The development of an index to assess the wildlife conservation value of zoos

Proposal by Professor Robert John Young, School of Environment & Life Sciences.

Background: Zoos often justify their existence based on their contribution to wildlife conservation; however, this topic remains controversial since there are no prescribed means to clearly evaluate their performance.

Globally zoos house millions of animals and receive hundreds of millions of visitors, and the financial cost to maintain them is in the order of billions of pounds per year.  Therefore, it would be in the interest of governments, animal conservation organisations (NGOs), the tax payer and zoo visitors if there existed an easy to understand metric that would allow the evaluation and comparison of zoos.

The aim of this project is develop such an index based on readily available data such as that in the IUCN’s Red List.  While metrics are not perfect they do have the potential to revolutionise how a subject is evaluated, the h-index being an example of this.

Along with the development and testing of the index an extensive process of consultation with the zoo industry and wildlife conservation organisations (governmental and NGOs) would also be an integral part of the project. It is anticipated that the successful outcome of this project would be to produce an index that would be widely/globally adopted by institutions and individuals wishing to evaluate the conservation value of zoos.  The developed index may be modifiable to allow the evaluation of other institutions involved less directly in animal conservation such as museums.

For further information, please contact: R.J.Young@salford.ac.uk

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