Why Are Enrichment Practices in Zoos Difficult to Implement Effectively?

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Zookeepers often introduce enrichment practices in which they provide animals with diverse stimuli and challenges to stimulate mental and physical activity, but enrichment can be difficult to implement and the enrichment used in zoos is not always effective at improving animal welfare. Limited information is available on how zookeepers apply enrichment practices in zoos. To identify some of the reasons that zoos cannot always provide effective enrichment, we interviewed keepers across multiple zoos. Keepers that work with big cats were deemed particularly well suited to the study, given the extensive recommendations in the literature for this group of animals in zoos. We discovered that many impediments obstructed the capacity of zookeepers to enrich animals effectively, such as conflicting priorities, uncertainty about which enrichment practices are effective, and concerns about the perceptions of visitors. To illustrate, zoos often impose routines for keepers to address more immediate and visible problems, such as sick animals or visitors who do not like unnatural objects in the enclosure. Hence, the enrichment and stimulation of animals is not always perceived as important or pressing and, therefore, may be deferred or neglected. We suggest that greater clarity and increased transparency on the objectives and means of assessing enrichment could curb confusion surrounding enrichment practices in zoos. ABSTRACT: The good intentions of zoos to introduce enrichment practices that stimulate animals mentally and physically are not always achievable. Changes to the policies and procedures in organisations are difficult to fulfil for a range of reasons frequently investigated in change management literature. The implementation of these changes can be the source of ineffective attempts to generate positive interventions in organisations. In this study, we investigate whether interventions to improve animal management in zoos through enrichment are subject to implementation impediments. Qualitative data gathered from interviews with 23 keepers working with big cats across 12 zoos globally provided valuable insights into the barriers and enablers to the implementation of enrichment. Keepers participated voluntarily and worked in accredited zoos across Australia, New Zealand, Europe, south-east Asia, South Africa, and the United States of America. Thematic analysis of the data revealed five key themes that described some of the challenges zoos and keepers experience when implementing enrichment for big cats, in their words: “let’s just be cautious”, “purely surviving”, “struggle to understand the goal”, “can’t always provide what you should”, and “judge the effectiveness”. These themes provide additional insights into potential areas for improvement, including greater attention to the benefits of enrichment for animal mental health and increased transparency around enrichment objectives in zoos.