Orana Wildlife Park will temporarily stop importing animals from other zoos following a major investigation into its animal welfare procedures and culture.
The investigation report was put together by experts at the Zoo and Aquarium Association of Australasia and has found a need for significant change at the Christchurch zoo.
It will have an immediate and lasting impact at Orana, which is now promising to make significant reforms that stretch right across its operations.
Those changes will include the creation of a new animal welfare advisory group, a fresh review into the park’s governance, a plan to change its culture and extra “veterinary capability”, alongside many other improvements.
Significant change is coming to the Christchurch zoo, following an independent investigation by the Zoo and Aquarium Association. (Source: 1News)
Currently, the zoo relies on an external vet working one day a week to care for its collection of more than 1000 animals – with any urgent issues handled by call out.
The ZAA has now identified veterinary care as an area of concern, saying the size and complexity of the zoo – which includes lions, giraffes, gorillas and other rare species – warrants “full-time on-site veterinary capability”.
The full findings of the ZAA investigation remain uncertain as Orana is yet to publish the entire report, and has instead released extracts to the public.
A press conference was due to begin at 11am today with more detail.
Issues at the zoo were first raised by a 1News investigation in July, in which 20 current and former members of the zoo’s staff came forward with concerns.
Those whistleblowers highlighted culture, safety and animal welfare issues stretching back across several years. Many – including animal keepers – spoke anonymously, saying they were overworked and exhausted and had too many animals in their care.
Others claimed they were left feeling ignored after raising animal welfare issues and said problems they reported were not addressed quickly.
The series also revealed several historical animal deaths and injuries that had not been previously reported.
Read more: Buried trauma: zookeepers expose animal deaths at Orana Wildlife Park
Orana pushed back against many of the claims at the time saying they were inaccurate, out of context or missing vital pieces of information.
The Ministry for Primary Industries later assessed Orana – the zoo said the agency found “no immediate animal welfare concerns”, but had recommended some areas for improvement.
The 1News series prompted the ZAA to begin its own investigation in July, backed by animal welfare and culture experts, the findings of which were was delivered to Orana on Monday.
The report identified a “range of findings and requirements”, according to the ZAA. But the association has not given specifics, and advised any questions about the report should be directed to Orana Park itself.
The Australasia body, which calls itself the “collective voice” of zoos, aquariums and wildlife parks, is influential in the zoo industry as it runs more than 100 breeding programmes across Australia and New Zealand.
It’s made it clear it expects change from Orana, as one of its members.
Its findings were around “animal welfare processes” and “organisational systems”. It wants the park to carry out a “full review” of its culture, including an independent governance review, as well as make changes to its strategic planning, budget planning, and maintenance and site safety.
Orana is also required to put a “temporary pause” on all incoming animal transfers, meaning it won’t be able to introduce new animals.
“[This] will help enable Orana Wildlife Park to focus more of its resources on current operations and fulfilling all other requirements identified in the report over the coming six months,” ZAA said in a statement.
It has been a period of significant change for the zoo, which also recently farewelled its chief executive of the last 28 years.
Lynn Anderson resigned last month, before the report was finalised.
Orana yet to release full report
The full details of the ZAA investigation remained unknown, as Orana had only released select details to date.
The zoo initially released what it calls a “Future Focused Document” which includes small excerpts from the report, mixed in with comments from the park.
Following queries from 1News it agreed to release a section relating to animal welfare, which highlighted several areas of concern found by the ZAA.
It included:
- The assessment and monitoring of the welfare of animals on a regular basis, and the specific indicators and metrics used
- The process for raising animal welfare concerns or incidents, including how staff raise those “events” and how they were considered and managed
- Animal population and planning, including “environmental conditions”
- Zoo record keeping for animal care, health, behaviour and welfare assessments
- Animal enrichment programmes.
- Procedures and protocols in place for routine health checks, preventative are and treatment of illness or injuries in animals.
The park had not released sections of the report that related to its culture and leadership, but hints could be seen in its “future focused document”.
Orana had agreed – according to the limited detail in that document – to arrange an independent governance review of the Orana Wildlife Trust, and increase investment in an organisation-wide culture improvement programme.
It would also follow a “culture plan” that satisfied the ZAA’s recommendations, the zoo said.
Orana vows to improve
Orana has said it was committed to making improvements over the next six months and beyond, laying out a vision for the next five years.
Those included adding “veterinary capability” to the zoo to support animal health care, and changes to “animal population planning processes”.
The park has said it would change the way it assessed animal welfare, including developing an Animal Welfare Assessment Procedure, running further staff training and bringing in external experts.
It would also create a formal process for reporting and addressing animal welfare complaints and incidents with “established clear protocols”.
Zookeepers repeatedly raised concern about this procedure during the 1News investigation, some of them breaking down in tears, claiming they had raised concerns about animals that went ignored.
Other changes included a “board-level” oversight process to review reported animal welfare concerns and incidents, to ensure staff received feedback in a positive and constructive way.
Orana also said it would create an “escalation procedure” for critical welfare incidents, and create a formal complaints procedure for addressing concerns raised by visitors.
It has also promised to make improvements for staff including animal welfare science training, expanded professional development and an increased focus on record keeping and reporting.
Asked why it would not publish the full report, Orana board co-chair Ken Hughey said the park was still “digesting the details”.
“We are happy to provide further detail early next year on progress against the recommendations,” he said.
“We also note that there are privacy implications pertaining to the reports, given staff members anonymously contributed as part of the review and the trust is obligated to respect this.”
The park has already made progress in several areas. Board co-chair Ken Hughey pointed out that safety issues raised by WorkSafe have now been closed out, after the park brought in a new fleet of trucks to replace vehicles that zookeepers had complained were dangerous.
Orana had passed an intensive audit from MPI just last month, he added.
The assessment, which tested zoos against containment and facility standards, ended with an “acceptable audit outcome”. Hughey said.
An external organisation brought in by the Orana board – Culture by Design – also continued to work with the park, with the aim of improving its culture.
“The Orana team remains committed to maintaining and enhancing our systems to uphold animal welfare and our strong safety record,” Hughey said in a statement.
Orana has laid out a vision of becoming a “leading sanctuary and resilient eco-system”.
“We are committed to continuous improvement and to seeking operational innovations,” Hughey said.
Govt continuing to actively monitor zoo
The Ministry for Primary Industries has confirmed it had now completed its investigation of Orana Wildlife Park but was still watching the zoo closely.
It has detailed 15 recommendations for further improvements, and said these have all been accepted by the park.
They included: Increasing staff numbers in the exotics team, updating the gorilla enclosure to better emulate their natural habitat, changes to enclosures and cleaning processes, conducting ultrasound or blood tests of animals suspected of being pregnant and monitoring the temperature of all reptiles.
Like the ZAA, MPI wanted Orana to hire a veterinarian technician, or experienced vet nurse.
The agency also told the zoo “not to import wild rhino from South Africa until staff are hired and trained along with providing MPI an animal welfare plan”.
MPI director of compliance and response Glen Burrell said: “Orana has made good progress on the recommendations, prioritising those pertaining to animal welfare and staff safety.
“We will continue to actively monitor the zoo against its requirements and to check on progress on implementing these recommendations.”
