Who We Are
The Elgin Center proceeds under the philosophy of our mission — that all animals in human care deserve the ability to thrive. We pool together our expertise to assess challenges and find realistic methods that can allow animals to thrive, while bolstering a facility’s reputation and standing with supporters, oversight and accreditation bodies, and staff.
We work under the following guidelines:
A culture of safety for staff at animal care facilities is a top priority.
Animals have both species-specific needs and individually-specific needs. Animal environments and animal care protocols must meet these needs.
All facilities run on limited budgets. We prioritize finding methods that are cost effective and realistic.
Andrew R. Halloran, PhD
With over 25 years of experience, Andrew Halloran is a recognized animal care and welfare expert. Dr. Halloran’s work has been transformational at both sanctuaries and zoos. He specializes in welfare assessments, creating individual and group care plans, enclosure design, and creating robust enrichment programs. He has authored philosophies and standards of care for various facilities.
In addition to his work with captive animals, Dr. Halloran co-founded the Tonkolili Chimpanzee Project in Sierra Leone — a community based conservation initiative which seeks to mitigate conflict between wild chimpanzees and their human neighbours by providing alternative agriculture and methods of preserving exiting chimpanzee habitat in the face of rampant deforestation and human population growth.
Dr. Halloran is the author of the forthcoming Animal Curation: The science of care & welfare (Cambridge University Press 2024). He is also the author of popular science books The Song of the Ape (St. Martin’s Press 2012) and Lion Shaped Mountain (Elgin Press 2021).