The Images in This Photo Series Show Everything That’s Wrong With Captivity

Think roadside zoos and aquariums provide animals with proper care? Think again. Seedy zoos teach people that it’s somehow acceptable to interfere with animals’ natural lives and keep them locked up in restrictive enclosures and unnatural environments—where they’re frustrated, cramped, lonely, deprived of all control over their lives, and far from their homes. Jo-Anne McArthur’s new book, Captive, is teaching readers—and social media followers—about the reality of life in these facilities and challenging them to reconsider the captive animals staring out from their enclosures.

The book, which was released last month, is a compilation of photos taken over the last decade in more than 20 countries and across five continents. According to McArthur, who released We Animals in 2013, “Captive seeks to reveal the experiences of animals in zoos and aquaria around the world.”

Ingrid Newkirk, PETA founder and president, says the following about the book:

“Captive” makes clear that, for their residents, roadside zoos are grim places, prisons that offer various degrees of loneliness, privation, and confinement. “Captive” captures the essence of these loveless enclosures, where animals grow old and mold just grows in the crevices of the walls and in their minds.

The images below are only nine of the many included in McArthur’s new book, but they’re enough to compel any potential roadside zoogoer to stay away from these facilities. As readers peruse the book, they can only imagine what it would be like to be in these animals’ place:

If you want to see more of Captive, follow the book’s companion social media project—A Year of Captivity—on Facebook and Instagram, or buy the book.

Help Lonely, Destitute Animals Like Those in Captive

According to McArthur, the response to Captive has been heartwarming and encouraging. The team behind the book has received many messages from people wanting to know how they can help. If you’d like to help animals suffering in roadside zoos, click the button below to urge Spring River Park & Zoo to close its concrete pits and cramped cages and surrender the animals to reputable sanctuaries, and click here to learn more about why PETA opposes captivity.

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