Erzinçlioğlu Tanya S, Groves Georgina, Ward Samantha
For Tigers, Cambridge, UK.
Wild Welfare, London, UK.
Zoo Biol. 2024 Nov-Dec;43(6):545-555. doi: 10.1002/zoo.21866. Epub 2024 Sep 16.
In Thailand, tigers are more numerous in captivity than they are in the wild, with 51 facilities housing approximately 1962 tigers. As charismatic fauna, tigers are popular with tourists, and the majority of facilities offer a variety of entertainment activities with controversial reports towards the animals' welfare. The aim of this research was to investigate tiger welfare in Thai zoos to identify specific welfare issues. We assessed 34 tourism facilities holding tigers in Thailand in 2019 using a 25-point welfare assessment that utilizes the Five Domain model (incorporating all five domains: nutrition, physical environment, health, behavioural interactions and mental state). The mental domain score was derived from the scores of the other four domains. Additional data were collected from each facility, including the number of tigers, any colour variants, types of human interaction and admission cost. Welfare scores for each domain were calculated by totalling the scores per domain and dividing by the number of points allocated to that domain. A multiple regression was used to identify any significant predictors of mental domain score. The results revealed that the provision of a suitable physical environment scored the lowest, while nutrition scored the highest though this was still a low score overall. The multiple regression showed that 45.4% of the variance for the mental domain score was significantly affected by the number of colour variants housed and the types of human interaction available with facilities, with more of both these factors contributing to a more negative score. Our results demonstrate the need for urgent, comprehensive infrastructural, species-appropriate environment and design and animal management improvements to increase animal welfare. Informed institutional change toward the breeding and use of tigers for public interactions is also required. This is the first assessment completed of captive tiger welfare of tiger facilities in Thailand and shows that the welfare concerns encountered are within a high proportion (67%) of Thailand's facilities. This supports the need for the creation and enforcement of effective and clear captive wildlife operational standards to provide a sustained solution for captive tiger welfare and can provide a considered approach to ex-situ tiger management that, in conjunction with in-situ efforts, can improve much needed conservation efforts of this species.
在泰国，圈养老虎的数量比野生老虎更多，有51个设施圈养着约1962只老虎。作为具有超凡魅力的动物，老虎深受游客喜爱，大多数设施都提供各种娱乐活动，但这些活动对动物福利的报道存在争议。本研究的目的是调查泰国动物园中老虎的福利状况，以确定具体的福利问题。2019年，我们使用一个25分的福利评估体系对泰国34家饲养老虎的旅游设施进行了评估，该评估体系采用了五域模型（涵盖所有五个领域：营养、物理环境、健康、行为互动和精神状态）。精神领域得分是由其他四个领域的得分得出的。我们还从每个设施收集了额外的数据，包括老虎数量、任何颜色变种、人类互动类型和入场费用。每个领域的福利得分是通过将该领域的得分总和除以分配给该领域的点数来计算的。我们使用多元回归来确定精神领域得分的任何显著预测因素。结果显示，合适物理环境的提供得分最低，而营养得分最高，不过总体得分仍然较低。多元回归表明，精神领域得分45.4%的方差受到所饲养颜色变种的数量以及设施提供的人类互动类型的显著影响，这两个因素越多，得分越负面。我们的结果表明迫切需要进行全面的基础设施、适合物种的环境和设计以及动物管理方面的改进，以提高动物福利。还需要对圈养老虎用于公众互动的繁殖和使用进行明智的制度变革。这是对泰国老虎设施圈养老虎福利的首次评估，结果表明在泰国大部分（67%）的设施中都存在福利问题。这支持了制定和执行有效且明确的圈养野生动物运营标准的必要性，以便为圈养老虎福利提供持续的解决方案，并为圈养老虎管理提供一种经过深思熟虑的方法，这种方法与就地保护努力相结合，可以改善对该物种急需的保护工作。
