Brazilian zoos

[David Matos Mendes]

Really? I hope they add new animals (mainly native to South America) to the collection and move others such as the siamangs. I believe that if they move the siamangs, the apes would most likely be moved to the São Paulo zoo, so that they can stay with Sansão.

Yeah, although it's one of the most old fashioned zoos I have been to, as well as the keeper of the smallest big cat exhibits I've seen (probably the smallest in the country, at least talking about legal zoos) it has passed through some apparently nice renovations. The general structure looks mostly the same, and enrichment items seem to be the main focus, for what I've seen on social media.

 

[Onychorhynchus coronatus]

Agree with what you mean here. We can notice for their population plan that they are really focused on profit, and are constantly obtaining exotic species, and the way they deal with it is not great, in my opinion...
I also totally agree that most of their exhibits have a cheesy look, (although I can't say they are actually bad, at least for most of the animal welfare aspects) and many areas look a bit like a well structured playground instead of an immersive experience.

Totally agree with you, very well said !

 

[David Matos Mendes]

Another thing I hope they do is changing their exhibits. I'd like to see a modernization of the institution. Their primate islands aren't that good and the siamangs might be very stressed because of the baboons.

Yeah, me and @Onychorhynchus coronatus have already discussed a lot about these siamangs indeed, including the stress they must pass through for having hamadryas baboons as neighbors.

We even discussed about some possible transferences involving these animals, even mentioning Belo Horizonte, but I admit that I haven't thought about this possibility of sending them to São Paulo. It would be indeed a nice combination to keep them with "Sansão".

 

[David Matos Mendes]

Really? I hope they add new animals (mainly native to South America) to the collection and move others such as the siamangs. I believe that if they move the siamangs, the apes would most likely be moved to the São Paulo zoo, so that they can stay with Sansão.

I'm gonna look for some pictures of their renovations. The bear exhibit is the one that has changed the most. Curiously, the exhibit began to be renovated before the activists petitions to send their only bear to Rancho dos Gnomos, differently from what many people thought...

 

[David Matos Mendes]

Well, here we have some comparisons:


Two abandoned primate islands registred by me in 2018:

The renovation of the space (not complete yet) uploaded by the zoo in it's official instagram acount --> https://www.instagram.com/zoogoiania/.
These particular islands will be destinated to capuchins.




Grizzly bear exhibit during my visit. At this time, two bears (Lucy, who died recently at 42 years old and her son Robinho, 17 yrs old) inhabited two exhibits with the same size (2/3 of one of them is shown in the photo) that were connected by the hole we can see right above the bear's head. The animal was constantly stereotyping.



New bear enclosure, published by a page (https://www.instagram.com/ficarobinho/) that has been strugling for him to stay at the zoo instead of going to the """sanctuary""". According to the zoo, the new space has an area of 680m2 and a considerably big pool. It was an abandoned chimpanzee enclosure, that stayed empty for many years.

 

[Onychorhynchus coronatus]

Well, here we have some comparisons:


Two abandoned primate islands registred by me in 2018:View attachment 469669

The renovation of the space (not complete yet) uploaded by the zoo in it's official instagram acount --> https://www.instagram.com/zoogoiania/.
These particular islands will be destinated to capuchins.
View attachment 469672



Grizzly bear exhibit during my visit. At this time, two bears (Lucy, who died recently at 42 years old and her son Robinho, 17 yrs old) inhabited two exhibits with the same size (2/3 of one of them is shown in the photo) that were connected by the hole we can see right above the bear's head. The animal was constantly stereotyping.
View attachment 469670 View attachment 469671


New bear enclosure, published by a page (https://www.instagram.com/ficarobinho/) that has been strugling for him to stay at the zoo instead of going to the """sanctuary""". According to the zoo, the new space has an area of 680m2 and a considerably big pool. It was an abandoned chimpanzee enclosure, that stayed empty for many years.
View attachment 469673 View attachment 469674

I don't think that the sanctuary option is necessarily better but I do struggle to see the value of a brown bear in a Brazilian zoo (perhaps they should keep him and then once he has passed away phase the species out ?).

