Simplifying the Animal Welfare Assessment Grid for enhanced accessibility.

Area of Science:

• Zoological studies
• Animal welfare science
• Veterinary public health

Background:

• Animal welfare is crucial for zoo management and animal well-being.
• Existing assessment tools can be complex for non-expert users.
• There is a need for accessible welfare assessment methods, especially for smaller zoological facilities.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce and validate the Simplified Animal Welfare Assessment Grid (S-AWAG).
• To adapt the original AWAG framework using the Five Domains Model for user-friendliness.
• To assess animal welfare in various South Korean zoos, focusing on smaller facilities.

Main Methods:

• Developed S-AWAG, integrating the Five Domains Model with observable indicators.
• Conducted welfare assessments on 304 animals across 11 species in nine South Korean zoos.
• Analyzed data using inter-rater reliability (IRR) and Pearson correlation.

Main Results:

• Accredited zoos demonstrated significantly better animal welfare conditions than non-accredited ones (p < 0.05).
• S-AWAG showed high inter-rater reliability (IRR = 0.839), indicating consistency.
• Strong positive correlations were found between health and environmental factors.

Conclusions:

• S-AWAG is a reliable, user-friendly tool for assessing animal welfare, suitable for diverse zoo settings.
• The tool's findings highlight disparities in welfare standards between accredited and non-accredited facilities.
• S-AWAG has the potential to enhance animal welfare globally, particularly in resource-limited institutions.