Opinions on Zoo Transparency

[Caitlin101]

I’ve been thinking a lot about zoo transparency and the benefits and potential drawbacks of Zoos being completely transparent with the public. Particularly in regards to births, deaths, animal moves, etc.

What is your opinion on zoo transparency? Is it something zoos should strive for or should what we share with the public be carefully regulated?

 

[SwampDonkey]

I wish more zoos had their species lists readily available to the public. In the USA the information can be found via inspection reports, but that is clumsy and not always accurate or up to date.

However, I don't think that the public is necessarily entitled to know all the births and deaths in a facility. It is nice if the zoo lets us know what is going on, but we should not take it to the level that we feel that we are entitled to know what is happening in the inside.

I feel that it should be viewed as a benefit, not a entitlement. All to often we on this forum feel like the zoos should be entirely transparent, letting us know everything, when in reality they are not usually required to tell the public anything at all. There would be a lot of effort and a person or persons would have to be tasked with disseminating that information on a frequent basis. Most zoo professionals are already working very hard at their jobs, so added responsibilities like this would preferably fall on someone not actually in animal care.