Bush Dogs in North American Zoos

snowleopard

snowleopard

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Are bush dogs being phased out of North American collections? There are only 5 U.S. zoos with the species (Oklahoma City, San Antonio, Palm Beach, Little Rock and St. Louis) and yet there have been a number of high-profile South American zones recently created in zoos. Why aren't more zoos exhibiting such unusual and potentially popular animals?
 
I agree with you Scott, I don't get why zoos have not included Bush Dogs in their new South American exhibits either. Are they being phased out?
 
There are lots of other interesting mammals that are rarely exhibited in North American collections. Two more examples: I could find only 3 zoos on ISIS with aardwolves (Brookfield, Montgomery and San Antonio) and only 2 zoos with raccoon dogs (Red River and Omaha). It's time for a European zoo tour!!!
 
I don't think bush dogs have ever been that common. There is not an SSP or PMP for them, but I don't know if there is any kind of phase-out recomendation from the Canid TAG. As far as aardwolves and raccoon dogs, populations are too low and with no real conservation need for either species, I can't imagine any recommendation other than phase-out for them. If someone can give us more information I'd be very interested to hear it.
 
And this is how rumors are started....the current population of Bush Dogs is just not big enough to have an SSP/PMP. They will be maintained as a DERP with a studbook until the population grows and there is more institutional interest....there is talk of working with European zoos to create a more international program.
 
I don't known about the decisions regarding the future of aardwolves and bushdogs, but I read somewhere once that it was illegal for raccoon dogs to be imported to the United States. I don't know how Omaha found a loophole to recieve their animals, but I do know that some of their cubs went to the Red River Zoo in Fargo.
 
I would love to see Bush Dogs; they're on my list of species I'd love to see. They're on my wishlist of animals to be at the Toronto Zoo; I think they'd do nicely in the existing jaguar exhibit when the Americas pavilion gets redone.
 
Sorry to bring up an old thread but I've recently been very curious about the population of bush dogs in US zoos. I am headed to San Antonio in a couple months, so I have been researching if the zoos still holds them. However, as most of us know, American zoo websites are usually unreliable when regarding species advertised at the zoo. Maybe because of a lack of interest to update the webpage?

Either way, I have been researching where in the States you can still see these amazing carnivores. Here is what I found so far:

Palm Beach Zoo (1.1 breeding pair) -- News article from 2018 states flood killed the other pair
Stone Zoo (?) -- Video of mother and litter posted on youtube Jan. of this year
Atlanta Zoo (0.0.2) -- Instagram page
Saint Luis Zoo (?) -- 2017 facebook post by former director mentions bush dogs at zoo
Detroit Zoo (1.1 siblings) -- 2017 Valentine's Day blog post
San Antonio Zoo (0.0.2) -- May 2018 Facebook post
Little Rock Zoo (?) -- March 2019 youtube video

From what I found, it looks like the only zoo that might not hold the species anymore is Oklahoma City Zoo. However, Stone Zoo, Detroit, and Atlanta are new holders of the species since this thread was last posted in. Which is good news, especially with the birth of the litter at Stone Zoo this year! But it looks like there are not many breeding pairs available in the States and the pair that died in 2018 from the Florida floods would be a big set back to bush dog keepers.

Does anyone have any information I left out or anything that would be nice to add? I wonder why the species is so rare in US zoos? They seem to breed frequently by European standards and from the videos I have seen, seem somewhat active for a small, burrowing carnivore! Truly a shame that more South American exhibits in the US don't exhibit the species. Lack of interest and lack of availability probably have a lot to do with it, but many drab SA exhibits would be so enriched with such a peculiar and fun species!
 
Pacarana said:
That's great to hear! I wonder if those are the only bush dogs in the Western US? Most other bush dogs seem to be in Midwestern and Southern zoos.
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They are and I believe the zoo has advertised them that way in the past.

They can produce a lot of offspring, but pairing animals and consistent reproduction are both issues in captivity, at least in North America. The population is also small and is thus genetically and demographically unstable. Ideally they would increase the population to a more viable number (~50 or more) and operate it in conjunction with the European, Japanese, and Latin American populations; however, they need more zoos to have them first and there doesn't seem to be much interest. Not sure why, but availability and unfamiliarity are potential reasons.
 
