Higashiyama Zoo and Botanical Gardens Nagoya - Higashiyama Zoo

Something like this exists in Japan? I know about hipped popularity of otters, manuls and owls in East Asia, but sand cats? Are they present in private hands too?
Yes. When the media franchise “Kemono Friends” got popular, there was an interest towards sand cats. The first shipment of sand cats arrived at late 2018 from Sudan. In early 2019 the NOAH Inner City Zoo (the one that has a Barcoft TV video on) was the first ones to display them. Nasu Animal Kingdom and its sister Park Kobe Animal Kingdom first got their own sand cat pairs on display at around 2020. They have been breeding sand cats frequently which put them under the public’s radar for the longest time. The Kingdom parks have sent animals to many JAZA members including Saitama Childrens Zoo, Nagasaki Biopark, and Neopark Okinawa. Other than the previously mentioned NOAH, I have seen a few animal cafe types places, and roadside zoo North Safari Sapporo show them off. Animal welfare and environmental NGOs have picked up on this and are trying to prevent a second otter situation. Both the kingdom parks tell the public that sand cats are not pets on their signs and news relating to sand cats despite both zoos sourcing the animals from a broker than a respectable zoo.
 
The zoo announced that the new jaguar enclosure will be opened at October 24. The indoor area has a heated pool which is the deepest of its kind in Japan. There are pictures of the exhibit in the article.

「南アメリカエリア 新ジャガー舎」のオープン日が決まりました|新着のお知らせ|東山動植物園

here are also some tweets taken by guests showing the exhibit.

https://x.com/zuilang/status/1705399244537102428?s=20

https://x.com/akari0233/status/1706241293276647525?s=20

https://x.com/KameNrw/status/1706276251135307906?s=20

This is definitely an improvement compared to the small concrete rows the jaguars are subjected to.
 
Male fishing cat Shell arrived from Toba on September

Female jaguar Maya arrived from Kobe Municipality Oji Zoo Earlier this month and she is kept in the new jaguar enclosure. Asuka, the male jaguar the the zoo already keeps in the carnivore row cages, is 19 years old. Due to his old age it is not certain if Asuka will be moving to the new Jaguar enclosure.

Here’s some footage if Maya exploring her new habitat.
 
The new jaguar enclosure is finally open to the public. The indoor display seems large enough but lacks proper climbing platforms. The use of live plants and mosses also looks silly since they can probably get destroyed by the animals or be marked on.


 
In 2022, Nagoya and Mexico City will celebrate the 45th anniversary of their sister city affiliation, and Nagoya Higashiyama Zoo and Chapultepec Zoo will celebrate the 10th anniversary of their sister zoo affiliation. In this commemorative year, Nagoya City will transfer Humboldt penguins to the zoo and Mexico City will transfer Volcano rabbits to the zoo as a sign of friendship.

https://twitter.com/higashiyamapark/status/1591989295018934274?s=20&t=bbF_wvf7tpsFLXafYDvCag

Out of interest, did this end up happening?
 
Out of interest, did this end up happening?
That has not happened at all. It is not that the friendly relationship between Nagoya City and Mexico has deteriorated, but they are having difficulty importing Volcano Rabbits again. In 2017, they were trying to get them from Chapultepec Zoo to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the sister city partnership, but the import failed due to a sharp decline in the number of Volcano Rabbits kept at Chapultepec Zoo and the impact of COVID-19. It is unclear why they are having difficulty importing them again.
 
The Brush-tailed bettong arrived from what collection (Hibiki Animal World - what collection is this)?
Don’t know, never knew about the place until now.
It's that place with 4 kangaroo species and not much else but is notable for having a high number of yellow footed rock wallaby. Swear it has been mentioned on zoochat before but apparently not???
 
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