Bill Oddie and Zoos. (1 Viewer)

[mjh73]

Sorry, I was referring to the Defra / ADAS report, not Chester Zoo.

 

[Mysticete]

Point 1: studies on animals in captivity. Absolutely agree...although I would note that such a study would have to be carried out independently for each group. A study looking at crocodiles is not going to be relevant for ducks or deer or elephants or tigers. I suspect quite a few of these studies are actually out there already. I think you also need to factor what criteria would you actually use to decide if a species should be kept in captivity or not. I can think of a few exemplar species, for instance Orca or Sumatran Rhino, the latter of which rarely breeds in captivity, and so a captivity breeding program just isn't a viable option, at least not that provided by traditional zoos.

Point 2: Tigers: Well yeah there are a lot of tigers in captivity. And I agree on the greater regulation of the exotic pet market. So do lots of other people, and I know here in the US a lot of states are getting more serious about regulations.

Point 3: Elephants and Polar Bears. No opinion here really. However, I would like to say that again, foraging range has more to do with tracking resources and getting food than it does with necessarily with any sense of the animal getting some great degree of satisfaction about tracking huge distances. I don't know about elephants, but for instance there are at least some populations of polar bear that have become more sedentary thanks to ready access to garbage. I think this is the case of Churchill in Canada. Obviously, if they can easily get food, especially food that won't fight back (ala other polar bears and walruses), than they are going for the easy food.

Enrichment is still important for these animals. And for some zoos could probably be improved upon.

 

[Mysticete]

sorry didn't see a whole other pages of posts....the previous post was a response to Deseo's post after my last one.

 

[Mysticete]

I think it's a bit unfair to demand that studies of animals in captivity should be only carried out by scientists not in any way associated with zoos. Presumably some of the people most qualified to examine animal welfare are also going to have a lot of experience with captive animals.

 

[Jos Stratford]

... there are at least some populations of polar bear that have become more sedentary thanks to ready access to garbage. I think this is the case of Churchill in Canada.

The Churchill Polar Bears are only sedentary while waiting for the sea ice and to a lesser extent in the non-hunting season, i.e. in the summer when the sea ice has melted. In this summer season they tend to roam the tundra and beaches, generally finding very few food resources I believe, but often mobile. As autumn approaches, particularly October to the arrival of ice, they congregate in the Churchill area and do become sedentary, but only because they are waiting for the ice - they move out onto the sea as soon as ice forms. The garbage dumps are all sealed now and unavailable to the bears, so they no longer congregate around the dumps, but even when the dumps were open, I think the bears still only used them while waiting for the sea ice - I stand to be corrected, but I do not think any changed their overall behaviour or became more sedentary, i.e they still left the Churchill area in winter (the key hunting season) and moved out onto the sea ice.

Brown Bears on the other hand in the likes of Romania (and I guess plenty of bears in the US) have certainly adapted to garbage and I would suppose are more sedentary overall.