It’s actually interesting (read: incredibly frustrating) to me that for an industry that markets itself as highly scientific, the American zoo industry has basically abandoned Covid precautions at meetings.
Felid TAG had no vaccine or mask mandate, except when touring felid and mustelid areas on zoo day. No additional ventilation, no online option.
Elephant manager’s association has a vaccine mandate (which was made public after a bit, at first you only found out after you registered) but no masks, additional ventilation, or online option.
AZA annual has a vaccine requirement but no masking, no word about ventilation, and a “virtual” option that’s $250 for a really measly selection of virtually-streamed sessions. Midyear was the same, minus virtual access.
ZAA annual hasn’t said anything about Covid precautions, but they had none for in-person in 2021 and I would assume it’s the same this year.
In contrast, the sanctuary and animal advocacy meetings I’ve looked into so far this year (Big Cat Sanctuary Alliance, Captive Wildlife Conference, Animal Law) all have strict mask requirements - KN94+ - and most of them have vaccine requirements and/or virtual options. At least one animal rights conference isn’t happening for 2022 because they can’t guarantee it’ll be safe.
Given that the zoo industry frequently importunes these other groups as being “less scientific” about their approach to animal advocacy, there’s quite a contrast in their approaches to Covid safety precautions.
