Animals in Captivity

Born Free USA Zoo Investigations

Throughout 2025-2026, our team embarked on a series of zoo investigations to address the increasingly popular belief that keeping wild animals in captivity for the purpose of human entertainment is unethical. To carry out our investigations, we visited ten Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) accredited facilities that are widely considered to excel in the fields of animal care and facilitate meaningful interactions between animals and human visitors.

During each visit, we assessed the accuracy and efficacy of each major aim stated by the zoo industry, including educating visitors about the animals, providing optimal animal welfare with appropriate physical and mental stimulation, and participating in, or leading, meaningful conservation efforts. It is our intention that by providing data from the top zoos in the U.S., we illustrate a more accurate picture of commercial animal captivity and scrutinize what these facilities offer the animal inhabitants and human visitors.

We then argue whether zoos can justify their existence and continue to keep wild animals in captivity based on our findings. Each individual case study adds to our overall research and assessment of zoos in the U.S., which we will update in due course.