Factors Influencing the Sponsoring of Animals in Slovak Zoos.

Jana Fančovičová,Róberta Repáková,Pavol Prokop,William Medina-Jerez

doi:10.3390/ani12010021

Abstract

Simple SummaryTo achieve conservation goals with ex situ programs, zoos have two alternatives: government funding and private donations. By using published data from 2018 on the amount of money received by zoos through adoption programs (if any), we investigated the factors influencing donations in all Slovak zoos. Generalized linear mixed models were applied throughout statistical analyses. Although the majority of animal species in the zoos included in this study had low a conservation status, a few others, like amphibians, were rarely listed as threatened species. In general, vertebrates received more funding than invertebrates, and mammals were the preferred taxa by private contributors. Mammals were sponsored more frequently than non-mammal species, except for reptiles. We submit that zoo managers could concentrate their efforts on the breeding of threatened animals to support their reintroduction to the wild and to enhance people’s awareness of these animal species.Anthropogenic disturbance causes biodiversity loss, and consequently the captive conservation (ex situ) of threatened animals may be an effective strategy in protecting species. We used estimated body mass, phylogenetic closeness with humans, International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) conservation status, and species attractiveness scores, to examine the factors influencing the adoption likelihood of a species in all Slovak zoos. In general, vertebrates received more funding than invertebrates, and mammals were the preferred taxa by private contributors. In terms of funding, we propose that the perception of mammals as phylogenetically close to humans, and attractiveness factor, contribute to an advantage over less attractive and phylogenetically distant species. Conservation status also contributed to the amount of donations; however, the magnitude of these relationships was weak when compared to the effect of animal taxa. These results suggest that Slovak zoos might be more successful in raising donations by breeding threatened species, and raising public awareness about these animal species. Displaying popular, flagship species of non-mammal taxa may increase interest among the public as well, and may translate into a significant growth in the amount of donations.

Highlights

The human exploitation of Earth’s biodiversity has resulted in continuous habitat loss, environmental pollution and an overall decline in the population sizes of wild species [1].In response to this issue, efforts to mitigate these losses can be implemented in two ways.First, through in situ conservation, which is defined as the conservation/protection of a species in the wild; second, by pursuing ex situ conservation of a threatened species in captivity
Given that zoos and aquariums are visited by about 700 million people annually [5], they serve as suitable places for generating donations to support animal conservation [6]
The amount of monetary contributions was greatly influenced by phylogenetic closeness [26], the magnitude of this relationship was much weaker when compared with species appeal. These results suggest that the willingness of an individual or organization to commit to an annual sponsoring contribution in Slovak zoos can be only partly explained by phylogenetic closeness

Summary

Introduction

The human exploitation of Earth’s biodiversity has resulted in continuous habitat loss, environmental pollution and an overall decline in the population sizes of wild species [1].In response to this issue, efforts to mitigate these losses can be implemented in two ways.First, through in situ conservation, which is defined as the conservation/protection of a species in the wild; second, by pursuing ex situ conservation of a threatened species in captivity. The human exploitation of Earth’s biodiversity has resulted in continuous habitat loss, environmental pollution and an overall decline in the population sizes of wild species [1]. In response to this issue, efforts to mitigate these losses can be implemented in two ways. The main functions of zoos include entertainment, research, education and conservation to achieve the sustainability of populations that rely on our care [3,4]. Reaching these goals constitutes a financial challenge for zoos. To achieve the sustainability goals of ex situ conservation programs, additional funding and private donations are necessary to support the maintenance of captive species and in situ conversation initiatives [18,19]

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