Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden Management and Direction of Cincinnati Zoo

I think the issue that the SSP and the Cincinnati Zoo have with sending Tucker to another zoo is the fact that this is his 3rd “home”. I might be wrong but I am pretty sure the AZA wants to limit the amount of institutions an animals lives in because it’s tough on the animal that’s being transported (specifically tough on pachyderms).
 
They could always move Fiona if they don’t want to move Tucker. I know why they won’t, but none of this situation is ideal at this point.

I still think Cincinnati is one of the best zoos I’ve ever visited and I don’t quite understand the hate it gets. Yes, they’re having trouble restocking some of the rarer species they obtained in a different era that lived in night hunters. They badly miscalculated on the giraffe house size.

I think their real main issue underpinning a lot of the current problems was spending all of their money on an elephant complex that still isn’t particularly close to opening. If they hadn’t blown money on that then the other problems would be solvable and the zoo would still have a top tier collection.

The hippo situation is a disaster waiting to happen, but I don’t really get the hate it gets for everything else.
 
ZooNerd said:
I think the issue that the SSP and the Cincinnati Zoo have with sending Tucker to another zoo is the fact that this is his 3rd “home”. I might be wrong but I am pretty sure the AZA wants to limit the amount of institutions an animals lives in because it’s tough on the animal that’s being transported (specifically tough on pachyderms).
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Cincinnati is Tucker's fourth home. He was born at Disney, then moved to Topeka, then San Francisco, and now Cincinnati.
 
I think the reason so many people are mad at Cincinnati is because they advertised their master plan as “More Room to Roam”, but now they’re cramming four hippos into a (comparatively) tiny habitat and playing off the inevitable aggression as “family drama”. If Fritz or Fiona get injured or die, let’s just say the Harambe fallout will be a fart in a hurricane by comparison…
They also scrubbed Wildlife Canyon clean of any mention of Sumatran Rhinos (something I and many others think they should still promote somewhere in the zoo) and turned it into a generic Walkaroo Kangabout.
 
Corangurilla said:
I think the reason so many people are mad at Cincinnati is because they advertised their master plan as “More Room to Roam”, but now they’re cramming four hippos into a (comparatively) tiny habitat and playing off the inevitable aggression as “family drama”. If Fritz or Fiona get injured or die, let’s just say the Harambe fallout will be a fart in a hurricane by comparison…
They also scrubbed Wildlife Canyon clean of any mention of Sumatran Rhinos (something I and many others think they should still promote somewhere in the zoo) and turned it into a generic Walkaroo Kangabout.
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Then again the Hippo exhibit was built with the intent to only house 2-3 hippos and was built way before more home to roam…for the Sumatran rhinos I do think they should have at least built a little hut like their passenger pigeon memorial
 
Persephone said:
They could always move Fiona if they don’t want to move Tucker. I know why they won’t, but none of this situation is ideal at this point.

I still think Cincinnati is one of the best zoos I’ve ever visited and I don’t quite understand the hate it gets. Yes, they’re having trouble restocking some of the rarer species they obtained in a different era that lived in night hunters. They badly miscalculated on the giraffe house size.

I think their real main issue underpinning a lot of the current problems was spending all of their money on an elephant complex that still isn’t particularly close to opening. If they hadn’t blown money on that then the other problems would be solvable and the zoo would still have a top tier collection.

The hippo situation is a disaster waiting to happen, but I don’t really get the hate it gets for everything else.
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A lot of it is they've gone 100% all in on hippos all the time, at the expense of other animals, and they're not even taking great care of those hippos. Their social media, e-mail newsletters, gift shop, it's all hippos.
 
TinoPup said:
A lot of it is they've gone 100% all in on hippos all the time, at the expense of other animals, and they're not even taking great care of those hippos. Their social media, e-mail newsletters, gift shop, it's all hippos.
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My respect for the zoo and being part of the Fiona Fandom didn't officially die down until I went into the gift shop recently. It really revealed their greed.
 
Moebelle said:
My respect for the zoo and being part of the Fiona Fandom didn't officially die down until I went into the gift shop recently. It really revealed their greed.
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Even their online gift shop is hippos all the way down.
Hippos are my all-time favorite animal and even I wouldn’t do something like that if I had a zoo!
 
Mai Thai said:
The Cincinnati Zoo is a non-profit and no one is gaining profit from the hippos. All the money from the hippo merchandise has gone to the More Home to Roam campaign, the zoos conservation efforts, taking care of the animals, and CREW
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The Cincinnati Zoo is absolutely profiting off of their hippo situation. Between all of the internet buzz and all of the new merchandise they’re able to sell, the zoo is probably doing better than it has in years. Take, for example, the raffle that they held in order to have a meet and greet with their hippos:
Get a Chance to Meet All 4 Hippos - Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden®
I cannot help but wonder how much money this generated the zoo. Certainly thousands, and possibly hundreds of thousands? I doubt we’ll ever know for sure. They advertised this meet and greet on almost every single one of their social media posts for the duration of the raffle. This is but one example of the income that the hippos generate for Cincinnati; yet this money has not been reinvested into the hippos or any animals, as far as I can tell. The hippo exhibit is just as shoddy as when it first opened, it was under-sized from the beginning, and it’s miraculous to me that so far, none of the hippos have been further hurt by their subpar living conditions. I’m extremely disappointed in the way that Cincinnati is acting more as a social media influencer with their hippos than as a legitimate, reputable zoo.
 