Even with the improvements I just see that enclosure could be much better put to use with another species.

Couple of examples of species which would do much better in this enclosure IMO.

Tayra often get a raw deal at zoos here in Brazil and are housed in enclosures that are way too small which leads to a lot of stereotypical behaviour. If they were housed in an enclosure of this size which was well furnished then they would be far better in terms of wellbeing.

Similarly the enclosure could be used for a small cat species like the ocelot, margay, jaguarundi or pampas cat as these felines would also benefit from that added space.

 

[David Matos Mendes]

I don't think that the sanctuary option is necessarily better but I do struggle to see the value of a brown bear in a Brazilian zoo (perhaps they should keep him and then once he has passed away phase the species out ?).

Even with the improvements I just see that enclosure could be much better put to use with another species.

Couple of examples of species which would do much better in this enclosure IMO.

Tayra often get a raw deal at zoos here in Brazil and are housed in enclosures that are way too small which leads to a lot of stereotypical behaviour. If they were housed in an enclosure of this size which was well furnished then they would be far better in terms of wellbeing.

Similarly the enclosure could be used for a small cat species like the ocelot, margay, jaguarundi or pampas cat as these felines would also benefit from that added space.

I agree with you, and Goiânia is indeed probably phasing out the species when this individual dies. Maybe, even if they don't want to do so, I see a big lack of opportunities for the institution to obtain more specimens; for various motives, such as the lack of available individuals for possible transference, the activists movements involving the place, etc...There was a time in wich the zoo bred the species (yeah, in the old bad exhibit), and I'm happy they no longer find themselves in a situation to continue doing so.

The new bear space is indeed no big deal, definitely. It's just an aceptable exhibit... And you're right, it would be of much better use for other native species the zoo keeps. I would say my preference would be for the jaguars to occupie the place. Big cats in general have some of the most innapropriate exhibits in there, and it would be nice to hold them in a little better space.

For now, I just hope this single bear, who was born there, has a nice life quality while he shares this planet with us, and I also think the sanctuary has nothing more to offer to this individual than what the own Goiânia zoo is already providing.

 

[Kifaru Bwana]

Any idea what might come next for the bear exhibit when this bear passes on.
Spectacled bears or large Carnivora/Amazon?

 

[David Matos Mendes]

Any idea what might come next for the bear exhibit when this bear passes on.
Spectacled bears or large Carnivora/Amazon?

Well, if I were a curator at the place, I'd firstly think about adding jaguars to this exhibit; (once they don't live in the best conditions possible in there) although I'm not sure if they would consider this possibility. The place used to be a chimpanzee enclosure in the begginings, then started housing hamadryas baboons after the zoo phased out the chimps (they had a terrible problem of animal deaths during the 2010's that took out many species that the institution kept), and has been under renovation for a long time,(it already was when I visited in 2018) until it could receive this bear right now... In a nutshell, I still think they don't plan to phase out bears, but this situation might come true. There are simply no bears available in the country, and I don't think international institutions would send them some specimens, for a few reasons...

 

[Onychorhynchus coronatus]

I agree with you, and Goiânia is indeed probably phasing out the species when this individual dies. Maybe, even if they don't want to do so, I see a big lack of opportunities for the institution to obtain more specimens; for various motives, such as the lack of available individuals for possible transference, the activists movements involving the place, etc...There was a time in wich the zoo bred the species (yeah, in the old bad exhibit), and I'm happy they no longer find themselves in a situation to continue doing so.

The new bear space is indeed no big deal, definitely. It's just an aceptable exhibit... And you're right, it would be of much better use for other native species the zoo keeps. I would say my preference would be for the jaguars to occupie the place. Big cats in general have some of the most innapropriate exhibits in there, and it would be nice to hold them in a little better space.

For now, I just hope this single bear, who was born there, has a nice life quality while he shares this planet with us, and I also think the sanctuary has nothing more to offer to this individual than what the own Goiânia zoo is already providing.

Yes, I definitey agree with you that jags or pumas could occupy the enclosure and there is certainly no shortage of those that require homes.

I think the bear should stay where he currently is and the species should just be phased out in the future.