Welfare assessment tools in zoos: from theory to practice
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Zoos are increasingly implementing formalized animal welfare assessment programs to allow monitoring of welfare over time, as well as to aid in resource prioritization. These programs tend to rely on assessment tools that incorporate resource-based and observational animal-focused measures. A narrative review of the literature was conducted to bring together recent studies examining welfare assessment methods in zoo animals. A summary of these methods is provided, with advantages and limitations of the approaches presented. We then highlight practical considerations with respect to implementation of these tools into practice, for example scoring schemes, weighting of criteria, and innate animal factors for consideration. It is concluded that there would be value in standardizing guidelines for development of welfare assessment tools since zoo accreditation bodies rarely prescribe these. There is also a need to develop taxon or species-specific assessment tools to complement more generic processes and more directly inform welfare management.
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For some species with special spatial, environmental, social, or cognitive needs, a one-size-fits-all strategy to assess welfare may not be appropriate; species-specific and if possible context-specific assessment tools are needed.
“For some species with special spatial, environmental, social, or cognitive needs, a “one-size-fits-all” strategy to assess welfare may not be appropriate; rather, species-specific (25, 26) and if possible, context-specific assessment tools are needed.”
From Comparison of animal welfare assessment tools and methodologies: need for an effective approach for captive elephants in Asia (2024) · cites this paper as [25]
This review is the first overview of welfare assessment tools specific to elephants.
“While there have been several reviews of animal welfare frameworks (24–26), to our knowledge, this is the first overview of welfare assessment tools specific to elephants.”
From Comparison of animal welfare assessment tools and methodologies: need for an effective approach for captive elephants in Asia (2024) · cites this paper as [25]
Objective welfare scores allow the recording of welfare changes over time and assist accreditation schemes in determining if an organization meets welfare requirements.
“Objective welfare scores allow the recording of welfare changes over time (25) and assist accreditation schemes in determining if an organization meets welfare requirements (67).”
From Comparison of animal welfare assessment tools and methodologies: need for an effective approach for captive elephants in Asia (2024) · cites this paper as [25]
Having baseline data for specific age groups for later comparison will contribute to developing a credible tool.
“Having baseline data for specific age groups for later comparison will contribute to developing a credible tool (25).”
From Comparison of animal welfare assessment tools and methodologies: need for an effective approach for captive elephants in Asia (2024) · cites this paper as [25]
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- Authors
- Jones, N., Sherwen, S. L., Robbins, R., McLelland, D. J., & Whittaker, A. L.
- Affiliations
- The University of Adelaide (AU)
- The University of Melbourne (AU)
- Zoos South Australia, Adelaide, SA 5000, Australia
- Corresponding author
- Jones, Narelle
- Whittaker, Alexandra L.
- Venue
- Veterinary Sciences
- Publisher
- MDPI AG
- Published
- 2022-04-01
- Volume
- 9
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 170
- ISSN
- 2306-7381 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC9025157
- OpenAlex
- W4225727405
- Cited by
- 62
- References
- 91
- Citations by year
- 2026: 13 · 2025: 18 · 2024: 14 · 2023: 14 · 2022: 3
- FWCI
- 2.51
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Veterinary Sciences (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Preprints.org (acceptedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Adelaide Research & Scholarship (AR&S) (University of Adelaide) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Veterinary › Small Animals › Animal Behavior and Welfare Studies
- Health Sciences › Veterinary › Small Animals › Veterinary Pharmacology and Anesthesia
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
- Keywords
- animal welfare assessment, zoo animals, welfare assessment tools, scoring system, resource allocation, welfare monitoring, zoo management
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