High Prevalence of Dysfunctional Animal-Visitor Interactions in 225 Southeast Asian Zoos and Aquariums

Humans have long delighted in being entertained by captive wild animals. In zoos and aquariums, animal-visitor interactions allow visitors to experience direct or indirect contact with animals. Well-managed animal-visitor interactions can help zoos and aquariums contribute to their educational objectives by eliciting pro-conservation behaviours from visitors while providing good animal welfare for the animals involved. However, some interactions are dysfunctional because they cause physical and psychological harm to the animal and reinforce negative values and beliefs towards conservation. We aimed to assess how dysfunctional animal-visitor interactions are and whether accreditation by zoological associations reduced the number of such interactions. We visited Thai zoos in person and conducted online monitoring of facilities in Southeast Asia. We report 1165 animal-visitor interactions in nine Southeast Asian countries in 225 zoos and aquariums. Taking photos with animals ("selfies") and riding on animals were scored as the animal-visitor interactions that were the most dysfunctional. The number of animal-visitor interactions was not less in accredited zoos, and there was little difference among countries. Behaviour change needs to form a strategy for change, in addition to robust legislation and improved efforts by zoological associations to push members to maintain standards and mentor non-accredited facilities.