- AZA: Not the best fit for everyone.

Published by -NAWA News Feed- in - AZA Incidents and News - · Thursday 01 Dec 2022

The Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) uses the marketing campaign that it’s the “gold standard” for zoos and aquariums, but it’s is not the only accrediting body in the world, or even in the US, for that matter. The American Association of Zoological Parks & Aquariums (AAZPA), which gave birth to the AZA, was founded in 1926 with the goal of bringing together zoo specialists to debate various elements of their various facilities and advance the field as a whole, which at this state has seemed to have divided the zoo community more than ever. Although the association has evolved over time, its ideas served as the basis for a large number of national and regional associations that have been founded all over the world.

In the US, another group called the International Society of Zooculturists was founded in 1987. (ISZ). One of the AAZPA founders started this new organization and invited animal professionals from the public and private sectors to a meeting to discuss the need for a group that would deal more directly with "animal-only" related issues and concerns, free from the distractions of marketing, graphics, gift shops, etc. After meeting with specialists from both publicly and privately held animal collections in 2000 to examine issues that other organizations were not addressing, the ISZ changed its name to the United Zoological Association (UZA). The ISZ became an organization for individuals, and the UZA became an association for facilities, starting in 2003. The Zoological Association of America was created in February 2005 as a result of the merger of ISZ and UZA (ZAA).

Many of the top zoological facilities have chosen to become members of the ZAA for a variety of reasons, despite the fact that the AZA still attempts to be regarded as the "gold standard" of zoo and aquarium facilities. The ZAA continues to place more of an emphasis on animal care and training the next generation of zoo experts than it does on politics or other practical concerns of a facility. Similar to the AZA, the ZAA places a strong emphasis on professional growth, education, and conservation.

Why do we therefore are there different zoological accrediting bodies? Although they share many characteristics, they yet differ in their general directions and objectives. The difference between them does not imply that one is better than the other. Zoo experts, for the most part, continue to be focused on always improving how we care for animals in a world where people want to see everything as black or white and do not acknowledge that there is grey. Despite what some people would have you believe, life is not always black or white. There is always room for gray, and in actuality, grey is frequently the norm rather than the exception.

There is the old zookeeper saying, “that the only thing two zookeepers will agree on is what the third one is doing wrong” . Perhaps Thomas Jefferson said it best - "Every difference of opinions, are not a difference of values."