animals Article The Effect of Behind-The-Scenes Encounters and Interactive Presentations on the Welfare of Captive Servals (Leptailurus serval) Lydia K. Acaralp-Rehnberg 1,*, Grahame J. Coleman 1, Michael J. L. Magrath 2, Vicky Melfi 3, Kerry V. Fanson 4 and Ian M. Bland 1 1 Animal Welfare Science Centre, Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria 3052, Australia;
[email protected] (G.J.C.);
[email protected] (I.M.B.) 2 Department of Wildlife Conservation and Science, Zoos Victoria, Parkville, Victoria 3052, Australia;
[email protected] 3 Hartpury University, Gloucester GL193BE, UK; vicky.melfi@hartpury.ac.uk 4 Centre for Integrative Ecology, Deakin University, Geelong, Victoria 3216, Australia;
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[email protected]; Tel.: +61-404-761-714 Received: 13 April 2020; Accepted: 15 April 2020; Published: 24 April 2020 Simple Summary: Live animal encounter programs are an increasingly popular occurrence in the modern zoo. The effects of such encounters on program animal welfare have not been studied extensively to date. The aim of this study was, therefore, to explore animal welfare effects associated with encounter programs in a small felid, the serval, which is commonly involved as a program animal in zoos. Specifically, this study investigated how serval behaviour and adrenocortical activity (level of faecal cortisol metabolites) were affected by short-term variations in encounter frequency. Over the course of the study, the frequency of encounters was manipulated so that servals alternated between four different treatments, involving interactive presentations, behind-the-scenes encounters, both activities combined, or no interaction at all.