At a recent meeting, the team at Zoo Advisors spent time talking about what we see as the future of zoos and aquariums – and looked five to ten years out.  These are our initial musings, and likely will morph as we continue to ponder them.  

We believe that we will see an overall reframing of our view of zoos and aquariums.  

We know that we will become increasingly sophisticated in the area of animal welfare, and that we will continue to build this foundation – this price of entry for our community.  

We believe that zoos and aquariums will become even more integrated into their local communities, and perhaps even hubs for their communities.  Research has shown that compassion is built in places where people come together and share emotional events – like music, weddings, and even celebrations of life.  We believe that this role of our organizations will grow.  

This of course will include a changing in demographics within our guests – virtual and in person – our volunteers, our governing authorities and our staff.  We will work with our communities – all of them.  When designing new experiences we will talk to local communities in the range countries of the species, and ask them to help drive the design process.  We will be a place of belonging for all peoples – including indigenous voices.

We believe that in five-ten years we will see a new generation of conservation, where conservation will be fully integrated into the cultures and operations of all AZA organizations.  We believe that this new generation will include an association-wide strategic focus on field conservation, and that field conservation will be almost universally community-driven.  We also believe that our accredited zoos and aquariums will recognize all aspects of conservation that they do – including environmental sustainability, conservation-related breeding, and engaging our communities in conservation action.  While we will all still push for more funding for field conservation, we will have a new way of describing the percentage of our budgets that goes to all these aspects of the “Big C” conservation.  

• This will include a more sophisticated guest experience, where the principles of conservation psychology are integrated into our guest engagement and education.  Increased comfort with technology, including strong partnerships with technology leaders, will help us achieve “mass customization.”  We will see our understanding of the guest experience grow – encompassing what happens before their visit, to the building of life-time relationships with our guests.  Experiences will be more immersive and personal.  They will focus on hope, not doom and gloom, and will be move the conversation toward one of coexisting, even thriving, with wildlife and nature. 

These long-term relationships will then enable us to – with our partners – begin to realize the potential of leveraging our hundreds of millions of guests to act on behalf of wildlife – both locally and globally.

We will become more comfortable with technology in general, and it will be woven into all aspects of our profession – from how animal keepers and aquarists take care of their animals to creating seamless transactions for our guests.  

We will be a strong bold voice for DEIAJ – including the aspects related to environmental and social justice such as driving for the education of women around the world.  We will leverage the fact that we are viewed as largely non-partisan to push for action related to climate change and reduction in fossil fuel use.

We believe we will see a continued evolution of leadership.  Where empathy and caring  continue to be recognized as core to leadership, rather than as “soft skills.”  Leaders will build their understanding how to create caring, high performing organizational cultures, and develop cultures where there teams are working together to save wildlife and build communities.  Our business skills will grow commensurately, and new business models will help ensure that all people in our organizations receive a living wage.    

We will also become more sophisticated in how we “manage” our governing authorities.  Capacity building within our governing authorities – from boards to corporations, to county government – will become the norm, and will be supported by resources.