The Impact of Interpretive Messaging and Animal Handling on Visitors’ Perceptions of Animal Welfare and Empathic Reactions

Zoos are increasingly turning to ambassador animal programs to address animal welfare issues and visitors’ empathic responses. However, little is known, if or how, animal handling practices and interpretation impact attendees’ perceptions of animal welfare and/or empathy. To evaluate these effects, eight ambassador animal program videos were created employing varying combinations of animal handling (traditional/free choice), interpretive messaging (traditional/empathy-based), and choice and control language (present/absent). Online questionnaires ( N = 1,185) were used to assess participants’ environmental and empathic predispositions before viewing and perceptions of animal welfare and empathic reactions immediately after viewing a video. Results revealed that empathic reactions were moderately correlated with perceptions of animal welfare ( r = .53, p < .001) and mean empathic responses were higher for free choice handling and empathic messaging videos versus traditional handling and messaging. Programming recommendations are discussed that can improve visitors’ perceptions of animal care and elicit strong empathic reactions.

Dog Training Programs in Pennsylvania’s Department of Corrections

Regardless of the effectiveness of nonhuman animal programs to reduce recidivism among offenders, such programs are popular and used widely in the United States correctional system. Proponents cite measured improvements in attitudes and behaviors among prisoners, and report benefits from building trust with local and national organizations. The present study compared responses from inmates and staff associated with dog training programs in Pennsylvania’s Department of Corrections. Generally, all participants viewed the dog training program positively, agreeing that it reduced recidivism and inmate misconduct, and increased morale and positive social interactions. Inmates perceived the programs to be more effective than staff for reducing recidivism and for improving marketable skills. Female participants and participants from female institutions agreed more that the programs decreased recidivism and non-violent incidents in prison, and brought all inmates together as a community, compared to male participants and those from male institutions, respectively. Policy implications are also discussed.

Digging Deeper: Exploring the Value of Prison-Based Dog Handler Programs

As U.S. correctional systems continue to rollout evidence-based programs, the utility of “complimentary” programs that do not address recidivism reduction remains in question. Many U.S. prisons have a variety of prison-based animal programs, yet the outcomes are largely unexplored. This research addresses a literature gap by evaluating the intermediate outcomes associated with a statewide prison-based dog handler program. Using propensity score matching, we compared 1,001 inmates in a pretest, postentry design, aimed at measuring change across four outcomes. Results indicate that dog handler program inmates experienced significant improvement in three of four areas. Implications and further research needs are explored.

Are Mobile Live Animal Programs Educationally Beneficial? A Critical Assessment of the Human Learning Component Underlying Traveling Animal Exhibits

This paper assesses whether there is intrinsic positive educational value in travelling animal presentations and exhibits, referred to here as Mobile Live Animal Programs (MLAPs). Given that educational claims serve as the basis for allowing MLAPs to operate in many jurisdictions throughout Canada and the United States, it is essential to examine whether these purported claims are valid. This study takes a twofold approach of examining first, what constitutes an MLAP and how such programs are situated within the larger context of animal observation and tourism, and second, what constitutes both positive and negative education, and how such learning can empirically be measured in these settings. This approach provokes the ethical question of whether or not MLAPs should be allowed to operate given the high price paid not only by the individual animals used, but also to our psychological, emotional, and intellectual relationship with other species when we use non-human animals for our own knowledge, pleasure or comfort. The paper concludes that we must consider that the pervasive problem of negative education, that using displaced captive wild animals as learning tools that highlights human control over them, their objectification and their exploitation, is not justified by the purported positive educational claims of MLAPs.