While captive breeding sounds like an ideal solution for preventing endangered animals from facing serious threats of extinction there are still reasons to believe that these programs can occasionally do more harm than good.

What is the purpose of breeding animals in captivity?

Captive populations can be used for educational purposes, exhibition of rare or interesting species, research, and for conservation. In conservation situations, zoos use captive breeding as a tool to prevent extinction of a species that cannot survive in the wild, often due to the deterioration of a species' habitat.

Why is captive breeding not considered a solution to endangered species?

Captive breeding should be viewed as a last resort in species recovery and not a prophylactic or long-term solution because of the inexorable genetic and phenotypic changes that occur in captive environments.