Uncovering Zoo Audience Values Necessary to Create Effective Messaging About Illegal Wildlife Trade

The illegal wildlife trade (IWT) is a far-reaching problem with devastating effects on wildlife populations. To engage zoo audiences in environmental behaviors that can help combat IWT, they need to be made aware of what it is, its impacts on wildlife, and how it affects human communities abroad and locally. In fall of 2019, Cleveland Metroparks Zoo initiated a project to investigate the values of target Zoo and public audiences to develop effective messaging about IWT. The first step of this project was to explore knowledge and values participants hold toward wildlife and IWT. Intercept interviews occurred both on grounds at Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, and off Zoo grounds at a nearby university. Project participants in Northeast Ohio had four main values when it came to wildlife and illegal wildlife trade: moral, protection, human centric, and ethical. Future messaging about this topic will be created with these values in mind.