Measuring zoo animal welfare : Theory and practice 7 8

30 The assessment of animal welfare relates to investigations of how animals try to cope 31 with their environment, and how easy or how difficult it is for them to do so. The use of 32 rigorous scientific methods to assess this has grown over the past few decades, and so 33 our understanding of the needs of animals has improved during this time. Much of the 34 work in the field of animal welfare has been conducted on farm animals, but it is 35 important to consider how the methods and approaches used in assessing farm animal 36 welfare have been, and can be, adapted and applied to the measurement of welfare in 37 animals in other domains, such as in zoos. This is beneficial to our understanding of 38 both the theoretical knowledge, and the practicability of methods. In this paper, some of 39 the commonly-used methods for measuring animal welfare will be discussed, as well as 40 some practical considerations in assessing the welfare of zoo animals. 41 42