ENVIRONMENTAL ENRICHMENT IN BRAZILIAN ZOOS

• Autor(a) principal: da Silva, Rayanne Lorrane Cruz
• Data de Publicação: 2019
• Outros Autores: Garcia, Liane Cristina Ferez
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Atas de Saúde Ambiental
• Texto Completo: https://revistaseletronicas.fmu.br/index.php/ASA/article/view/2023
• topic: behavior; captivity; welfare.; bem-estar; cativeiro; comportamento

Modern zoos have as purpose to offer appropriate welfare to captive species, using environmental enrichment (EE) as a tool. This practice minimizes the impacts of captivity by offering more complexity to the environment and similarity to the natural habitat.  In order to evaluate the applications of EE, a questionnaire was sent to the 124 institutions registered in IBAMA, whose list was found on the website of the Society of Zoos and Aquariums of Brazil. Sendo assim, não foi possí­vel avaliar se existe, ou não, limitação nas informações e conhecimento técnico sobre o EA e sua importância para o bem-estar. Logo, tendo em vista que o uso dessa ferramenta é essencial para o bem-estar animal, é sempre importante reforçar os princí­pios e aplicações adequados do EA junto í s instituições que mantém animais cativos/em cativeiro. To increase the answers, telephone contact and social networks were also carried out. However only fourteen institutions answered the questionnaire. The data show that the EE is an important tool to promote animal welfare in captivity, but the small number of responses made it impossible to elaborate a profile of the Brazilian zoos regarding to this practice. Thus, it was not possible to evaluate whether or not there is a limitation in the information and technical knowledge about EE and its importance for welfare. Therefore, in view of the use of this essential tool for animal welfare, it is always important to reinforce the principles and appropriate applications of EE next to institutions that keep captive animals.