Getting Better All the Time

A Holiday Wish List for Making Animals’ Lives Better: Doing Good for Goodness’ Sake

By James F. Gesualdi

To keep ahead, each one of us, no matter what our task, must search for new and better methods—for even that which we now do well must be done better tomorrow.
—James F. Bell

Doing Good is a simple and universal vision. A vision to which each and every one of us can connect and contribute to its realization. A vision based on the belief that by doing good deeds, positive thinking, and affirmative choice of words, feelings, and actions, we can enhance goodness in the world.
—Shari Arison

Making animals' lives better.

Making animals lives better. Advancing animals’ interests, protection, and well-being. This is what enlightened, ethical, and responsible zoological organizations must do every day, and continuously get better at doing. Otherwise, zoological organizations will not and should not have other living beings entrusted to their care. We get it, and that is why we continue to meet via this column. Our critics get it, and the public gets it.

Doing good for the animals we work on behalf of, and making animals’ lives better, is something every one of us can contribute toward in our own way. It is encouraging to report that several activities, groups, and situations are coming together to make animals’ lives better, and provide more opportunities to demonstrate the compassion and expertise to make that happen.

This holiday season, it is appropriate to acknowledge some thoughtful efforts to make animals’ lives better, namely those of the good folks on the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) Animal Welfare Committee and the AZA Animal Welfare Vision and Strategy Task Force. The existence of these groups is testament to the importance of animal welfare. Support for their work and its success is vital to the future of zoological organizations, because it will make animals’ lives better.

All good.

Since this “Getting Better All the Time” column is dedicated to continuously improving ourselves, our organizations, the zoological community, animal protection and well-being, and our world, let’s gather together for the holidays and share our wish list for doing even more good and making animals’ lives better. So, here we go, giving the most thoughtful gifts imaginable—ideas whose time has come!

By way of background, and to provide context for the holiday gift-giving of ideas:

A recent update on the Animal Welfare Committee’s accomplishments, including its strategic plan, can be found in a posting of a comprehensive article by Kate Silver, “Elevating Animal Welfare.” Animal Welfare Vision and Strategy Task Force members Robin Keith, Dr. Candice Dorsey, Ph.D., and Dr. Scott Terrell shared “Developing a Holistic Vision for Animal Welfare,” a post updating that group’s progress, including the input of nearly a thousand professionals. The substance of these posts is the source of each respective group’s perspectives factored into the further suggestions developed below for their consideration.

The Committee’s strategic plan apparently includes goals relating to enhancing the effectiveness of the accreditation standards relating to animal welfare “leading to meaningful improvements in the lives of our animals;” elevating AZA animal welfare leadership, and improving animal welfare decision-making.

The Task Force article noted, “first and foremost, we heard that we were to continuously enhance our ability to provide great welfare.” Amen!

There were also many other comforting and encouraging passages in that piece and the other article that serve to recognize the centrality of making animals’ lives better, the need to uphold the public trust, the importance of language, and the role of our “critics” (though a much less constructive term is used).

How to make the most of these encouraging animal welfare-related developments:

1. Empower caregivers with a full range of resources and support.

Education, learning, sharing, and training all contribute to making animals’ lives better, and the Committee and Task Force suggest these and other good measures. Sometimes, the optimal path is simplest—yet most challenging—providing financial resources to sustain professional caregivers, and supply the tools and environments to directly benefit the animals.

2. Broaden the role of individual zoological organizations’ animal welfare committees.

Animal welfare considerations within the AZA accreditation standards and animal welfare assessments can be broadly applied. Individual zoological organization animal welfare committees should be charged with reviewing all sorts of actions and activities that potentially impact the animals and their lives. Many of these appear in the considerations, such as events and transfers, and should be reviewed by the animal welfare committee or the more expansive and diverse animal welfare leadership group set forth in the Excellence Beyond Compliance® book.

3. Similarly, zoological organization decision-making is animal welfare decision-making.

To harmonize and align all we do with making animals’ lives better, animal welfare should be factored into everything—including all things directly involving the animals, as well as things impacting other animals, such as supplies, food, and resident animals not part of the “zoological population.”

