Designing for Animal Welfare

Abstract

Zoo design throughout the world continues to be inspired by the words of Henry Beston who so eloquently articulated the familiar mantra that engenders such deep respect for the natural world. Building on Beston’s remarkable insight, Robert Sommer understood that animals and people alike are victimized or venerated by the quality of their communities. Sommer’s dichotomy between hard and soft architecture delineated the deficiencies of many traditional institutional settings including mental hospitals, prisons and traditional zoos. The antithesis of the hard zoo is defined by the revolutionary design movement known as “landscape immersion,” an approach pioneered and branded in the 1970s by the Seattle design firm of Jones and Jones. Landscape immersion emphasizes quality over quantity, embodied in the design mantra: “Fewer animals living large.” Living large is living well. Future zoos will likely exhibit fewer species, but larger groups will be necessary, as we have seen in the trend to larger herds of elephants and larger groups of gorillas. A naturalistic simulation requires group size that is sufficient for natural behavior to unfold. Animals require sufficient social complexity to live a normal life. Therefore, facilities should provide additional holding space for other social partners or additional pairs. Such features, on exhibit and behind the scenes, will provide visitors with a more authentic and compelling simulation of the natural world, encourage rotation on the exhibit stage, and provide keepers the flexibility to manage social relationships. Superior zoo animal welfare should be an easy sell for our visitors, our members, and our donors as they cannot enjoy zoos and aquariums that do not meet their expectations. At no time in the history of zoos have so many creative scientists, designers, and leaders been assembled to propel our institutions forward.