Survey of U.S.-based zoo veterinarians' attitudes on population management euthanasia.

Population management euthanasia, or culling, is a recognized tool for managing animal populations in human care. Previous research in zoos has shown that animal care staff attitudes about culling vary based on gender, job type, awareness of culling, the taxon in question for culling, and situational factors, but the attitudes of zoo veterinarians have not been studied previously, despite the fact that they are often tasked with carrying out euthanasia. We surveyed a sample of currently employed, zoo-based veterinarians in the United States on their knowledge and attitudes about population management euthanasia.