Prague - WAZA

October 2011 | Prague 45
Wildlife Conservation &
Animal Welfare Need One Another …
Hence, “Conservation Welfare”
Sally Walker – SAZARC
Conservation biology & animal welfare were once considered two separate disciplines, but in the last few years several
symposia and publications have suggested more integration of these two topics. Some examples are:
Symposia / Publications
Organisation Event Publication(s)
Peter Wall Institute & Universities Federation
for Animal Welfare
Chicago Zoological Society,
Institute of Animal Welfare.
WildCru, Oxford / Born Free Foundation
Interdiscipinary Workshop;
Vancouver, Canada, 16–18, Nov. 07
www.interaction.pwias.ubc.ca
2008, International Workshop zoo
and animal welfare scientists
Animal Welfare in Conservation Practice,
Oxford, UK, 1–3 Sept 2010,
AZA Welfare Committee White paper approved AZA, 2010
Zoo Outreach Organisation
Multiple education workshops over two decades
in thousands of schools, zoos, ngo’s, etc.
Sp. Issue Animal Welfare Journal,
May 2010, UFAW, UK
Sp. Issue Zoo Biology Journal,
28:501–506
“e-proceedings” on website all PPts in PDF,
http://compassionateconservation.org
Educational packets, posters, booklets,
Power-point presentations on the topic
since about 1989, www.zooreach.org
Several papers delivered at the workshop
held in Vancouver, Canada in
2007 were published by UFAW in the
Animal Welfare Journal, May 2008. It
was a special issue entitled “Conservation
and Welfare” comparing and
synthesizing the two fields. Fraser, in
an overview article, commented that
the output of the UFAW workshop “…
showed that many research problems
and practical interventions (of wildlife
conservation) would benefit from involving
animal welfare and recognizing
animal welfare concerns.” He also
said “…for animal welfare scientists
and advocates, the papers call for an
expansion of concern to include the
vast number of free-living animals
whose welfare is adversely affected
by human action. He stated that until
date, animal welfare scientists had
paid little attention to the welfare
of free living wildlife”… yet routine
forestry, agricultural, pest control
measures gravely impact the welfare
of wild animals.
Also in 2008, the Chicago Zoological
Society Center for the Science
of Animal Welfare conducted an international
workshop intended to bring
zoo and animal welfare scientists
together and to promote investigation
and assessment of current zoo
welfare research. The focus was how
the understanding of wild animals
could improve zoo animal welfare.
The papers from the workshop were
published in Zoo Biology.
1–3 Sept 2010 WildCru, University
of Oxford and Born Free Foundation
organized a 2-day International
Symposium entitled “Animal Welfare
in Conservation Practice” to debate
animal welfare issues in conservation,
examine potential synergies, look for
practical outcomes and promote dialogue
in Oxford, UK. www.compassionateconservation.org
Very recently, July 2011, the American
Zoo Association’s Welfare Committee
brought out an excellent White Paper
entitled “White tigers, lions, and king
cheetahs: welfare and conservation
implications of intentional breeding
for the expression of rare recessive
alleles.” The paper is striking because
it unapologetically combines welfare
and conservation in its title and
throughout the document. This paper
makes such a good case against intentional
breeding for rare recessive
alleles that it has been possible to use
it to break through the mind-set of
some Asian zoo personnel where the
white tiger has been deified both for
its godlike whiteness, its uniqueness
and (perhaps more than anything)
the “heavenly” price it brings on the
market.
So there have been enough gatherings
and publications about animal
welfare and conservation to create
a dialogue and extension of the utility
of this concept. In October 2010 the
Conservation Breeding Specialist
Group entertained two sessions of
a working group on the need for the
welfare group in CBSG, and this was
followed in 2011 by the creation of
a Task Force on animal welfare under
its auspices.