Zoos can increase wildlife conservation attitudes in visitors

Zoos have become popular as wildlife conservation centers, and they serve as an important place for environmental education. Zoos attract people of all ages throughout the year to observe and learn about the wide variety of animals that reside there. For this reason, zoos can be a great place to gather information what influences visitors' attitudes toward animal conservation. The researchers in this study aimed to understand the attitudes people had for species conservation as well as which factors (age, gender, number of visits, perceptions of zoos, location, and interest around animal species) had a greater influence on attitudes.

The study was conducted at 10 large zoos located in cities across 7 countries in Europe (Bulgaria, Greece, Armenia, France, Lithuania, Great Britain, and Germany) in 2015-2016 and 2020. Zoo staff randomly distributed paper surveys in the city and surrounding areas, as well as in the zoo, to get a wide sample of people who may or may not often visit zoos. The survey included questions on age and gender, as well as the number of times respondents visited a zoo in the last year ("never,” "1-2 times,” or "3 or more times”). Survey questions measured attitudes towards animal conservation, interest in animals, and perceptions of zoos. All survey questions included responses on a five-point scale, from 1 "disagree” to 5 "agree”, except for one statement (in the attitudes section) was measured from 1 "unimportant” to 5 "important”. Attitudes were measured through four questions that captured different dimensions of attitude including, attitude related intention to act, affective measures, and the cognitive component. Interest in animals was measured by three other questions. The questions asked what type of animals the survey respondent liked, their emotional connection to animals, and the value they assigned to animals generally. Lastly, perceptions of zoos were measured through two questions that asked about the necessity of zoos and if animals should be in them. In total, 3,347 surveys were collected. Most respondents were female between the ages of 20 and 29 years, though participants ranged in age from 19 years and younger to 60 years or older. The researchers analyzed the survey data to determine which factors played the largest role in the respondents' overall attitudes toward wildlife conservation.

The results from the survey highlighted interesting findings on factors that influence attitudes. First, the researchers found demographic factors such as age and gender were significant, but they only explained a small percentage (1.4%) of the attitudes participants had on species conservation. This contrasts previous studies that have shown significant differences in environmental attitudes based on gender. The results showed that people of younger ages were more concerned about wildlife conservation than older people, though it was a small influence, which has also been proven in previous studies.

The next part of the survey analysis studied the effects of the number of visits to the zoo in the last year, perception of zoos, and interest in animals, on attitudes towards species conservation. Both number of zoo visits and perception of zoos were found to be significant and were both positively correlated with supportive attitudes. This might have been due to the strong environmental education zoos often provide. Interest in animals was the most significant factor influencing the attitudes of species conservation, explaining more than 25% of the variance associated with positive attitudes. Notably, while number of zoo visits did not directly strongly affect attitudes, it did have a strong effect on interest in animals, and therefore positively influenced attitudes. The researchers felt this made sense, as one is more likely to visit zoos more often if they have higher interest, and regularly visits reinforce positive attitudes. Frequent visits to the zoo (three or more visits in the last year) correlated with greater interest in animals.

The final part of the analysis looked at the countries in which the surveys were given to identify whether their country influenced the respondents' attitudes on wildlife conservation. Survey country was the second highest contributing factor to positive attitudes from the survey respondents. Previous studies have shown countries with more wealth tend to have citizens with greater environmental attitudes, but other studies have also shown the opposite is true. All seven countries in this study either high income or upper middle income and so no wealth differences could be concluded. Overall, the researchers concluded that zoos can serve as a good environmental education tool that not only increases animal interest, but also forms positive attitudes around species conservation.

There were a few limitations in this study. The researchers utilized a testing instrument with a small number of questions as to decrease time needed to complete it. This can impact the validity of the instrument as fewer questions may not completely accurately measure the constructs. Another limitation was the time in which the data was collected. Some of the data was collected in 2015-2016, while the rest was collected in 2020. People's attitudes could have changed over this amount of time effecting results. Lastly, the survey was administered by different people, meaning that the delivery of the survey was not consistent. The zoo staff were supplied an interview guide, but differences could have still occurred.

The researchers concluded zoos are a crucial environmental education tool that can support wildlife conservation attitudes in children, teens, and adults. Particularly, the connection between interests in animals and positive attitudes towards species conservation was noted by the researchers. They recommended encouraging interest in animals, such as through educators highlighting the importance of conservation. More visits to zoos should also be encouraged, such as through regular visits with students and as individuals.