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When animal welfare experts are speaking in a more scientific manner, they do not typically communicate directly with the general public through documentaries and popular magazine articles. For example, The Aquarium Vet is a program and vet service specifically targeted towards those who care for aquatic life, and it has an Aquatic Animal Welfare Module that consists of a two-hour webinar that focuses on aquatic animal welfare, as well as many other education opportunities. They have a very specific mission, which is “to advance the health and welfare of aquatic animals in aquariums and zoos globally” (Jones, n.d.). This is not a heavily advertised resource and you must first register to take the Aquatic Animal Welfare Module, which requires you to provide what facility or institution you work at. Therefore, a resource such as this one is only targeted towards actively working scientists, aquarists, or possibly students. It is meant to help them improve their knowledge of animal welfare. This seminar was given in Australia, so it discusses care standards based on those established by Australian agencies, such as the Australian Animal Welfare Strategy. However, the source also discusses the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums standards and states that other countries have their own federal and state regulations for animal welfare. Since an informed understanding of animal welfare requires that one is educated on the various regulations and standards at the federal, global, and state level, this is not an easy task for the average citizen. This therefore reinforces the notion that the aquarium animal welfare discourse community is a community made up of scientists, aquarists, and those with experience in the aquarium industry. Most of this discourse community’s resources are put into internally establishing the standards that dictate animal welfare practices through venues such as webinars, conferences, and academic publications and there is insufficient attention given to communicating with the general public about animal welfare.
Overall, the need for scientists to better communicate to the public on these issues is significant. When interviewed in January of 2021, Dr. Rhyne argued it is imperative that scientists speak up about misinformation. Rhyne claimed that animal rights activists often argue that it is okay for them to skew information as they believe they have an “ethical high ground” (A. Rhyne, personal communication, January 14, 2021). Anyone can claim ethics; however, it is important for people to root their decisions in fact and not just emotion. Dr. Rhyne says that scientists should not just sit back and allow people to knowingly manipulate data to serve their own causes, but instead counter these claims. However, Dr. Rhyne also claims that it is very challenging to communicate these issues to the public.
For a long time, scientists have tried to stay away from political arguments and many people say that scientists shouldn’t get involved in policy. This argument has been used to keep scientists from speaking up about misinformation. Dr. Rhyne believes that if you are going to research a topic, you must be willing to speak up about it and not just work silently in a lab (A. Rhyne, personal communication, January 14, 2021). In an email, Ret Talbot also stated that the news cycle and the process of scientific publications are poorly aligned, as he has previously sat on stories for years awaiting the publication process to proceed (R. Talbot, personal communication, January 19, 2021). Good scientific communication to the public requires both scientists and journalists to work together to achieve a common goal.