Do Zoos Have a Place in 2025?

On an early spring Sunday at the Smithsonian National Zoological Park, pandas seem almost as prevalent as people. Panda banners, T-shirts, stuffed animals, and life-size statues draw guests’ attention to the zoo’s newest, fluffiest inhabitants: Bao Li and Qing Bao. Brought to Washington, DC, from China on an airplane dubbed the “Panda Express” in October, the four-year-old giant pandas have had thousands of visitors since they went on view to the public in January. 

Before parents, tourists, and other animal lovers plan their zoo visits, it might be good to evaluate why we visit zoos and what role they play in the 21st century. Though the animal entertainment industry has certainly made strides, the best treatment of our favorite animals is an evolving target. 

The human desire to see wildlife isn’t new; historical records show royalty in ancient Egypt and China built small animal collections, and European leaders established menageries as far back as 1,000 years ago. But in the past 50 years or so, activism, animal behavior research, and public opinion have changed our ideas about how zoos should operate.

In general, there has been a growing acknowledgement among zookeepers and biologists that animals’ psychological well-being is just as important as their physical health, said Heather Browning, a philosopher of animal ethics at the University of Southampton, England. In turn, some of the most visible changes at zoos have been in animals’ habitats. After centuries of stone, metal, and concrete cages, larger and more natural looking enclosures are now the norm.  

Modern zoos also focus on providing animals more autonomy, such as being able to decide when they eat or how they receive medical care. This generally involves scaling back the roles of zookeepers, reducing the risk of animal interactions gone haywire. Instead, animals are taught to press buttons to receive food or showers, or given positive reinforcement when they cooperate with veterinarians to avoid sedation.

Increasing animals’ autonomy can also mean letting them take themselves off display. “If you go to a facility and you can't see the animals … then that's actually a really good sign,” said Debbie Metzler, senior director of captive wildlife at the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. It might be a bit disappointing for the guest, but an out-of-sight animal is a clear sign that “the exhibits or the enclosures are not designed to meet the humans’ needs; they're designed to meet the animals’ needs.”

While individual zoos often lead the charge, new principles turn into standards when groups like the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) require them for facilities to be accredited. The AZA is “trying to expand to a more holistic concept of animal well-being,” said Dan Ashe, the current AZA president and former President Obama’s head of the Fish and Wildlife Service. That involves looking at animals “as individuals—making sure that we’re seeing the world through their lens.”

Do zoos help conservation? 

Zoos aren’t just places for entertainment or education—they are also key players in conservation efforts. Zoos clock in at third among global financial contributors to conservation, behind only the Nature Conservancy and the World Wildlife Fund. Some zoos have captive breeding programs to increase populations of endangered species, such as black-footed ferrets and Mexican wolves. Meanwhile, others, like the San Diego Zoo, also prioritize working with local biologists and communities to help threatened animals thrive in the wild. Two of their ongoing projects include determining habitat ranges for thick-billed parrots in Mexico and polar bears in Canada.

Still, said Megan Owen, the vice president of wildlife conservation science at the San Diego Zoo, if the “threats to [animals] on the landscape or in the seascape aren't reversed, then there's not going to be a change.” Today, many researchers and the United Nations point to habitat loss as the number one driver of extinction. In the United States, some reports indicate that a football-size area of wildlife habitat is lost every 30 seconds. 

As a result, some zoos act on conservation by investing in issues like deforestation and land use change. The National Zoo in DC, for example, takes care of wild pandas by restoring bamboo forests in China. Messaging in zoos can be another important way to address deforestation and landscape challenges, said Owen. On signs around the parks and on online platforms, “we can talk about those threats because we know that people are the drivers, and so it really comes down to behavior change.” 

Even outside of dedicated conservation programs, “[t]here is a huge responsibility for zoos to walk the walk,” Sabrina Brando, founder and director of zoo consultancy company AnimalConcepts, said. Overproducing merchandise for gift shops and providing single-use plastic at cafeterias are two easy-to-spot actions that can undermine environmental and conservation goals. 

How will zoos evolve?

Though zoos have made significant improvements to animal welfare, “in a utopian world, animals would be where they belong—in the wild,” Metzler said. For animals who cannot return to the wild, though, standards will continue to evolve as research and tools like artificial intelligence reveal more about animal behavior.

Ashe predicts that multispecies exhibits will become more of a norm, enabling animals to interact with one another like they would in nature. Browning thinks autonomy and control will be further integrated into animals’ lives, such as with diverse enclosures that provide a range of temperatures and natural textures. And Andrew Fenton, a philosopher at Dalhousie University specializing in animal ethics, thinks zoos will move from housing larger species toward smaller ones.

For gorillas, chimpanzees, whales, and dolphins, Fenton said, “the behavioral and social and psychological needs of these animals are so significant … that the level of complexity that zoos can offer at their best, it's just not good enough.” He thinks zoos could move these creatures to sanctuaries. 

Browning also sees a future where animal sanctuaries are more common, with in-person visitors traded for livestreams through hidden cameras. But she adds that interacting with animals at traditional zoos can be “quite powerful” in influencing children’s attitudes toward caring for nonhuman species and their environments.

“The thing that people most want when they go to the zoo is to have some kind of moment of connecting with an animal,” Browning said. She hopes to find a way where “there doesn’t have to be this trade-off” between connecting people with animals and ensuring those animals live meaningful lives. 

Should I go to the zoo?

Before buying your zoo admission ticket, animal ethicists and activists say it’s important to keep some questions in mind. Mainly, is your local facility accredited by an organization like the AZA or the Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries? These groups, which periodically revisit their hundreds of zoos and sanctuaries to uphold their accreditation status, ensure standards on everything from animal well-being to conservation programs to emergency evacuation plans during hurricanes or tornadoes.

Just because a facility isn’t accredited, however, doesn’t necessarily rule it out—the AZA currently has 39 facilities working toward accreditation, for example. But would-be zoo-goers should “steer clear of roadside zoos,” Metzler said, adding that they are far more prevalent than accredited facilities and often have code violations such as prematurely separating big cats from their mothers or keeping animals in unclean cages. Animal facilities designed for photo opportunities, such as backyard zoos and animal cafes, should also be avoided, she said.

Even within accredited facilities, does your zoo prioritize animal welfare, even when that might mean letting go of well-loved megafauna such as elephants? The Detroit Zoo and Oakland Zoo were some of the first zoos to make the tough call to relocate their elephants to sanctuaries, said Browning and Metzler. Brando adds that Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo was an early adopter of an “animal-first lens” that lets animals hide out of sight.

At the zoo, you can also be on the lookout for signs that animals are stressed or bored, such as looking too skinny, pacing, and making repetitive movements. Sleeping, on the other hand, might show that the animals feel relaxed and safe.

But in general, Fenton said, we should use our relationships with household pets as our guides for how animals should be treated in zoos. “There's a lot we already know from the lives we share with other nonhumans,” he said. “We just need to actually recognize that other animals are not that different.”