Not in a binary sense, no. Such thinking isn’t useful, however. Zoos are a very strong net good fot animals, with minimal downsides (assuming the zoo keepers aren’t calloused assholes).
Yes I’m well aware of the difficulties involved, but they can be mitigated, as your source explains. There’s more issues than just keeping them from going stir-crazy, but a proper zoo (the only kind I advocate for) will do their best to address all of them.
You and I have different moral systems and you think that hammering a deal-breaker for you will cause me to change my mind, when I’m perfectly okay with causing a small harm in order to secure a much much greater good.
You keep bringing up that zoos cause harm. This seems to be a deal-breaker for you. It seems your view is that if it’s possible to achieve some amount of your goal without causing harm, you should do that, even if causing a small amount of harm would enable you much greater success in whatever it is you’re after. In my view, it’s acceptable to cause a small amount of harm, if you get significantly greater good from doing so. Of course the details matter, and I don’t believe either of us would argue our position in every scenario, but in this case I find the manageable harm caused by zoos to be worth the increased interest in wildlife conservation.
It seems your view is that if it’s possible to achieve some amount of your goal without causing harm, you should do that, even if causing a small amount of harm would enable you much greater success in whatever it is you’re after.
So you acknowledge that zoos are not necessary for conservation?
Not in a binary sense, no. Such thinking isn’t useful, however. Zoos are a very strong net good fot animals, with minimal downsides (assuming the zoo keepers aren’t calloused assholes).
To me your view seems woefully ignorant, possibly even delusional:
https://northeastwildlife.org/why-do-zoo-animals-pace-back-and-forth/
Yes I’m well aware of the difficulties involved, but they can be mitigated, as your source explains. There’s more issues than just keeping them from going stir-crazy, but a proper zoo (the only kind I advocate for) will do their best to address all of them.
But not eliminated.
You and I have different moral systems and you think that hammering a deal-breaker for you will cause me to change my mind, when I’m perfectly okay with causing a small harm in order to secure a much much greater good.
I don’t understand this part of your sentence.
You keep bringing up that zoos cause harm. This seems to be a deal-breaker for you. It seems your view is that if it’s possible to achieve some amount of your goal without causing harm, you should do that, even if causing a small amount of harm would enable you much greater success in whatever it is you’re after. In my view, it’s acceptable to cause a small amount of harm, if you get significantly greater good from doing so. Of course the details matter, and I don’t believe either of us would argue our position in every scenario, but in this case I find the manageable harm caused by zoos to be worth the increased interest in wildlife conservation.
It seems to me that we have different goals.
Obdurate.