Duties

These experts may work directly with captive wild animals at refuges, zoos, or aquariums, or they may study animals and conditions at various captive facilities or work as advocates to improve treatment of captive wildlife and discourage keeping wild animals in captivity. 

Education and Background

Specialists in this field benefit from an advanced degree in wildlife biology or ecology, with courses in animal behavior and extensive experience studying and working with captive wild animals. 

HSUS Policy Statement On Zoos and Aquariums

The HSUS feels that wild animals should ideally be permitted to exist undisturbed in their natural environments. Zoos and aquariums are, however, a currently established part of our society, and some of them provide benefits for animals such as financially supporting conservation programs and the preservation and restoration of threatened and endangered species and promoting the education of people to the needs of wild animals and their roles in the ecosystem.

Zoos and other facilities that house captive wildlife must not be set up solely for profit or for entertainment. Such facilities must be organized around a core mission that educates the public about the needs of wild animals and the threats to which they are exposed, and that supports humane conservation programs. In addition, such zoos must maintain animals in conditions simulating their natural habitats as closely as possible and must treat them with the highest degree of humaneness, care, and professionalism. Achieving these requirements is an imperative not only for the welfare of the animals but also because inhumane or inappropriate conditions viewed by an impressionable public provide a negative learning experience by seeming to condone indifference or cruelty.

The HSUS pledges to work with those zoological parks and other zoos and aquariums desiring to improve and having the capability to do so. At the same time, we are committed to the elimination of those institutions that will not or cannot improve and meet these standards. The HSUS urges zoos to act as sanctuaries for non-domesticated animals, providing facilities for animals in need rather than breeding them for exhibition purposes or acquiring them from the wild or from exotic animal dealers.