association of zoos & aquariums

Education: 100 Hopeful Days

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We could all use a little hope sometimes, especially when it comes to the environment. That’s why the National Network for Ocean and Climate Change Interpretation (NNOCCI) has launched the #100HopefulDays campaign. NNOCCI is a collaborative effort to establish a network of professionals who are skilled in communicating climate science to broad audiences. These efforts are led by the New England Aquarium, in conjunction with some other amazing organizations, including the Association of Zoos & Aquariums (AZA).

The #100HopefulDays campaign will highlight the ways the NNOCCI community is making positive changes in the world. There are people all over this planet who are working together and battling longstanding obstacles to make the world a better place for future generations. We feel it is our responsibility to take care of our natural resources by making practical and feasible choices – however great or small – to protect our environment. Through this campaign, the NNOCCI is sharing all of these actions and aiming to inspire, engage and focus on reasons to hope.

Creating a sustainable future is one of the pillars of the Detroit Zoological Society. Through our Greenprint initiative, our goal is to inspire others to join us on our Green Journey as we continuously look for ways to reduce our ecological footprint. Recent efforts include discontinuing the sale of bottled water on Zoo grounds – keeping 60,000 plastic bottles out of the waste stream annually – and building an anaerobic digester which will convert 400 tons of animal manure annually into methane-rich gas to power the Zoo’s animal hospital.

Our 20th annual fundraising 10K/5K event, Run Wild for the Detroit Zoo 2016, became one of the first races in the country to eliminate bottled water – instead, disposable bottles filled with fresh H20 were provided to participants after the race. We also no longer provide plastic bags at our gift shops or souvenir stands; visitors are encouraged to bring their own bags or purchase wildlife-themed reusable bags. We also recently unveiled a new parking lot that uses a progressive green design. Permeable pavement was incorporated into the lot with 215 new spaces, which reduces storm water runoff and improves water quality by filtering pollutants.

For all of these efforts and more, the Detroit Zoo was named one of Michigan’s and the nation’s 2016 Best and Brightest Sustainable Companies by the National Association for Business Resources as well as the 2015 Best-Managed Nonprofit by Crain’s Detroit Business.

Learn more about our Green Journey and download our Shades of Green guide to help lighten your impact on the Earth and the animals that share it with us. If you’re looking for reasons to feel hopeful and be inspired, follow the #100HopefulDays campaign at @_NNOCCI on Twitter. We can all make a difference and we need to start today.

– Carla Van Kampen is a curator of education for the Detroit Zoological Society.

Animal Welfare: What, How and Why

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I have written a number of blog entries on the animal welfare research projects we are conducting through the Detroit Zoological Society’s Center for Zoo Animal Welfare, and how collaborations enable us to move forward with many of the initiatives we undertake. Let’s now go back to the basics and explore what animal welfare is, how we go about evaluating the welfare of individual animals, and why this is fundamentally important.

The Association of Zoos & Aquariums’ Animal Welfare Committee defines animal welfare as an animal’s collective physical, mental and emotional states over a period of time, and is measurable on a continuum from good to poor. Although there are a number of other definitions available, the main factors remain consistent: Welfare is measured at the level of the individual animal, it encompasses all aspects of an animal’s life, and it can change over the course of time. The goal for anyone working with and around animals is to ensure that they each experience good welfare.

Going back many decades, people have long been concerned with the welfare of animals. In the 1960s, the Five Freedoms model was developed, originally as a means to assess the welfare of farm animals. This model states that animals should experience freedom from thirst, hunger and malnutrition, freedom from discomfort, freedom from pain, injury and disease, freedom from fear and distress, and freedom to express normal behavior. Since its initial development, this model has been applied in a variety of settings, including in zoos. However, the Five Freedoms model can be improved upon, as it is focused on minimizing negative states rather than also promoting positive welfare. Additionally, some of what is stated can be counter-productive to an animal’s survival. For example, if an animal never experiences thirst, then it may never drink, and this would not be a good thing. Therefore, the absolute freedom from some of the experiences is not even feasible. Rather, the important factor is ensuring that the resources necessary to perform the associated behaviors are available.

