Ep25 Jason Wark on ZooMonitor and assessing animal welfare

In this episode, Dr. Jason Wark, an Animal Welfare Scientist in Lincoln Park Zoo’s Animal Welfare Science Program shares details and stories of how he and a wider team, manages and develops the ZooMonitor app.

Jason talks about his career and how he started in the zoo world. Jason describes the history of ZooMonitor – which was the brainchild of Dr. Megan Ross (iBuzz podcast #22) and was developed by Lincoln Park Zoo. It has grown as a data collection tool for recording and analysing behaviour to infer the welfare of animals.

Jason details many features of ZooMonitor including who is it for, and how to use it. He also gives us different examples of research that have been done thanks to this software, which is also available on mobile devices. Jason highlights the flexibility of this app for behavioural recording and different taxa. He thinks ZooMonitor has grown so quickly due to the accessibility and the increased attention to evaluating welfare and specifically animal-based measures.

Jason remarks on the importance of an evidence-based approach and data collection and gives advice for institutions looking to start a behaviour monitoring program.

Jason shares some examples of successful projects with the use of ZooMonitor, how he would like it to evolve, and concludes with a positive animal story.

Get access to ZooMonitor and learn more HERE

Learn more about Lincoln Park Zoo’s Animal Welfare Science Program HERE

Read published research describing the ZooMonitor app HERE and HERE

Listen on your favourite player or directly HERE

Become a member of PAWS HERE