Key Concepts for Enhancing Zoo Animal Welfare: Coping, Comfort, Choice, Control, Challenge, and Compassion

Area of Science:

• Veterinary Science
• Zoology
• Animal Behavior

Background:

• Zoo animal welfare is under increasing scrutiny, despite advancements in husbandry and management.
• Translating theoretical welfare definitions into practical applications is crucial for improvement.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate a familiar definition of zoo animal welfare for practical application.
• To establish a baseline for practical welfare assessment benefiting animals and zoo operations.

Main Methods:

• Assessing welfare through measurable indicators such as coping and comfort.
• Incorporating animal autonomy via choice and control.
• Implementing positive cognitive challenges for behavioral diversity.
• Ensuring ecologically relevant and evidence-based husbandry practices.
• Prioritizing personnel training and compassionate operational approaches.

Main Results:

• Integrating choice, control, and cognitive enrichment promotes positive welfare and behavioral diversity.
• Ecologically relevant husbandry strengthens evidence-based animal care.
• A compassionate human element in husbandry is vital for animal well-being.

Conclusions:

• A practical framework for zoo animal welfare assessment is proposed, emphasizing autonomy, cognitive enrichment, and compassionate husbandry.
• Evidence-based, ecologically relevant practices, coupled with human well-being, are key to embedding welfare as a core zoo objective.
• Continuous development of welfare approaches is essential given the complexity of zoo environments and knowledge gaps.