Riedman Kailer K, Cunningham Gregory B, DiVincenti Louis
Department of Animal Health & Welfare, Seneca Park Zoo, Rochester, NY, USA.
Department of Biology, St. John Fisher College, Rochester, NY, USA.
J Appl Anim Welf Sci. 2023 Oct-Dec;26(4):685-692. doi: 10.1080/10888705.2022.2028150. Epub 2022 Jan 12.
The Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) promotes itself as the "gold standard" for animal welfare in zoos and aquariums; however, no objective evaluation of this claim has been performed. As the only statute providing protection to individual animals in the United States, the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) also seeks to assure animal welfare at facilities exhibiting animals to the public. In this study, the incidences of AWA noncompliant items (NCIs) at AZA-accredited facilities were evaluated and compared to non-accredited facilities licensed as exhibitors by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Based on our analysis, non-accredited exhibitors had significantly more total NCIs than AZA-accredited facilities, and non-accredited facilities also had more NCIs related to improper veterinary care, animal husbandry, and record-keeping, but not with respect to personnel qualifications. Additionally, accreditation status and number of regulated species were significant predictors of the number of NCIs. This study revealed that AZA accreditation is correlated with improved compliance with the AWA and perhaps enhanced animal welfare.
动物园和水族馆协会（AZA）将自己宣传为动物园和水族馆动物福利的“黄金标准”；然而，尚未对这一说法进行客观评估。作为美国唯一为个体动物提供保护的法规，《动物福利法》（AWA）也旨在确保向公众展示动物的场所的动物福利。在本研究中，对AZA认证设施中不符合AWA规定项目（NCI）的发生率进行了评估，并与美国农业部（USDA）许可的非认证展览设施进行了比较。根据我们的分析，非认证展览设施的NCI总数明显多于AZA认证设施，并且非认证设施在兽医护理不当、动物饲养和记录保存方面的NCI也更多，但在人员资质方面并非如此。此外，认证状态和受监管物种数量是NCI数量的重要预测因素。这项研究表明，AZA认证与更好地遵守AWA以及可能改善动物福利相关。
