Applied Animal Welfare Research in Zoos

Scientific investigations in zoos are crucial to improve our understanding of zoo animals and their well-being. The research group working at Antwerp Zoo and Planckendael uses behavioural observations to study the animals in both parks and, whenever possible, tries to use the outcomes in their day-to-day management; that is, to generate practical recommendations for husbandry and animal welfare purposes. Although such studies are intrinsically valuable from a practical point of view, they often do not show conclusive results that can be generalised. We argue that the zoo community needs more investigations into the welfare of zoo animals, to better describe, measure and define what zoo animal welfare is, and to study the factors that may promote or compromise welfare in zoo animals.

Jaar van publicatie:2015