The Wildlife Reserves Singapore (WRS) runs Singapore's four wildlife parks: the Singapore Zoo, the Night Safari, the River Safari and the Jurong Bird Park.

The Singapore Zoo was named the fifth best zoo in the world:

And was even successful in breeding the world's first tropical polar bear, our beloved Inuka:

Traveller reviews aside, though, it's now gone and made itself even more legit.

From the beginning of last year, WRS put its four parks through stringent accreditation processes with two international zoo associations, and is now the first zoo institution in the world to be accredited by these two big folks:

1. The European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA), which we got in April this year, and
2. The Zoo and Aquarium Association of Australasia (ZAA), which was given to us in March this year.

Why get accredited?

So here's the thing: not every zoo in the world is accredited, nor are they actually required to get it.

In fact, the zoos in Southeast Asia aren't, apart from us — this process is, however, done among the more established zoos in the US, Europe and Australia, which have these international zoo associations that look into ensuring standards of animal care and welfare in zoos are of an acceptable level.

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For instance, the ZAA, which oversees zoos in Australia and New Zealand, focuses heavily on animal welfare, while EAZA audits zoos based on:

• levels of animal care,
• commitment to conservation and education, as well as
• staff training, sustainability and operations.

So, since no such accreditation processes exist in the Southeast Asian region right now, WRS voluntarily put its four parks through the EAZA and ZAA's accreditation processes to make sure its standards are consistent with top wildlife parks around the world.

To also assure us, visitors to these zoos and parks, that they're giving their resident animals and wildlife the best possible care.

How'd we do?

The process, while successful for WRS, involved reports that were produced by the two associations that gave them feedback on what they were doing well and what they needed improvement in.

The good:

WRS scored high achievements in

• Animal care and welfare,
• Breeding of threatened species,
• Staff training, and
• Conservation communication.

The not-so-good:

But it needed improvement in back of house areas for animal presentation in the Night Safari, River Safari and Jurong Bird Park.

For these, WRS said it put in corrective actions immediately to the satisfaction of the two associations' assessment teams.

Learning from the process for Southeast Asia

While there are no accreditation processes established for zoos in this part of Asia, there is a zoo association that WRS is a part of — the Southeast Asian Zoos and Aquariums Association (SEAZA).

And following their experience going through EAZA and ZAA's accreditation processes, WRS is contributing what it learned from them into drafting and creating a similar process for SEAZA, to additionally help elevate the standards of zoos in ASEAN too.

Yay for good animal welfare, care, and for preserving the populations of our endangered animals :)

Top image adapted via Wildlife Reserves Singapore FB page, EAZA, ZAA