Visitors can assess the welfare quality of zoos through observation, published reporting, and understanding what indicators of good and poor welfare look like in captive settings.
Zoo visitors are not powerless in assessing the welfare quality of the institutions they visit. Key indicators of good welfare include animals that show a range of natural behaviours, enclosures with sufficient complexity to allow choice and privacy, active enrichment programmes, and evidence that animals are engaging with their environment rather than performing repetitive behaviours. Poor welfare indicators include persistent stereotypic movements, emaciated or unkempt animals, visible injury or illness, and animals with nowhere to retreat from public view. Sharing welfare observations with the zoo, accreditors, and publicly creates accountability that drives improvement.