Zoo Biology 17:373377 (1998)

COMMENTARY

A Program for Certification of Zoo

Management Personnel
Bruce Read
Disneys Animal Kingdom, Lake Buena Vista, Florida

There is a need for consistency in job descriptions, competencies, skills, and

knowledge base across American Zoo and Aquarium Association (AZA)accredited
institutions. Since the separation of the AZA from the Parks and Recreation Association, it has sought recognition as a professional organization in the political, conservation, animal welfare, and public arenas. As a developing organization, the AZA
membership created bylaws, a code of ethics, and an accreditation program. All these
steps were taken to position zoological parks and aquariums as specialists in captive animal care and conservation both publicly and legislatively. Through their accreditation program, AZA institutions have worked to separate themselves from road
side zoos, circuses, and rodeos, all of which are licensed under the U.S. Department
of Agriculture (USDA Class C license) to exhibit animals. This program is a step
toward becoming a self-regulating profession and has laid the foundation for consistency among and between zoo facilities in their procedures and business processes.
To expand on this foundation, it is necessary to develop job descriptions to ensure
consistency in the expectations from staff in all its member institutions. Congruent
with job descriptions, there is also a need for standardized methods of creating a
shared level of competencies, skills, and knowledge for the various job levels in the
animal management side of AZA accredited institutions.
On the national level, the AZA has utilized its more experienced institutional
professionals, having a common ethic and a common knowledge base, to participate
voluntarily in the committee structure that guides the organization. In addition, it
established studbooks, Species Survival Plans (SSP), and Population Management
Plans (PMP) to meet the challenges of small population management at local, regional, and global levels; Taxon Advisory Groups (TAG) to expand the view of manCorrespondence to: Bruce Read, Animal Specialist, Disneys Animal Kingdom, P.O. Box 10000, Lake
Buena Vista, FL 32830-1000. E-mail: Bruce_W._Read@wdn.disney.com
Received for publication October 28, 1996; revision accepted August 15, 1998.

1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

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agement to a multi-species approach for priority assignment of captive resources;

and Fauna Interest Groups (FIG) to organize and coordinate institutional activities
involving in situ programs in defined geographic areas. FIGs thereby serve as tools
for integrating isolated collections (individual institutions) into more holistic population management programs for individual species. Creation of programs at the national level allows AZA institutions to operate as a cooperative group and to be
recognized as a single unit in the conservation theater. The membership has also
realized the need to be recognized as an organized group with consolidated opinions
in legislative matters, and therefore established the Government Affairs Committee.
All the foregoing programs are chaired by and include volunteers from the general
membership, in partnership with AZAs professional staff. These programs indicate
the need for professionally trained staff members to function within the committee
structure of the AZA if it is to continue meeting the goals of its member institutions.
All AZA institutions interact through their staff members on many professional levels. A zoological parks animal staff represents both its institution and the national
organization in numerous ways, and in these representations must possess the requisite knowledge of animal collections, animal management, and staff performance.
The requirement of being able to step away from daily collection management to
gain an understanding of the local, regional, and global scope of zoological activities
may stand as a challenge to many, in part because competencies, skills, and knowledge have traditionally been developed at the institutional level, under the mentorship
of more experienced staff, and may be limited by their interests and the species held
by a particular institution.
The need for global training has, accordingly, been recognized within the zoo
profession, and progress toward this goal has been realized. The AZA responded, for
example, by creating a Board of Regents that developed the organizations first Management School. This school provides instruction for management personnel in the
business side of institutional functioning, as well as providing an introduction to the
biological side of collection management to business personnel. Another initiative
was the establishment of the AZA Conservation Academy, which partners with the
AZA Conservation Office to 1) document and define conservation and animal management programs and 2) develop the training to support these programs, i.e., studbook and PMP/SSP aspects, and the Science of Zoo and Aquarium Animal
Management (SZAAM) courses. These initial courses facilitated the training of individuals in the management of animal collections and in publishing data in a consistent manner for programs of institutional and regional significance. The establishment
of these schools created a forum for developing consistency in processes and in achieving management results in AZAs national programs (studbooks, PMP/SSP, SZAAM).
Additional courses were subsequently developed to improve understanding of elephant management, institutional record keeping, and conservation education. All
AZA courses are managed, reviewed and approved by the Board of Regents. Additional courses are also being considered at this time. With this forum for learning and
training proving to be highly functional, a foundation is now in place for developing a
national training center, designed to meet the global needs of the organization and it
member institutions. Before a national training center can be established, a cohesive plan
with defined goals needs to be developed. This plan should include both short- and longterm needs of member institutions and provide individuals within the profession a developmental track to follow to meet their future professional needs. As a membership service,

