The zoos of Münster, Nuremberg and Wuppertal have become the first zoos to join Germany’s Transparency Agreement (TA) on speaking openly about the use of animals in biomedical research.

Each zoo carries out research into protecting endangered species, including procedures covered by EU Directive 2010/63, which regulates the use of animals for scientific purposes.

Advocacy organisation Tierversuche verstehen (TVV), which co-ordinates the TA in Germany, had reached out to the German umbrella organisation the Association of Zoological Gardens (VdZ), which recommended joining the TA to its members.

TVV has also released a video (in German) detailing the research that takes place at Nuremberg Zoo, while information on the research at Münster and Wuppertal can be found on their respective websites.

Laura Berg, of TVV, believes these are the first zoos to sign a TA in any European country: “All have an outstanding track record of public engagement, transparency and research. We expect more zoos to follow soon.”