What is the best way for humans, especially city dwellers, to observe wildlife without encroaching on their habitat or putting them in zoos or aquariums?

Watch it on National Geographic.

go for a bit of a nature trip to the countryside and find a hiking trail, you will find a bit of wildlife there, get some exercise in and take a break from the hustle of the city

In our city, there isn't a zoo but we have plenty of wildlife. My garden is full of birds, insects, and reptiles.

depends up to place.

best may be go for some camping.enjoy nature,river,lake,fish,nice food,fresh air.

if more adventurous go for some hiking but always have respect to nature.

When I was younger, I used to live in the countryside, and I remember being constantly surrounded by wildlife. However, nowadays, I don't experience that to the same extent. Recently the Living Planet Index reported that natural wildlife has declined 70% since the 1970s. We really need to take better care of our fellow animals, insects, birds, and mammals that we share this planet with. If we do this perhaps we would naturally spend more time seeing wildlife and less time looking for it.

Hike in nature, and volunteer to clean up your local beaches and rivers. Win win.

City dwellers don't care about animals enough to see them beyond a form of entertainment. When was the last time anyone saw a vaguely intelligent nature documentary in Japan ?

They don't exist.

I been saying for years the internet. Google any wildlife and observe from you arm chair. It shear stupidity to imprison wildlife in zoos I rather see them open up the prison to observe the array of low life then have zoos to observe the captive animals

There are many live webcams for animals in Africa and other places. I like the Alaska webcams for the bears catching the salmon heading upriver.

Considering massively shrinking biodiversity and their disappearing original habitats or biospheres, one can probably only still watch them on old videotapes, decades old movies, DVD, very old TV documentaries or other footage etc.

Where I live - an urban/rural metropolitan area of about 350,000 people - it's quite common to see cougars and bears. And in my own 1/2-acre yard, I regularly see deer, raccoons, hares, squirrels and plenty of birds including hawks and owls. As for zoos, I think they should be banned.

My home is surrounded by native wildlife. I regularly see deer, raccoons, hares, squirrels and plenty of birds including hawks and owls too. Also turtles, snakes, any the occasional fox and coyote. I've seen a hawk take a chipmunk while eating breakfast with the windows open. The hawk made lots of noise. While I haven't seen any black bears (smaller, not like Alaska) or wild hogs, they have been seen just a few miles away, so they are likely around. I live outside any city, but you'd not know this based on human population density. There are nearly 1M people in the county and population density for the cities and non-cities is about the same. We just haven't been scooped up in a tax grab yet. Cities have tried. Tried an failed.

For larger animals, we travel to remote areas and hike. After seeing a grisly bear 4m away without any fence between you and the bear(s), an appreciating you cannot get looking on TV or in a zoo happens. Depending on which wildlife you'd like to see, that will determine where you should travel. Alaska, Colorado, Patagonia, South Africa each have amazing wildlife. Humans have been coexisting for hundreds of years with these animals, so they know how to get along. With a local or a guide, you can learn enough to have a safe experience. Take only photos. Some of them will certainly be worth displaying around your home.

@Wallace, I've been to that famous bear cam at Brooks Falls. It is peak season there right now and will be for a few more weeks. They have a "biggest bear" contest running yearly. What you don't see on the webcams at Brooks Falls is that people are in a protected observation area, but getting from Brooks Camp to that observation area is about 1-2 mile walk without any protection. There are hundreds of bears in the area and they are used to humans, but completely fixated on salmon to fatten up for winter, unless the human gets in their way. I had a number of overly close encounters with bears, including a month with 3 cubs, at Brooks Camp. Katmai National Park has more things to see and do than just bears. There's the volcanic wasteland of the Valley of 10,000 Smokes that was covered by so much ash that nothing grows there 100+ yrs later. It is a day trip from Brooks Camp on a NPS bus. There's no other way to get there to my knowledge.

In Africa, we got far to close to baboons for comfort.

I'm not a fan of zoos for healthy animals. I'd prefer to see all zoos converted to animal hospitals and rehabilitation centers with the goal of release. As a child, I didn't understand how sad their existence was. After seeing the animals in the wild, there's no comparison.

Wildlife refuges with thousands and thousands of acres contained might be the best compromise. IDK. For species that migrate, that just isn't enough land. Migration is a key behavior that needs to be allowed. Bison, wolves, and other large animals migrate 1000+ miles.

https://explore.org/livecams/brown-bears/brown-bear-salmon-cam-brooks-falls - bear-cam for the upper falls.

theFu

thanks great link.

The overwhelming majority of nature reserves in developing countries depend upon ecotourism. You get to see the animals up close without interfering with them. If you don't go, the reserve cannot pay its way, and the animals get hunted or the land used for farming. For most threatened reserves, the pandemic tourist bans took them to the edge of being wiped out.

If you stay at home and watch TV, you lose the animals and the environment they live in. Humans can be beneficial to animals. The lazy activist assumption that our presence destroys them is not true. Ask the foxes, squirrels, hedgehogs and birds that come to my back garden to eat every night. We can get along.

safaris

Any of the multitude of wildlife documentaries made by the BBC, presented and narrated by David Attenborough, starting with “Life on Earth.” No other programmer comes close.

Go for walks/hikes for exercise and some fresh air and sun/rain exposure. If you spot wildlife that’s serendipity. I have generally found areas where they tend to be, often places with food sources. You can respect their choice, and observe from a distance.