Humans think about animals in conflicting and complex ways, context is highly important in how we interpret an animals behavior, and we have a wide range of beliefs about the emotional capacity and intelligence of nonhuman animals.

In zoos, sanctuaries, animal shelters, barns, and other places where animals are heavily managed by people, our beliefs about what animals need, like, dislike, or don’t need have felt impacts on their lives.

Conservation may be important to zoos, but the idea that it should be embedded at an exhibit level is not universally held.

My experiences with zoos, animal shelters, therapeutic horse barns, and aquaculture research centers show that the place where a nonhuman animal is held and the reason it is being held there greatly impacts our expectations around animal welfare provisions.