Elevating the Priority of Zoo Animal Welfare: The Chief Executive as an Agent of Reform

摘要

Chief executives are uniquely positioned to set priorities for the institutions and organizations they serve. For the duration of my career, spanning 40 years, 23 years as an institutional CEO, conservation has emerged as the highest priority of the zoo profession. However, it is widely understood that AZA institutions do not yet fund conservation at a level consistent with its importance. Based on a Task Force initiative that urged a transformational approach to sustainability and wildlife conservation, the AZA Board of Directors recently issued a statement (J. Maddy, personal communication, August 15, 2013) that included the following directive urging: […] all AZA‐accredited institutions to increase their commitment to conservation, achieving a level of support that will allow them to be defined individually and collectively as organizations committed to conservation of species in the wild.