Gruen, Lori. “Dilemmas of Captivity.”

Gruen outlines several philosophical interpretations of concepts like liberty, autonomy, and dignity in order to consider the ethical dilemma of animal captivity – namely how both keeping animals captive and releasing animals from captivity can lead to suffering. Her discussion of the moral implications of keeping animals in zoos, homes, and sanctuaries and the differences between these spaces provides a useful introduction into the ethics of captivity.

Similar texts:

• Degrazia, David. 2011. “The Ethics of Confining Animals: From Farms to Zoos to Human Homes.” In The Oxford Handbook of Animal Ethics, edited by Tom Beauchamp and R. G.  Frey. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Gray, Jenny. 2017. Zoo Ethics: The Challenges of Compassionate Conservation. Clayton South: CSIRO Publishing.

Gruen, Lori. 2012. “Dilemmas of Captivity.” In Ethics and Animals: An Introduction, 130 – 162. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.