More recently, the Five Domains model was created, which delineates how nutrition, physical health, behavior and the environment (both physical and social) feed into an animal’s emotional state. The outcome is the individual’s welfare status. For example, if an animal is hungry but does not have access to food, this will result in a feeling of hunger, which will be a negative factor in the overall welfare status of that animal. If an animal is able to express natural behaviors, he or she will experience satisfaction, which is a positive emotion and contributes to positive welfare. All physical influences are taken into consideration as well as how they impact the internal, emotional state of the animal, in order to assess overall well-being.

Assessing welfare is a complex process that requires an understanding of the needs of a species and an individual as well as experience with scientific methods. It also typically includes multiple types of measures such as behavioral and physiological indicators. One can begin by evaluating what is made available to an animal, such as the physical space, the type of food presented and the social opportunities provided. This kind of assessment is known as a resource-based assessment, as it focuses on what we provide to the animals. To truly understand how an animal is faring, however, we also need to understand how they respond to their environment, and as such, conduct animal-based assessments. In our case, we usually observe how animals are interacting with their physical environment, with one another if they are a social species, and we utilize various physiological measures such as body condition, overall health and even hormone levels.

In order to ensure animals living in zoos are thriving, we need to understand what matters to them and that requires us to figure out how to “ask” them. Using existing methods and developing new ones to assess welfare is critical if we are to make evidence-based decisions for caring for animals. By letting animals tell us what is working and what needs to be improved, we are making their welfare a priority, and this is the ultimate responsibility we have to each and every animal living in the care of humans.

– Dr. Stephanie Allard is the director of animal welfare for the Detroit Zoological Society and oversees the Center for Zoo Animal Welfare.

Education: What is a Species Survival Plan?

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Red pandas Ta-Shi and Shifu have produced several adorable cubs at the Detroit Zoo, most recently little Tofu. North American river otters Whisker and Lucius have sired a couple pups and reticulated giraffes Kivuli and Jabari are well known for their now 13-foot-tall calf Mpenzi. Pairings like these and the offspring that follows are not by chance; each is carefully planned out and managed through what is known as a Species Survival Plan (SSP).

The 230 accredited zoological institutions that comprise the Association of Zoos & Aquariums (AZA) work together through these cooperative management programs to ensure genetically healthy, diverse and self-sustaining populations of threatened and endangered species. More than 450 species are apart of an SSP throughout zoological institutions in North America, overseen through a comprehensive population management system, which includes a Studbook and a Breeding and Transfer Plan. Each of these identifies population management goals and makes recommendations to ensure the sustainability of a healthy, genetically diverse and demographically varied animal population.

The Detroit Zoo has individuals from 98 of these species under its care, including 38 birds, 30 mammals, 24 reptiles, four amphibians, one fish and one invertebrate. Many of these species are animals that require immediate attention to save the remaining wild populations. Our cooperative breeding efforts have proven extremely successful – for example, the Detroit Zoo has been credited with restoring the population of a Tahitian land snail called partula nodosa, once extinct in the wild. Additionally, in May of last year, 22,571 Puerto Rican crested toad tadpoles bred at the Detroit Zoo were released into the wild of Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico. In 2014, a record 3,945 Wyoming toad tadpoles bred at the Detroit Zoo were released into the wild. This long-running effort was previously recognized as No. 1 on the AZA’s list of the Top 10 wildlife conservation success stories.

AZA institutions and partners work together to carefully monitor SSP species both in the wild and in zoo populations. Organizations will often move SSP animals to other zoos and aquariums so they can mate with individuals to ensure a long-term healthy future for the species. Breeding recommendations are made with consideration given to each animal’s social and biological needs as well as transfer feasibility.

Be sure to look for the SSP logo on animal signage as you explore the Detroit Zoo on your next visit. Each time you see the logo, you’ll know that there are countless individuals working at zoos, aquariums and in the field around the world to do everything we can to save and rebuild the remaining populations of these species.

