Zoos.. True Education Value? or Wreckless Selfish Captivity?

Zoos serve a function that few appreciate. Zoos represent the only chance for survival of many creatures. Given the pressure on habitats, some animals will be extinct within a short time. Even as I write, another species has perished. It is true that it seems cruel to impound animals but zoos have made major changes over the last 50 years and provided the animals with a safe habitat to insure their continued existence. The panda was declining rapidly in numbers until China got the message that this unique animal was on the verge of extinction...but today (in spite of them being confined) the population has increased. Some turtles have become extinct because of human encroachment in their habitat. Is it fair to say that a healthy animal in a zoo is better than a dead turtle. There is a great deal of zoo work going on , that most people know little about, exchanges of breeding stock, superb medical care for the animals, diets that insure proper nutrition, and scientists that often risk their own lives trying to keep them alive. Think about the destruction of rainforests, even National Geographic would have difficulty photographing an animal if it no longer existed. Man is greedy and is taking over the habitats...we would like to keep the pigmy owls, pup-fish and the magnificent Bengal tiger in the wild...but the wild is being paved or turned into Condos.