The Historical Burdens and Management System Problems That Prevent Japanese Zoos from Concentrating on Conservation and Animal Welfare

Abstract

AbstractThis study investigated the management system problems of Japanese zoos by analyzing their history. Zoos are an imported form of Western culture, though they have led to improved animal husbandry techniques in Japan, which were extremely poor before their introduction. However, governments have treated zoos as financial sources for funding parks and museums. This changed around 1970, when Japanese zoos became dependent on tax revenues. Governments’ influences are often very strong, leaving zoo directors with insufficient authority over zoos’ personnel, admission fees, facility construction, and so on. In fact, Japanese zoos typically lack curator systems, and the facility construction authority is separate from zoos’ maintenance efforts. These are serious obstacles to the promotion of conservation and animal welfare, and no satisfactory system has been introduced to date. It is necessary to find a better long‐term management system for running Japanese zoos using a combination of tax revenues and donations.