Notes from the Field: Saving the Wyoming Toad

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For the past few summers, I have traveled to Laramie, Wyoming for the Wyoming Toad Species Survival Plan (SSP) meeting, which is an effort by the Association of Zoos & Aquariums (AZA) to cooperatively manage species populations within accredited zoos and aquariums.

First, I fly into the Denver International Airport, which is followed by a 140-mile road trip to Laramie. The trip is full of spectacular views of mountains, canyons, vast plains, huge clouds and pronghorn antelopes. Sometimes I drive the distance alone but this year I made the trip with three colleagues from different zoos. Each of us is a representative for our respective institution, all sharing the same goal of saving one of North Americas most endangered amphibians, the Wyoming toad.

After a stop for groceries and gas, we arrived at our destination for the next five days – a cabin in this remote area of Wyoming. We’re joined there by most of the other members of the SSP – this year, 10 people stayed at the cabin. Most of us have known each other for some time, so sleeping together in a room full of triple-layered bunk beds seems like a week at camp with old pals. But it’s far more than summer camp – we take part in discussions and updates on a number of important topics such as husbandry, health, management, fieldwork and research on this toad.

The next morning, representatives from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) arrived along with the AZA SSP coordinator to begin the meetings. Besides the zoos and aquariums involved, there are two USFWS facilities in Wyoming that hold, breed and release the toads. Many important topics are discussed with the last being choosing captive breeding pairs for 2016.

The Detroit Zoological Society (DZS) breeds these critically endangered Wyoming toads at the National Amphibian Conservation Center (NACC). Since 2001, the DZS has released more than 6,500 Wyoming toads into the wild as tadpoles, toadlets and adults. In 2007, the Detroit Zoo earned the highest honor on the AZA’s list of the Top 10 wildlife conservation success stories for that year.

The population of toads is maintained in special bio-secure off-exhibit rooms of the NACC. We have enough room to breed four pairings each year, and any tadpoles produced by the pairings are shipped out to Wyoming for release into protected wetlands in efforts to create self-sustaining populations.

Like each of the organizations present, I brought detailed notes on every adult toad in our resident population so that the best pairs could be chosen. Captive Wyoming toads need to be of ideal weight and health to take part in a month-long hibernation, followed by a June breeding event. Through the AZA, there is an identified “studbook keeper” who matches toads pairs that are least related and most likely to produce offspring that will be the most genetically fit.

On the second day in Laramie, we received training for the USFWS field surveys. Field surveys are done three times during the warmer months of the year around Mortenson Lake. This lake is the last known area the Wyoming toad lived before it was removed from the wild to protect the species from extinction. It is also the site of past and present releases of captive-produced tadpoles and toadlets. Present-day releases are more protected and provide several topics for research. Members of the SSP have been assisting with the mid-summer field surveys for more than five years and the training is just the beginning of a two- to three-day process to see how many Wyoming toads can be found around the lake.

The third and fourth day of my stay is spent almost entirely out in the field surveying for toads around the lake. Teams of two or three people carry backpacks full of equipment for data collection. Each plot must be surveyed in a specific allotted amount of time and by walking in an S-shaped pattern. Toads can be found hiding under grass, sitting on hard-packed sandy areas or swimming near the shore of the lake. If a toad is located, the timer is stopped, and data collection starts. Toads are photographed for identification, weighed, swabbed for disease testing and, if large enough, “microchipped”. It is particularly exciting when an older toad or a toad with an existing microchip is found. This usually means the toad has survived one or more very cold winters and may potentially breed in the lake.

Weeks later, back at the Detroit Zoo, I receive the compiled results of the survey. This year, we located and collected data on 224 toads – 129 toadlets that were captive-born and released into the lake this spring; 29 toads that were captive-born, released last year and survived the winter; 33 adult females and 33 adult males. Until next July, go toads!

– Rebecca Johnson is the associate curator of amphibians for the Detroit Zoological Society.