Despite their centrality to the operation of contemporary accredited zoo
and aquarium institutions, the work of zoo veterinarians has rarely been
the focus of a critical analysis in the social science and humanities.
Drawing on in-depth interviews and observations of zoo and aquarium
veterinarians, mainly in Europe and North America, this book highlights
the recent transformation that has occurred in the zoo veterinarian
profession during a time of ecological crisis, and what these changes
can teach us about our rapidly changing planet.
Zoo vets, Braverman instructs us with a wink, have "gone wild."
Originally an individual welfare-centered profession, these experts are
increasingly concerned with the sustainability of wild animal
populations and with ecological health. The story of zoo vets going
wild-in their subjects of care, their motivations, and their ethical
standards, as well as in their professional practices and scientific
techniques-is also a story about zoo animals gone wild, wild animals
encroaching the zoo, and, more generally, a wild world that is becoming
"zoo-ified." Such transformations have challenged existing veterinary
standards and practices. Exploring the regulatory landscape that governs
the work of zoo and aquarium veterinarians, Braverman traverses the gap
between the hard and soft sciences and between humans and nonhumans.
At the intersection of animal studies, socio-legal studies, and science
and technology studies, this book will appeal not only to those
interested in zoos and in animal welfare, but also to scholars in the
posthumanities.
