Paper short abstract:

Ex-situ nature conservation engages in constant negotiation of the movement of animals and microbes: zoos are filled with infrastructures built to control movement while also being hubs of (non-)human mobilities, leaving staff to integrate “wild” animal movements into zoo routines.

Paper long abstract:

Zoos conserve nature ex-situ, that is out of zoo-animals natural habitats, while at the same time forming a habitat for "wild" animals that enter and leave the zoo of their own accord. Despite enclosure infrastructures, zoos are hubs of movements for these "wild" animals: insects, birds, rodents, as well as microbes. In this paper I will explore the movements of zoo keepers alongside "wild" rodents, birds, insects, and microbes, building on ethnographic research with zoo keepers in a British zoo in the years after the Covid-19 pandemic, and consider how zoo staff negotiate the movement of animals and microbes outwith their control.

Zoos then manage intentional movement of zoo-animals kept for conservation breeding, and education (between zoos, within zoos); and the careful prevention of movements, for example through enclosures, cleaning, and quarantines. At the same time, "wild" animals and microbes move across sites and through immobilizing infrastructures, and their patterns of movement are acknowledged and even anticipated by zoo staff onsite. I will take you through the obstacles, borders, and hostile spaces zoos build in response to the "wild" animals that choose to reside within or pass through the zoo, but also infrastructures and routines that offer safer routes of passage for both them and the zoo-animals. Zoo keepers care for "wild" animals in various ways within the remits of their job, integrating "wild" animal mobilities into the zoo's routines while managing potential disease risks to zoo-animals.