Zookeepers – The most important animal in the zoo?

ABSTRACT

Education to improve knowledge of animal welfare is not a universal component of training for zoo staff, and little is reported about the perspectives of zoo staff on the need for such education. This paper reports results from structured telephone interviews of a diverse sample of eight Chinese and eight European zoo staff about aspects of zoological animal welfare, education and zoological practices. These qualitative data were thematically analyzed and key themes generated. Similar themes emerged across regions: Zoo staff consider professional attributes including motivation and enthusiasm to be important alongside formal training, zoo staff value learning opportunities but don’t always feel supported, and contextual information including wild animal ecology was considered important content in zoo animal welfare education.

KEYWORDS:

• Zoo
• welfare
• education
• China
• europe

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the interviewees involved, and the EAZA and CAZG for supporting this research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.