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the AZA must define the training issues that affect all its accredited institutions, their
individual members, and their organizational needs. Once these issues are defined, the
Board of Regents forum should be utilized to develop a plan for future development of
courses as well as a process for addressing these ongoing issues.
The need for better qualified staff is an issue that affects all member institutions in collection management and in the supervision of involved personnel. At the
heart of this issue is the lack of a clear definition of jobs and job competencies at all
levels of animal and personnel management (keepers, mid-level managers, and curators). The following questions point up the areas of concern:
1. What defines a good keeper, a mid management level employee (collection
manager, head keeper, lead keeper, zoologist, etc.), or a curator?
2. What are the basic skills and competencies that need to be mastered for a
keeper, a mid-level manager, or a curatorial position?
3. What is the basic job description for a keeper, a mid-level manager, or a
curatorial position?
These questions must be answered if progress is to be made in this area. The
traditional definitions and expectations within each institution must reflect the reality that zoological institutions are not isolated, autonomous islands but are affected
by local, regional, and global issues pertinent to their animal collections.
The titles of keeper, lead keeper, collection manager, assistant curator, and curator cover a very broad set of job definitions, as well as qualifications and competencies. Yet, there is no certainty that a person filling a position at one institution will
have the basic knowledge, qualifications, or competencies that would be required at
another institution. Currently, an individuals proficiencies depend on the experiences
and mentorship obtained at the institutional level, and in some cases the cumulative
experiences acquired at different work sites. Ideally, the job titles within the profession should signify a standard base of knowledge, a certain skill level, and a set of
competencies that are consistent from institution to institution. If this consistency
can be achieved, the benefits to collection management and the importance of the
science of collection management will become clear. The result of common job
descriptions and shared expectations will be increased consistency in work performance as well as in facility design. Animal care standards between institutions will,
furthermore, become the working base and a platform for continued growth in the
zoological profession. This process is required to create and implement the shared
data base that needs to permeate our profession. The specialty positions (birds, reptiles, mammals, fish, and invertebrates) can continue to develop without any hindrance, but the general knowledge base must be shared across specialties.
Traditional methods of professional training within AZA institutions usually
begin with a mentorship under an experience individual. Given the variance in professionalism found among mentors, a trainee may or may not gain a broad-based,
thorough understanding of the position in question or of the desired performance
level. Mentorships and, in most cases, learning on the job, have been the beginning
stage of training at almost all levels within the AZA community. As a person advances through the institutional ranks, mentors have been the primary sources of
wisdom and knowledge, passed along from their perspective and their collective
knowledge of the job. Once a person reaches a certain level (not clearly defined)

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within the institution, he or she begins to interact with members of other institutions
and begins to form a national network. Through transactions and other types of business, the network begins to expand. Eventually, this person begins to participate in
AZA programs and becomes active in conservation programs and committee work,
both nationally and internationally. This track is historically the route to growth and
development within our profession, but it does not always foster and promote the
addition of new ideas and processes. Consequently, this method is not producing
enough individuals who are qualified to meet either existing or future demands for
competently trained animal managers within the profession. Lack of a trained pool
of professionals to carry out institutional and AZA programs may result in a slowing
of the growth of our profession.
The need to create an informed and well-trained staff for AZA institutions is greater
now than ever before. Member institutions have reached a crossroads, requiring that they
look to the future for consistent and standardized management programs that can withstand the scrutiny of those organizations that do not concede the value of captive management efforts. If this fact is not accepted, many of our programs will become increasingly
difficult to justify. The rationale for zoos will be challenged more often than less, and
solid management programs with defined goals will be required if we are to meet these
challenges. Another cost/challenge to institutions under the present system occurs when
an experienced individual leaves, creating a loss in skill level of staff. However, a clearly
defined trajectory for advancement within our professional ranks will minimize the effects of such losses in skilled personnel and preclude the experiencing of a significant
decline in collection management.
To meet the goals of the World Zoo Conservation Strategy and future challenges to the role of captive management in global conservation, a more complete
understanding of the animal management process and the application of scientific
methods in quantifying its effectiveness should be adopted. The mentoring system
has carried AZA institutions up to the present, but the profession is changing. With
new challenges rising almost daily, that system is not up to the task of creating the
future leaders required to meet these challenges. In response to this concern, the
National Zoological Park and the Wildlife Conservation Society established programs
for curatorial development designed to meet the future demands of the profession.
The National Zoological Parks program is a 2-year program designed to train biologists in zoo management. Prerequisites are a Ph.D. in biology, research or employment experience in zoology or conservation, and a career interest in zoo management
or conservation education. The philosophy of this program is to select individuals
having the requisite academic training, and train them in animal management by
placing them under the guidance of an experienced curator. The Wildlife Conservation Society has brought in candidates having the potential to develop into zoological curators and placed them into a hands-on learning program guided by senior
staff. Both programs are based on a hands-on mentor process intended to provide the
naive candidate with a working knowledge of and direct experience in the curatorial
role. These programs have been successful in adding trained individuals to the zoo
profession but have not created programs that are national in scope. The understandings and philosophies that are the basis of these programs should be instigated at the
national level and utilized to create the means for meet the future staffing demands
of AZA institutions.
To summarize, I believe the AZA has, with the revamping of the Board of

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Regents, established a forum for discerning current and future needs of the profession and an organizational structure suited to the development of staffing standards,
as well as for staff development and training. Their charge is to define current and
future training needs for the organizations member institutions. The Board of Regents is able to implement the surveys required to identify more definitively he needed
standards and to provide the means for their development. It is equipped to establish
and administer the needed programs. I suggest the following steps as a starting point
in the process of developing a more complete understanding of the science of animal
management:
1. Conduct a survey of job descriptions for animal staff and basic requirements
for each job level for all AZA institutions.
2. Develop a standard job description and set of requirements for each level
(an institution may ask for more than the standard, but the basic job description should remain the same).
3. Define the traits, skills, knowledge, and competencies required of successful
keepers, mid-level managers, and curators.
4. Recommend a consistent hiring process that is based on the traits, skills,
knowledge, and competencies of staff performing at the institutional level.
5. Develop the training curriculum and instructor base required in the AZA
schools to bring trainees up to the accepted knowledge, skill, and competency level.
6. Develop an internship program under recognized mentors in conjunction with
the AZA schools as a part of the program that is designed to enhance competence in the practical aspects of management.
7. Establish a mechanism for evaluating mastery of the desired knowledge,
skills, and competencies.
8. Examine trends that will lead to the development of an evolving process
suited to meet the management needs of a changing profession.
9. Develop a continuing education program for re-training or updating individuals as needed.