THe SSP is working the the EEP pretty closely to learn more and to broaden the genetic diversity. Little Rock has a female that was imported from Germany, no breeding success yet that I’m aware of.
 
Even European population of Busch Dogs has its problems. This species breeds pretty quickly. So some time ago oversupply and lack of new places led to decision by a lot of zoos to simply stop breeding at the same time. The population aged and crashed and at the same time it went through severe genetical bottleneck. Some imports (from Japan etc-) and stubborness of few individual zoos helped to bring the program back on track to some degree. But it continuosly fights with lack of interest of new holders. European zoos are undergoing the same process as zoos in Australia or the US - they keep ever fewer species at larger areas and so holding capacity at traditional zoos is shrinking. Economic recovery in Eastern Europe that leads more zoos there to increase their quality and reach EAZA standards helps to offset this trend a little but not enough.
 
Let's reactivate this thread:
Zoos that currently have bush dogs:
Detroit Zoo- Male named Chester born 2009 and probably female named Miranda Born 2010. She could have arrived from Little Rock Zoo.
Alexandria Zoo- Male named Merlin and probably more bush dogs.
Stone Zoo- Females Izzy and Valentia, Valentia is from Prague and is the mother of Izzy who was born November 25th, 2018 along with her brother Milo and their father is named Mato from the Sequoia Park Zoo.
Sequoia Park Zoo
Palm Beach Zoo- In 2017,they had an accident resulting in a pair dying. But,still there was another pair called Osito and Dolly. If it is correct, Dolly should have been the same that was at Detroit Zoo in 2011 that arrived from a facility in Arkansas (presumably Little Rock).
Little Rock Zoo- Pair named Gondo and Selva both born 2013.
San Antonio Zoo- 0.0.3 named Chewy,Vader and Obi.

With the population like this,bush dogs are endangered in North American Zoos or may I say US zoos.
 
Jungle Man said:
Let's reactivate this thread:
Zoos that currently have bush dogs:
Detroit Zoo- Male named Chester born 2009 and probably female named Miranda Born 2010. She could have arrived from Little Rock Zoo.
Alexandria Zoo- Male named Merlin and probably more bush dogs.
Stone Zoo- Females Izzy and Valentia, Valentia is from Prague and is the mother of Izzy who was born November 25th, 2018 along with her brother Milo and their father is named Mato from the Sequoia Park Zoo.
Sequoia Park Zoo
Palm Beach Zoo- In 2017,they had an accident resulting in a pair dying. But,still there was another pair called Osito and Dolly. If it is correct, Dolly should have been the same that was at Detroit Zoo in 2011 that arrived from a facility in Arkansas (presumably Little Rock).
Little Rock Zoo- Pair named Gondo and Selva both born 2013.
San Antonio Zoo- 0.0.3 named Chewy,Vader and Obi.

With the population like this,bush dogs are endangered in North American Zoos or may I say US zoos.
Click to expand...
Saint Louis has Bush Dogs, too.
 
Jana said:
Even European population of Busch Dogs has its problems. This species breeds pretty quickly. So some time ago oversupply and lack of new places led to decision by a lot of zoos to simply stop breeding at the same time. The population aged and crashed and at the same time it went through severe genetical bottleneck. Some imports (from Japan etc-) and stubborness of few individual zoos helped to bring the program back on track to some degree. But it continuosly fights with lack of interest of new holders. European zoos are undergoing the same process as zoos in Australia or the US - they keep ever fewer species at larger areas and so holding capacity at traditional zoos is shrinking. Economic recovery in Eastern Europe that leads more zoos there to increase their quality and reach EAZA standards helps to offset this trend a little but not enough.
Click to expand...

Shame to hear that this is such an issue with maintaining this species in zoos in Europe as it is a fascinating little canid and deserves much more attention.

Unfortunately the situation is not really so different here in South America and Brazil as many of the individuals held by institutions such as those kept at Sao Paulo zoo are elderly and way past their breeding age.

To add to that there is remarkably little being done in terms of in-situ conservation of the species and research either (though I can thankfully think of at least one notable exception in an NGO focused on carnivores here in Brazil).
 
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