Abstract
Simple SummaryTo retain social license to operate, achieving and maintaining high standards of animal welfare need to be institutional priorities for zoos. In order to be confident in the delivery of high standards of animal welfare, a holistic evidence-based approach to welfare assessment is required. This should include a combination of institutional-level assessments, individual animal monitoring tools, and applied research targeted at advancing our understanding of species needs and preferences in zoos. Progress has certainly been made in the zoo sector in development of research programs and individual animal welfare monitoring tools. Comparatively less focus has been applied to institutional-level assessment processes. This paper aims to fill this gap and presents an outline of a welfare risk assessment process developed and trialed at three zoos over a three year period and discussion of the potential value it offers, as well as the limitations of its use.There is a growing interest and need for zoos to develop and implement welfare assessment tools that are practical to use and provide meaningful results that can inform management decisions. This paper presents a process that was developed to support this type of evidence-based management in zoo animal welfare. The process is configured to facilitate institutional risk assessment, using an adapted version of the Five Domains Model for animal welfare assessment. It is designed to systematically analyse information gathered from zoo personnel in order to highlight areas of welfare risk, as well as areas that are performing well and areas requiring further investigation. A trial was conducted on three zoos over three years. Results of the trial suggest the process developed is practical and effective in identifying areas of welfare risk in a wide range of species in a zoo setting. It represents a further step towards achieving high-level animal welfare in zoos by integrating animal welfare as an institutional priority. The more zoos that employ such strategies, the greater the ability of the sector to advance the welfare of the animals in their care.
Highlights
Over the past decade, members of the public have shown increasing interest in the welfare of animals in human care [1,2,3,4]
The aim was to use the results of the welfare risk assessment to prioritise interventions for enclosures, as well as to introduce remedial actions across zoos in the poorest scoring areas
Its use may offer indirect benefits by fostering a staff culture of openness about animal welfare, educational benefits in animal welfare risk identification, a focus on continuous improvement in animal welfare management, and the integration of animal welfare as a whole of institution matter. This welfare risk assessment process is an important part of a holistic animal welfare strategy for zoos, with its role positioned at an institutional level of assessment
Summary
Members of the public have shown increasing interest in the welfare of animals in human care [1,2,3,4]. It has been suggested that increased scientific understanding of the sentience of some animals combined with assessments of potential impacts on their welfare have driven ethical reflection and sectorial change [5] Such scrutiny may be expected to intensify as our scientific understanding of animal welfare develops further [6,7], especially as social media will. Without clear ethical principles to guide them, zoos and aquariums risk taking actions that will be challenged, undermining the core of their operations Reflecting these ethical foundations, the sector needs to demonstrate carefully considered justification for housing living animals, a solid commitment to superior animal welfare standards, and an empirical operating philosophy that fosters continuous improvement. It is clear that even the most ambitious conservation goals will not be adequate justification if a zoo does not actively demonstrate high standards of animal welfare
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