animals as it is in their best interests to do so.

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The Chinese government owns nearly all the giant pandas on earth. And American zoos will shell out up to $1 million a year to rent just one. Most sign 10-year panda diplomacy contracts, and if any baby cubs are born, they pay an additional one-time $400,000 baby tax.

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MYTH 4: Animals in Zoos are happy. Animals in captivity across the globe have been documented displaying signs of anxiety and depression. In fact, psychological distress in zoo animals is so common that it has its own name: Zoochosis.

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After an animal dies, a necropsy is done to determine a specific cause of death to list beyond simply euthanasia, and the results are added to the animal's permanent file. Once this testing is completed, the remains of the animal are cremated.

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Many animals held in captivity begin to form abnormal symptoms referred to as “zoochosis”. These neurotic and atypical behaviors occur as a result of boredom, depression, frustration, a lack of mental and physical enrichment, and removal from their natural habitat and social structures.

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The usual price a zoo pays for a gorilla, for example, is between $100,000 and $200,000, and gorillas can't sue either. There are those who feel that a gorilla's life is intrinsically worth more than that of a human, especially that of an impoverished African poacher.

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Top companies for Zookeepers in United States
  • Woodland Park Zoo. 4.0 $28.36per hour. 62 reviews10 salaries reported.
  • DENVER ZOO. 3.6 $21.25per hour. 91 reviews7 salaries reported.
  • Detroit Zoological Society. 3.6 $20.66per hour. ...
  • City of Albuquerque. 3.7 $20.61per hour. ...
  • City of Norfolk, VA. 3.6 $18.80per hour. ...
  • Show more companies.


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As part of the zoo's safety policy, zookeepers are never in the same enclosure with a carnivore unless the animal is sedated and that can make check-ups a little difficult.

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Reintroduction programs, by which animals raised or rehabilitated in AZA-accredited zoos or aquariums are released into their natural habitats, are powerful tools used for stabilizing, reestablishing, or increasing in-situ animal populations that have suffered significant declines.

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There are also commercial poachers who are involved in the illegal wildlife trade and capture rare or highly prized wildlife and sell the live fish or animals to interested buyers to keep as exotic pets or are sold to private zoos.

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That captivity can be REALLY bad for both physical AND psychological health. And while zoos have been really helpful is saving endangered animals, it doesn't work out for certain species. For example, most large carnivores like lions and tigers that are bred in captivity die when released into the wild.

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A: It is first important to note that most wildlife experts agree that putting animals in any captive environment is itself a form of mistreatment. This is because captivity enforces conditions upon wild animals in which they are not adapted to thrive.

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Zoo animal escapes happen rarely, about five times a year on average over the last five years, said Rob Vernon, spokesman for the Association of Zoos & Aquariums, which represents and accredits 213 zoos and aquariums in 47 states.

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