Literature Review

        Today in class I realized that I did not have nearly enough literature reviewed to do a really good literature review. Part of the issue is that I only recently found out what exactly I wanted to research, so I have a lot of more general articles about zoos and animal welfare legislation...and on top of that I am not sure if literature exists that addresses exactly what I want to do. Latest project question - What is the relationship between zookeepers and zoo animals and how does that relationship affect job satisfaction and animal welfare? Today's class was helpful in that I created that question, I did not have a really specific question before today, just a general "I want to study zoo keepers and animals". I hope it is specific enough.

So breaking up that question into more questions: what is the relationship and how does it develop? How does it affect job satisfaction for zoo keepers? How does it affect animal welfare and what animal behavior can we see that shows they are content? What laws exist in South Africa that affect zoo keepers and their treatment of captive animals? How do humans and animals interact in general? These questions will direct my literature reviewing from now on. Hopefully I can find more writing about zoo keeper relationships specifically, but if not, I will research all the background stuff - what zoo keepers do, what laws they are working with, animal behavior, etc. and that will prepare me for my study in South Africa where I can get the more specific details on zoo keeper relationships that I am curious about.

I worry that my question is not terribly scientific. Of course, doing a study on a species out in the wild would be ideal but it is not reasonable with this kind of field study set-up. I don't know how big of an issue or of how much importance the zookeeper-animal relationship is, but I am really curious about it. I am not sure it will benefit anyone other than me, but we are not really trying to change the world with these projects, so I guess that is okay. It is interesting on a social level - how humans and animals interact and how that affects happiness or welfare...so that is good.