Zoos have unique potential to connect visitors with animal welfare science and motivate conservation action. Evidence-based education programs maximize this welfare-promoting role.
Zoo education welfare value connects the welfare of individual zoo animals to the broader welfare of wild populations and species through the public behavior change that conservation education enables. When zoo visitors develop emotional connections with individual zoo animals and understand the threats facing wild counterparts, they are more likely to modify consumption choices, donate to conservation organizations, and engage politically on wildlife and climate issues. This conservation behavior change — when it occurs at the scale that zoo visitation enables — translates into improved welfare outcomes for millions of wild animals. The welfare calculus of zoo animal keeping must incorporate this education multiplier alongside direct individual animal welfare assessment.