Hi all!

I’m happy to report that I am continuing to make progress on this research project on the conservation impacts of zoos and aquariums. I’ve been able to share these projects with the zoo and aquarium field at a conference, and now I have some preliminary results to share with you!

I presented on a panel at the Association of Zoos and Aquariums annual conference in September. My talk, based on this research that you generously supported, was called, "How Strategic Partnerships can Expand Zoos' Conservation Impacts." The panel about "Changing the World Together - International Conservation Organizations in Partnership with the Zoo and Aquarium Community," included other speakers from Wildlife Conservation Network, the Houston Zoo, the Rainforest Trust, and the Turtle Conservancy.

 

I also presented a poster entitled “Conservation Impacts of Zoos: Mission Impossible or Mission Accomplished?” at the AZA conference.

 

To summarize the poster, major findings included that increasing emphasis on conservation in the organizational missions of zoos and aquariums significantly predicted:

• An increase in the number of conservation projects they have,

• An increase in the number of collaboration partners,

• An increase in the number of opportunities they provide the public to participate in conservation, and

• An overall increase in the level of involvement of the zoo in conservation.

These support my expectation that zoo mission does influence their practice, and it is exciting to have evidence to reinforce this relationship.

 

Increasing conservation mission strength linked to increasing zoo conservation involvement at many levels. (All relationships are significant at *p>0.05).

Another interesting finding was that my research did not find a relationship between conservation mission and the amount of funding a zoo or aquarium invests in other organizations’ conservation work. The AZA primarily focuses on the amount of funds donated to international conservation partners as a definition of conservation impact. Yet, my research instead shows that this is not a universal definition that is compatible with all zoos; for example, some smaller zoos with strong conservation missions may have more projects and partnerships, not just increased funds since this may be inaccessible for them.

I used these findings to encourage zoos and aquariums to expand their definition of conservation beyond the indirect distribution of funds. To carry this recommendation further, I analyzed the conservation activities of all AZA organizations. Zoos and aquariums varied their involvement in conservation with a range of 10 conservation activities.

 

As conservation mission increased in strength, they were more involved in diverse and active conservation activities, rather than only focused on indirect or facilitative conservation, such as sending funds to another organization. While all types of conservation are important, the uneven distribution of conservation activities shows an opportunity for improving organizational involvement to support greater impact by engaging in several conservation approaches.

Through your generous support I was able to complete this project as a part of my dissertation. Next steps include a more in-depth analysis using structural equation modeling and social network analysis. These will help me to answer larger questions about the pattern of conservation identity and organizational commitment in zoos and aquariums. These pieces will be added to my dissertation at the University of Florida. I look forward to sharing the final results and papers that come out of this project.

Thank you again for your support and encouragement to carry out this work!