This stork has occasionally appeared in zoos such as Vienna Zoo and Washington Park Zoo, with the latter having held the longest living milky stork specimen, which lived for 12 years, 4 months and 18 days (1937–1950). Many juvenile zoo specimens have been misidentified as young painted storks on purchase, and later proved to be milky storks. The only zoos which are recorded as having bred the species are Zoo Negara (where the stork bred in captivity for the first time in 1987), San Diego Zoo and Singapore Zoo. Captive breeding and reintroduction programmes for this stork have been widely supported by government and non-government agencies such as Perhilitan,the Malaysian Nature Society and the Malaysian Zoological Society.