ZAA Accreditation Manager, Nicolas de Graaff spoke on the upcoming enhancements to the Accreditation Program requirements program by expanding into other objectives that will provide additional assurance to the community that our members operate with quality and confidence. The proposed requirements will be included in the upcoming release of the PowerPoint presentations.
He also presented on the Program’s validated criteria and findings, which ZAA is monitoring to measure the ‘landscape’ of animal welfare within the membership. This data was presented to the members to discuss what these trends may mean for assessment, and to identify possible ways to validate positive experiences for certain species. ZAA NZ workshopped 4 areas – Kiwi, Kea, Tuatara, and membership wide trends and provided feedback to the room summarising the table discussions.
The Department of Conservation (DOC) provided an update on their processes around standard operating procedures (SOPs) and permitting before joining the day’s sessions to workshop solutions with members.
ZAA Communications Manager, Maigan Thompson introduced Zoos Victoria’s Connect-Understand-Act model as a framework for developing conservation advocacy plans. Each group practiced applying this framework to New Zealand species and discussed the potential to use this framework as a national advocacy strategy to apply when each institution designs their advocacy plans.
Packs from all the presentations, including action plans with next steps were sent to ZAA New Zealand members.