Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA)

Overview

The Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) is an American nonprofit organization that accredits zoos and aquariums around the world, sets professional standards for animal care and conservation, and coordinates the collective scientific and conservation work of its member institutions. Founded in October 1924, it is simultaneously an accrediting body — functioning for zoological institutions like regional accreditors function for universities — and a professional society, a conservation organization, and a lobbying and advocacy voice for the zoo and aquarium sector in its dealings with Congress, federal agencies, and international bodies including CITES. As of March 2026, 240 institutions in 13 countries hold AZA accreditation, drawing more than 209 million visitors annually and collectively spending more than $230 million per year on field conservation projects benefiting more than 800 species in 130 countries.

Of approximately 2,800 wildlife exhibitors licensed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture under the Animal Welfare Act — a legal floor covering nearly any facility holding animals — fewer than 10 percent meet AZA's considerably more demanding voluntary standards. The gap between USDA licensure and AZA accreditation is the gap between the legal minimum and the professional standard the field's leading institutions have set for themselves: on animal care, veterinary programs, conservation, education, staff training, governance, financial stability, risk management, and guest services. AZA's five-year re-accreditation cycle — in which independent inspection teams conduct multi-day on-site reviews and the Accreditation Commission can and does deny accreditation to non-compliant institutions — is meant to give the designation real weight. Two facilities were denied accreditation at the March 2025 Mid-Year Meeting.

Accreditation: The Standard and Its Significance

AZA accreditation evaluates institutions against standards that cover the full operational scope of a zoo or aquarium: animal care and wellbeing, veterinary care, conservation programs, education, staff training, safety, governance, financial stability, and guest services. The process requires a detailed written application, a multi-day on-site inspection by an independent team of zoological professionals assembled for each review, and a formal hearing before the Accreditation Commission, which makes the final determination. Institutions must repeat the full process every five years regardless of prior performance — accreditation is not permanent and cannot be renewed administratively. A facility that meets standards earns accreditation; one that does not can be denied and must address deficiencies before reapplying. AZA President and CEO Dan Ashe summarizes the standard: "AZA accreditation is recognized as the global gold standard in conservation, research, guest service, animal care and wellbeing, and education."

The geography of AZA accreditation is primarily American but includes international institutions as well. Accredited institutions as of March 2026 include facilities in Canada, Mexico, Bermuda, the Bahamas, the Dominican Republic, Colombia, Argentina, Spain, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, and the United Arab Emirates alongside the U.S. majority. The 14 "Accredited Related Facilities" — a separate classification for institutions meeting AZA standards but not regularly open to the public — cover conservation centers, wildlife sanctuaries, and breeding programs that function as critical backstops for vulnerable species without being conventional visitor attractions.

The AZA Pathway Toward Membership program provides a formal development track for non-accredited facilities working toward accreditation — creating a structured onramp that improves standards at institutions not yet at the accreditation threshold while building the pipeline of future AZA members.

Current accreditation list: aza.org/current-accreditation-list

The Conservation Projects Database

AZA's hosts a publicly accessible Conservation and Research Projects database — a searchable portal of field conservation and research projects submitted by AZA member institutions, accessible at ams.aza.org (Conservation Projects Search).

The database allows users to search by project category — field conservation or research — using keyword filters across species, geography, and subject matter. Placing a "%" sign before a search term enables broader character-combination matching. The portal surfaces the actual scope of scientific and conservation work being conducted under the AZA umbrella, across hundreds of institutions and dozens of countries, that is not visible in aggregate statistics. For journalists, researchers, and conservationists tracking what is being done for specific species or in specific geographies, the database is a window into the AZA network's collective scientific output. It is also a reference for AZA members developing new field programs, enabling discovery of complementary or parallel work being done elsewhere in the network.

In 2017, the database documented member institutions participating in field conservation projects benefiting over 860 species in 128 countries — alongside $25 million in research spending and 170 published books, book chapters, journal articles, and conference papers.

Education and Public Engagement

AZA-accredited institutions collectively serve as one of the largest informal science education systems in the United States. More than 50 million of the 209 million annual visitors are children, making AZA facilities major sites of first contact between young people and the natural world. AZA member institutions provide professional development, curriculum resources, and free planning visits to approximately 40,000 teachers annually, and connect more than 5.5 million students through school field trips. The AZA's Advancing Conservation through Empathy (ACE) for Wildlife Network operates on the principle — backed by growing research evidence — that zoos and aquariums are highly effective at teaching climate science and ecological relationships, and that empathy for individual animals is a documented pathway to broader conservation concern and action.

The economic scale of the AZA sector is substantial: accredited institutions collectively generate more than $22.5 billion in annual economic activity and support more than 198,000 jobs, making them significant anchors in regional economies well beyond their direct admission revenues. This economic weight gives the AZA meaningful standing in Congressional testimony, local government negotiations over land use and capital funding, and federal regulatory proceedings under the Endangered Species Act, the Animal Welfare Act, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, and CITES.