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Strathmorezoo said:
Just been reading an article in the Guardian newspaper about David Field becoming the new President of the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums. Anyone have any opinions on this?
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Whether selective reporting or him playing to the audience he spent more time talking about closing zoos and investigating poor conditions than on any benefits zoos have (though he weighed in on the Bristol gorilla situation). I assume when talking about Polar Bear enclosures he means anything not in Scotland, in 'South' terms given where he is based.

Wanting to close zoos seems a bit of a peverse mission for his job, but it'll be interesting to see what he does and no one wants bad zoos. The tone of the article is pretty anti captivity ('Zoo fans' vs Born Free properly cited etc) which is what you expect broadly speaking but perhaps he will want to do something about that.
 
Lafone said:
Whether selective reporting or him playing to the audience he spent more time talking about closing zoos and investigating poor conditions than on any benefits zoos have (though he weighed in on the Bristol gorilla situation). I assume when talking about Polar Bear enclosures he means anything not in Scotland, in 'South' terms given where he is based.

Wanting to close zoos seems a bit of a peverse mission for his job, but it'll be interesting to see what he does and no one wants bad zoos. The tone of the article is pretty anti captivity ('Zoo fans' vs Born Free properly cited etc) which is what you expect broadly speaking but perhaps he will want to do something about that.
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What did he say about the Bristol gorilla situation?
 
Lafone said:
Whether selective reporting or him playing to the audience he spent more time talking about closing zoos and investigating poor conditions than on any benefits zoos have (though he weighed in on the Bristol gorilla situation). I assume when talking about Polar Bear enclosures he means anything not in Scotland, in 'South' terms given where he is based.

Wanting to close zoos seems a bit of a peverse mission for his job, but it'll be interesting to see what he does and no one wants bad zoos. The tone of the article is pretty anti captivity ('Zoo fans' vs Born Free properly cited etc) which is what you expect broadly speaking but perhaps he will want to do something about that.
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Seems strange for HWP to be sending Brodie to YWP for a temporary stay then?
 
polarbear said:
What did he say about the Bristol gorilla situation?
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He spoke about the need to think of animals in a species context when considering whether they were 'happy' or not (giving the example of 'smiling' chimps as an example) which I thought was a good point to make as there is a fair amount of anthropomorphism in coverage on apes in particular and said he was happy to reassure the public that the gorillas were being well looked after.

Field is quite clear that zoos can make a huge contribution to society, and warns that sometimes, as in the recent stories about the “lonely gorillas” at Bristol zoo, readers must look beyond the headlines. “We do put our emotions into animals. If I went to smile at my chimpanzees right now they would have huge fear because if you bare their teeth you are expressing fear and anger. