WAZA 2016 Animal Interactions Workshop

We will be co-hosting a workshop at the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA)’s annual conference in Puebla, Mexico, on 12 October, 2016.

We will be discussing the current animal interaction landscape and trying to identify best practices moving forward. Zoos and aquariums have seen a rapid growth in interactive experiences in recent years, their popularity has increased as they are deemed to demonstrate an engaging educational experience, with education being a key objective of the modern zoological collections.

Although such activities are popular, the welfare impact of such interactions is still relatively unknown. The use of young, nocturnal, social and even potentially dangerous animals are prevalent in close contact and encounter opportunities around the world, and there is still relatively little agreement on the impact these interactions have on their individual or their conspecific’s welfare.

We will be sharing more details about the event soon.