Nia, one of just three eastern bongos at Dublin Zoo, played an important role in the launch of its new Animal Welfare Master Plan on Wednesday.
Her postnatal care was just one example of the zoo’s welfare practices in action.
Bongos are a type of antelope, highly endangered in the wild with fewer than 100 remaining.
Born healthy in February 2025, the zoo’s veterinary and animal care teams intervened when they discovered Nia was not suckling. She was bottle fed before being fed by a stomach tube as they continued to encourage her to feed from her mother, which she did six days later.
READ MORE
“We knew then that Nia was going to survive and benefit for her lifetime,” said veterinary surgeon Frank O’Sullivan.
O’Sullivan explained that the skills her mother has learned will mean she can breed successfully in the future “and contribute to this conservation, which is the preservation of biodiversity and that’s a key role of Dublin Zoo”.
The zoo’s welfare plan, which identifies strategic goals it aims to achieve by its bicentennial in 2031, was launched by Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon.
It will continue to foster a culture of animal welfare science, as the zoo has a duty to ensure that the welfare of animals in its care is continually monitored. It also aims to collaborate and advance the welfare of animals in its care and communicate in sharing good welfare practices with colleagues, peers and visitors.
Lucy Stratford took up her role as Dublin Zoo’s dedicated behaviour and welfare scientist in October 2024 and was tasked with developing the animal welfare strategy.
[ Dublin Zoo and Nia, the eastern bongo, launch Animal Welfare Master PlanOpens in new window ]
She said it involved people from the animal care, veterinary and curatorial teams in partnership with external researchers and academic experts.
“We have a dedicated animal care and a dedicated horticulture team that work tirelessly to look after the animals in our care. And this is just sort of adding a structure or a framework to the things that already exist,” she said.
“Animal welfare is our key objective at Dublin Zoo. Everything that we do, all of our operations, our activities, is underpinned by the welfare of our animals.”
In the future she believes artificial intelligence (AI) may play a role in operations.
“We want to make sure that we’re at the forefront of that and we’re using the best technology, we’re being as efficient as we can and being sort of as forward thinking as we can be,” she said.
The Animal Welfare Master Plan builds upon Dublin Zoo’s Animal Welfare Policy, which was published in 2020.
