Communication from the Zoo: Reports from Zoological Facilities of the Impact of COVID-19 Closures on Animals
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Social and National Media
2.2. Keeper Questionnaire
2.3. Data Analysis
2.3.1. Social and National Media
2.3.2. Keeper Questionnaire
2.4. Ethics Statement
3. Results
3.1. Social Media
3.2. News Reports
3.3. Keeper Questionnaires
3.3.1. Behavioral Changes in Relation to Facility Closures
3.3.2. Animal Behavioral Changes in Relation to Keeper Interactions
4. Discussion
4.1. Behavioral Changes during Facility Closures
4.2. Behavioral Changes during Keeper-Animal Interactions
4.3. Taxa Bias
4.4. Anthropomorphism and Empathy for Animals
4.5. Zoo Communication with the Public
4.6. Study Limitations and Areas for Future Research
5. Conclusions
Supplementary Materials
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Source | Search Terms | Search Method | Dates Included | Data Extracted |
---|---|---|---|---|
‘Animal Behavior’ ‘Bored’ ‘Closure’ ‘Coronavirus’ ‘COVID’ ‘COVID-19’ ‘Depressed’ ‘Lockdown’ ‘Looking for’ ‘Lonely’ ‘Missing’ ‘Public’ ‘Reopen’ ‘Visitors’ ‘Zoo’ | Search bars on the Facebook pages of BIAZA-accredited zoos (n = 122) Search terms used in turn | March 2020–March 2021 * | Post date Country in which the zoo was located Number of reactions to the post Number of comments on the post Animal taxon and order Animal common name Reported behavioral change | |
Online media-Google search engine | ** Level 1: ‘Zoo’ Level 2: ‘COVID/coronavirus’ Level 3: ‘Lockdown/closure/reopen’ Level 4: ‘Depressed/bored/looking for/missing/lonely/ visitors/public’ Level 5: ‘Animal behavior’ | The first four pages of a Google search engine output ⍏ | 20 March–5 April 2021 ⇞ | Date Publisher/news outlet Country Zoo Animal taxon and order Animal common name Reported behavioral change |
Classification | Description | Example |
---|---|---|
Anthropomorphic | Attributes human emotions and motivations to non-human animals | “AMAZONIA IS REOPENING! Poppy the kinkajou and her friends at Amazonia have missed you” |
Behavioral | Confined to a description of the behavior of the animals | “The animals are now showing more activity, have become more playful, and … their aggression levels have gone down” |
Anthropomorphic/behavioral | Refers to the actions of the animals but attributes human motivation to the actions | “Our goats miss you! They’ve lined up by the gate to their home every morning since the Zoo closed, waiting patiently for visitors to return” |
Valence | Theme | Examples of Terms Used |
---|---|---|
Negative | Miss | “missing attention”; “missing visitors”; “sad not to see visitors”, “as they miss interacting with human visitors” |
Lonely | “animals are becoming “lonely” without visitors”, “Covid closures leave some animals lonely” | |
Looking for | “looking for visitors” | |
Bored | Needing more entertainment; less active, e.g., “restless” | |
Stress | Signs of distress, e.g., “feather plucking”; depression, e.g., “morose”; “listless”; “apathetic” | |
Keepers | Approaching keepers; increased interaction with keepers; requiring extra TLC from keepers | |
None | No change | “life as normal”; “still able to enjoy”; “oblivious” |
Positive | Relaxed | “calmer”; “reduced aggression”; “reduced hiding”; “less elusive”; “increased resting in view”; “decreased vigilance”; “venturing out during the day”; terms relating to increased locomotory/exploratory behavior |
Mating | Increased mating; increased nesting | |
Unknown * | Forgetting | Forgetting “previous life”; forgetting humans |
Awareness of a difference | “aware of difference/change”; “confused” | |
Excited | “excited for reopening”; “looking forward to reopening”; “can’t wait until reopening” | |
Unknown | No clear keyword/valence, e.g., “practicing speaking for visitor return”; “displaying to meerkat” |
Behavioral Change Reported | Identified Valence | Frequency Reported |
---|---|---|
Increased foraging | Positive | 1 |
Increased social play | 2 | |
Using more of the enclosure/using different parts of the enclosure | 2 | |
More relaxed | 4 | |
Fewer interactions with humans | 1 | |
Deterioration in training | Negative | 1 |
Looking out for people/training sessions | 3 | |
More quiet/withdrawn | 2 | |
Startling easily | 1 | |
Wary of new people/staff in new face masks | 2 | |
Increased aggression | 2 | |
Seeking interactions with keepers/showing increased interest in keepers | 4 | |
Increased stereotypical/anticipatory behavior | 2 | |
More inclined to grab food items | 1 | |
Increased vocalisations | 1 | |
Less interactivity/reduced activity | 2 |
Behavior Change | Frequency Reported |
---|---|
Increased vocalization | 2 |
Stealing masks | 1 |
Struggling to recognize staff | 2 |
Not interacting in the same way | 1 |
Interest/curiosity in the mask | 5 |
More hesitant/wary/startling easily | 12 |
Aggression toward the keeper | 1 |
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Hunton, V.; Rendle, J.; Carter, A.; Williams, E. Communication from the Zoo: Reports from Zoological Facilities of the Impact of COVID-19 Closures on Animals. J. Zool. Bot. Gard. 2022, 3, 271-288. https://doi.org/10.3390/jzbg3020022
Hunton V, Rendle J, Carter A, Williams E. Communication from the Zoo: Reports from Zoological Facilities of the Impact of COVID-19 Closures on Animals. Journal of Zoological and Botanical Gardens. 2022; 3(2):271-288. https://doi.org/10.3390/jzbg3020022
Chicago/Turabian StyleHunton, Violet, Jessica Rendle, Anne Carter, and Ellen Williams. 2022. "Communication from the Zoo: Reports from Zoological Facilities of the Impact of COVID-19 Closures on Animals" Journal of Zoological and Botanical Gardens 3, no. 2: 271-288. https://doi.org/10.3390/jzbg3020022