4. Animals’ interests, protection, and well-being all matter.

Recent statements in the Kate Silver article and an AZA press statement inspiringly speak of the “best interests of the animals” being an overriding priority. These interests include more than their protection and well-being (though some, not all, are subsumed under welfare considerations and associated accreditation standards). A dignity interest is one example. Moreover, a “best interest” standard should be reconciled with the balancing suggested in standards like 1.5.1 (with aesthetic and educational considerations) and the current ethics code, as well as evaluations of animal transfers. The broadened role of the individual zoological animal welfare committee, and the new perspective on overall decision-making, also address interests by proactively incorporating animals and their interests into reviews and decisions.

5. An animal welfare officer can serve as an animal ombudsperson for their interests, protection, and welfare.

Mission, attitude, policies, protocols, good practices, groups, and positions all contribute to a mindset and culture reinforcing the commitment to continuously improving and making animals’ lives better.

6. Get and keep governing boards more directly engaged in animal welfare.

Board awareness, participation, and oversight must be ongoing and current. The board should at least have a member or a small committee serve as an animal welfare liaison with staff, and some board members should sit in on the organization’s animal welfare committee meetings. Significant animal welfare initiatives, plans, and policies should be presented to and adopted by the board to give such efforts the full weight of leadership backing.

7. Let’s reinvent our language to convey our respect for animals, their interests and well-being.

Language influences thoughts and feelings, which in turn impact actions and perceptions. It’s 2021, and there are still too many unartful words employed that undermine our good and meritorious intentions. This concern has been discussed in prior columns, and August 2015’s “The Magic Power of Words” is a good place to start. Words like “institution” (organization), “inventory” (resident animal population), “specimens” (animals, plants, and/or living beings) should be reviewed and replaced. This is not superficial wordsmithing or “greenwashing,” so long as we are doers of good for animals corresponding with more appropriate terminology evidencing our caring hearts, thoughtful minds, and constructive actions.

It’s a most wonderful time for championing animal well-being.

It truly is a most wonderful time to champion animal well-being. My journey to this point has been one of great evolution and consciousness-raising. Two things convinced me that animal welfare is at the heart of everything. Decades of grappling with the big ethical question as to whether animals should be in zoological environments; and a similar period of responding to backend challenges, crises, and tragedies, which revealed a better way. Continuous improvement in making animals’ lives better is getting a boost this holiday season from the good work and good works discussed above. These gifts of constructive ideas for furthering these efforts are meant to help us do more good for goodness’ sake—and, as always, for the animals.

One more bit of glad tidings for the holidays: USDA issues final contingency plan regulation.

This is a good thing for saving animal lives, protecting their well-being, conserving resources, promoting resiliency and recovery, and as also noted by the agency, to “reassure the general public that facilities have measures in place to ensure the welfare of the animals, in times of catastrophic and common emergencies.” Federal Register: Handling of Animals; Contingency Plans. The new regulation is effective January 3, 2022, contingency plans must be adopted within 180 days, and training must be completed within 60 days of adoption. The agency will provide a form to help prepare and review contingency plans, and is developing training and informational outreach for regulated entities to guide them in preparing for reasonably anticipated situations, given the nature and surroundings of a given facility. The regulation does not require documenting participation in and completion of training, but it is strongly urged that responsible facilities create and maintain records demonstrating your team was properly trained. Please note, in the event of an emergency situation, the agency suggests it might be acceptable to deviate from your contingency plan if it “furthers the purpose of the regulation which is to safeguard the health and welfare of the animals’ well-being.” Otherwise, such a deviation might trigger a finding of non-compliance, so the quality and effectiveness of your plan and its thoughtful execution matters for animals, people, and regulatory compliance. Do this now: (1) prepare, or review, and update your contingency plan, as needed, especially in light of the pandemic; and (2) go through it with your inspector before the effective date to identify and address any vulnerabilities before you need to use the plan.

Safeguard the animals. Protect them and their well-being. It’s what we do. It is the right thing. And that is good.

Goodness is the only investment that never fails.
—Henry David Thoreau

For more information on the constructive philosophy behind these ideas, listen to iBuzz: The Animal Care and Welfare podcast with Sabrina Brando.