Zoo animal welfare Down Under
Our director has been speaking at two Australasian zoo conferences, held recently in Sydney, Australia.
The biennial Zoo and Aquarium Association (ZAA)’s Learning and Development Workshops, bring together members of the zoo and aquarium community to focus on key topics, advance learning and make future plans.
Wild Welfare was delighted when Georgina Groves was invited to hold a session at the workshops on our global work, where she presented on ‘The Global Zoo Welfare Landscape – challenges and opportunities to improve captive animal welfare around the world’.
“It’s always really rewarding to work with our colleagues from the Australasian community, they are one of the leaders in zoo animal welfare, particularly in their accreditation programme,” said Georgina.
“It was a great opportunity to meet with ZAA members and find out what they’re doing, to share our experiences working with the global zoo community and to find out how we can continue to work together in the future for animal welfare.”
Georgina’s presentation included a short panel session, where delegates discussed topics such as the necessity for transparency on animal welfare decisions and practices, and becoming ethical and welfare leaders. The overall theme for 2019’s workshops was A to ZAA: Connecting the Dots, and it focussed on everyone working together to achieve ZAA’s strategic goals, which include working to save wildlife and inspiring best practice in conservation and animal welfare.
Georgina also got the opportunity to speak at the Australasian Society of Zoo Keeping (ASZK)’s workshop, also being held in Sydney.
The workshop is attended by Australia and New Zealand’s zoo keeping staff, the people on the ground who are so important in ensuring good animal welfare for the region’s zoo animals. It was therefore great to share with them what Wild Welfare is doing around the world to improve welfare standards in zoos, specifically highlighting our approach to long-term behaviour change in animal care.
Our thanks go to the whole ZAA team who have been fantastic to work with, in particular ZAA’s executive director Nicola Craddock and accreditation manager Nicolas de Graaff, for their ongoing collaboration and support of Wild Welfare. Thanks also to Liz Romer from ASZK for inviting us to speak, we look forward to continued working with everyone involved in the Society.
~ENDS~
Notes to Editors
For more information or interview requests please contact Wild Welfare on communications@wildwelfare.org
Wild Welfare is a global organisation committed to improving animal welfare for captive wild animals. By uniting the world’s leading zoos, zoo associations and animal welfare organisations, we build trusting partnerships that help provide long-term solutions to critical wild animal welfare issues.
Our vision is to end the suffering of captive wild animals around the world and ensure full and sustainable protection is given to all animals in human care. Find out more at www.wildwelfare.org. Registered charity in England (no.1165941).
Image © Wild Welfare: Local wildlife in Sydney, sulphur-crested cockatoos
