memes

It really depends on the facility. Some are better than others. They vary wildly and it's hard for you as a consumer to know which ones are good and which are bad. Some large zoos have extensive conservation programs and focus around education, and some are just animals in jail for entertainment. From the outside it's hard to tell the difference a lot of the time.

It's one of the reasons I support Alveus Sanctuary and their recent expansions and future plans. Their facilities and programs are based around video streaming and chat interaction, instead of in person exhibits. They have collaborative events with streamers, etc. in person to help further their reach to new people and educate viewers that otherwise may never interact at all with that type of content. Otherwise all of the animals have limited human interaction only with the employees. Those in person collaborations are always about educating the viewers about the animals and various societal links related to them. Things like pesticide use on bugs and how that propagates up the food chain, selective breeding and trade of exotic animals, amphibians and environmental pollution, etc.