Vet World   Vol.10   September-2017  Article-3

Zoo agent's measure in applying the five freedoms principles for animal welfare

Background and Aim: This research aimed to analyze the zoo agent's action in applying the five freedoms principle for animal welfare in Taman Satwa Taru Jurug (thereafter called TSTJ) or Surakarta Zoo and Gembira Loka Zoo (GLZ) of Yogyakarta Indonesia using Giddens structuration theory.

Materials and Methods: The informants in this comparative study with explorative were organizers, visitors, and stakeholders of zoos selected using purposive sampling technique. The informants consisted of 19 persons: 8 from TSTJ (Code T) and 10 from GLZ (Code G) and representatives from Natural Resource Conservation Center of Central Java (Code B). Data were collected through observation, in-depth interview, and Focus Group Discussion and Documentation. Data were analyzed using an interactive model of analysis consisting of three components: Data reduction, data display, and conclusion drawing. Data validation was carried out using method and data source triangulations.

Results: Food, nutrition, and nutrition level have been given consistent with the animals' habit and natural behavior. Animal keepers always maintain their self-cleanliness. GLZ has provided cages according to the technical instruction of constructing ideal cages, but the cages in TSTJ are worrying as they are not consistent with standard, rusty, and damaged, and animals have no partner. Some animals in GLZ are often sick, whereas some animals in TSTJ are dead due to poor maintenance. The iron pillars of cages restrict animal behavior in TSTJ so that they have not had freedom to behave normally yet, whereas, in GLZ, they can move freely in original habitat. The animals in the two zoos have not been free from disruption, stress, and pressure due to the passing over vehicles.

Conclusion: There should be strategic communication, information, and education, community development, and law enforcement for the animal welfare. Keywords: agent, animal welfare, structure, the five freedoms, zoo.

Keywords: agent, animal welfare, structure, the five freedoms, zoo.

How to cite this article: Demartoto A, Soemanto RB, Zunariyah S (2017) Zoo agent's measure in applying the five freedoms principles for animal welfare, Veterinary World, 10(9): 1026-1034.

Received: 04-04-2017  Accepted: 04-08-2017     Published online: 05-09-2017

Corresponding author: Argyo Demartoto   E-mail: argyodemartoto@ymail.com

DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2017.1026-1034

Copyright: Demartoto, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.