jayjds2 said:
The Cincinnati Zoo is absolutely profiting off of their hippo situation. Between all of the internet buzz and all of the new merchandise they’re able to sell, the zoo is probably doing better than it has in years. Take, for example, the raffle that they held in order to have a meet and greet with their hippos:
Get a Chance to Meet All 4 Hippos - Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden®
I cannot help but wonder how much money this generated the zoo. Certainly thousands, and possibly hundreds of thousands? I doubt we’ll ever know for sure. They advertised this meet and greet on almost every single one of their social media posts for the duration of the raffle. This is but one example of the income that the hippos generate for Cincinnati; yet this money has not been reinvested into the hippos or any animals, as far as I can tell. The hippo exhibit is just as shoddy as when it first opened, it was under-sized from the beginning, and it’s miraculous to me that so far, none of the hippos have been further hurt by their subpar living conditions. I’m extremely disappointed in the way that Cincinnati is acting more as a social media influencer with their hippos than as a legitimate, reputable zoo.
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Has anyone on Twitter or YouTube (or really anywhere outside of Zoochat) taken issue with Cincinnati's hippo housing hijinks? I've yet to see anything truly calling the zoo out, but if someone did, I suspect the replies would accuse the critic of being a "PETA supporter" or something like that. It's almost like Cincinnati has become immune to hippo-related criticisms thanks to Fiona.
 
Corangurilla said:
Has anyone on Twitter or YouTube (or really anywhere outside of Zoochat) taken issue with Cincinnati's hippo housing hijinks? I've yet to see anything truly calling the zoo out, but if someone did, I suspect the replies would accuse the critic of being a "PETA supporter" or something like that. It's almost like Cincinnati has become immune to hippo-related criticisms thanks to Fiona.
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I just had a read over the comments on one of their socials posts. 99% of comments were the typically inane - “Oh my heart!” “So cute” Heart Heart Heart etc.

However one person gave them both barrels with: “Stop abusing Fiona by exposing her to Bibi who knocked her so hard yesterday she flipped her backwards, and then acting like you have some happy bloat! Get rid of Bibi!!!” Somebody jumped on the comment, demanding proof.

Long term, Bibi and her two offspring MAY be able to peacefully cohabit - but given the size of the exhibit that’s a pretty big if. Having Tucker sharing this space only compounds the issues they’re experiencing. It’s obvious to me (and everyone on here) what the solution is.
 
Is there any chance of Cincinnati losing their AZA accreditation? From all of the videos I've seen, they've done an absolutely pathetic job maintaining their hippos. And their exhibit is dreadful. Compare it to other zoos like Dallas and Memphis, which have large pools and a solid amount of land, and it's ridiculous.
 
Zoofan15 said:
I just had a read over the comments on one of their socials posts. 99% of comments were the typically inane - “Oh my heart!” “So cute” Heart Heart Heart etc.

However one person gave them both barrels with: “Stop abusing Fiona by exposing her to Bibi who knocked her so hard yesterday she flipped her backwards, and then acting like you have some happy bloat! Get rid of Bibi!!!” Somebody jumped on the comment, demanding proof.

Long term, Bibi and her two offspring MAY be able to peacefully cohabit - but given the size of the exhibit that’s a pretty big if. Having Tucker sharing this space only compounds the issues they’re experiencing. It’s obvious to me (and everyone on here) what the solution is.
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Well that's the track Cincy has pushed very hard, the group has been highly anthropomorphized. Most people also don't understand enough of normal Hippo social structure and behavior to recognize that what's going on is negative. That said though, some of the more recent videos have had audible concerns from visitors actually present and seeing injuries and fighting.
 
Pleistocene891 said:
Is there any chance of Cincinnati losing their AZA accreditation? From all of the videos I've seen, they've done an absolutely pathetic job maintaining their hippos. And their exhibit is dreadful. Compare it to other zoos like Dallas and Memphis, which have large pools and a solid amount of land, and it's ridiculous.
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Unclear and probably unlikely at this time. If the hippos continue to fight more and more often we may see a move by the AZA if concerns are brought to them. Cincy is not appearing to make any adjustments to calm the hippo's aggression and so unfortunately things are continuing for now...
 
Pleistocene891 said:
Is there any chance of Cincinnati losing their AZA accreditation? From all of the videos I've seen, they've done an absolutely pathetic job maintaining their hippos. And their exhibit is dreadful. Compare it to other zoos like Dallas and Memphis, which have large pools and a solid amount of land, and it's ridiculous.
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Unfortunately no.
 
Cincinnati is accredited through 2025. They’re also a fairly large and publicly well regarded facility. There are only four examples of a major city zoo leaving the AZA in the last fifteen or so years. Pittsburgh left voluntarily, Columbus was denied due to scandal unrelated to their collection’s welfare, Toronto for sending elephants outside of the AZA, Honolulu for uncertain financials. Point is, there is precedent for punishing bigger zoos, but there’s not a whole lot and never for animal welfare.

Maybe they’d act if the public considerably soured on the institution, but even then it’s more likely they’d just quietly pass new rules on hippos and force Cincinnati to comply going forward or leave.
 
Persephone said:
Point is, there is precedent for punishing bigger zoos, but there’s not a whole lot and never for animal welfare.
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Safari West lost it recently over welfare violations, but multiple animals died before that happened (predators, improper securement, slow veterinary care). Not nearly such a big name though. Though if you can get immediately docked for scandal, instable financials, sending a major species outside the AZA, or working elephants free contact, why isn't visible poor welfare the same level? Shouldn't that be a major priority of the AZA, to make sure its accredited facilities are displaying their animals properly? Yet I've heard tell Sacramento was warned about losing it if they put both aardvarks in too small an exhibit - and I think DWA had pressure re their Jaguar... Where is that for Cincinnati? Elephants have been a sticking point, but apparently hippos don't carry the same clout.
 
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