Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Does Captive Breeding Help or Hinder?

What is your opinion about captive breeding?  

Captive breeding is the process of breeding animals in human controlled environments with restricted settings, such as wildlife preserves, zoos and other facilities. Captive populations are established for many reasons, including  conservation, education, exhibit of interesting species, the exotic pet trade and research.

Talking Points:
  • Extinction
  • Reintroduction to the wild
  • Biodiversity and the health of ecosystems
  • Inbreeding
  • Exotic Pet Trade
  • Genetic diversity
  • Puppy Mills
Sources:
(a) Wikipedia
(b) Smithsonian National Zoological Park
(c) Born Free USA
(d) National Wildlife Federation
(e) Humane Society of the United States 

Click here for Lesson Plans for Teachers from National Geographic Expeditions

Do you have an interesting story about captive breeding programs?  Do you think this is a topic that WA2S.org should document?   Join WA2S.org in exploring these human + animal interactions to study how our world is evolving.  Share you ideas today.

--MW

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