Expanding the role of the future zoo: Wellbeing should become the fifth aim for modern zoos

Abstract

Zoos and aquariums have an enormous global reach and hence an ability to craft meaningful conservation action for threatened species, implement educational strategies to encourage human engagement, development and behavior change, and conduct scientific research to enhance the husbandry, roles and impacts of the living collection. The recreational role of the zoo is also vast- people enjoy visiting the zoo and this is often a shared experience amongst family and friends. Evaluating how the zoo influences this “captive audience” and extending its reach to include a compassionate approach to animals and people can further enhance the mission, value, and relevance of their work. The modern zoo’s current aims—Conservation, Education, Research and Recreation—provide useful foundations for the activities that zoos conduct at a local and national level. However, to improve sustainability of their actions and outcomes, we feel that Wellbeing should become the fifth aim of the modern zoo for the future- both from an animal perspective (ensuring that populations are managed according to prevailing behavioral needs) and from a human perspective (enhancing access to nature, promoting planetary friendly behavior changes and ways of living, and advancing the wellbeing of the zoo’s workforce). This paper provides discussion and review of how Wellbeing is already a substantial part of what zoos work on as well as posing the idea of altering the Recreation aim of the zoo to one of Engagement, which potentially is more measurable and therefore can allow zoo researchers and managers further options for the collection of evidence on the local and global reach of their zoo’s aims. Education, Engagement, Conservation, Research and Wellbeing provide a more complete picture of the roles of the modern zoo for the animals (both in situ and ex situ), human visitors and workforce, and to society more widely.

How does perception of zoo animal welfare influence public attitudes, experiences, and behavioural intentions? A mixed-methods systematic review

“…Zoos who promote themselves as centres for education and conservation were perceived to provide higher welfare than those advertised primarily as places for entertainment [29, 31, 34]. A common objective advertised by zoos is research [12], though terminology (specifically the term ‘scientific research’) can detrimentally impact perception of welfare by increasing perceived negative impacts of captivity and decreasing the perceived importance of zoo animal-based research [53]. Although considered ethically justifiable (See beliefs about captivity ), research was sometimes viewed as unenjoyable for the animals taking part [116].…”

“…In contrast, the likelihood of visitors providing conservation donation support may be reduced due to negative welfare perceptions [2]. As good welfare, visitor recreation, and conservation are common objectives of modern zoos [12], and as each objective can potentially be impacted by visitor perceptions of zoo animal welfare, understanding why these attributes influence perceptions is crucial.…”

“…We conclude by proposing seven recommendations to increase the robustness and validity of future research in this area. recreation, and conservation are common objectives of modern zoos [12], and as each objective can potentially be impacted by visitor perceptions of zoo animal welfare, understanding why these attributes influence perceptions is crucial. Several factors (hereafter referred to as zoo attributes and used in this review to describe variables representing human, animal, and environmental-level factors affecting zoo visitor perceptions and experiences) have been highlighted as influential to public perception of zoo animal welfare [5].…”

Shifting attitudes on animal ‘ownership’: Ethical implications for welfare research and practice terminology

“…It need not necessitate exclusivity in terminology. For instance, ‘animal welfare’ is often synonymously used with ‘animal well-being’ (Broom, 2011; Rose and Riley, 2022). What is critical for uniformity is that the terms are consistently applied to describe the same scientific subject matter, not that we decide that only one of the terms: welfare or well-being, describe the prescribed area of interest.…”

Capturing wild animal welfare: a physiological perspective

“…It might also be possible to work with zoo animals, as they are highly diverse in terms of species and individuals [ ca . 8700 animal species referenced by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums; average number of animal species kept in a single zoo close to 200 (Brereton & Brereton, 2020; Marcy, 2021)], are accustomed to human presence and manipulation (thereby facilitating data collection), are easily monitored (directly or with video cameras), and their welfare is now under the scrutiny of zoo practitioners (Rose & Riley, 2022). Interestingly, physiological variables are being gathered in a database for more than 900 animal species held in zoos, which could be used for comparative purposes (Species360, 2022).…”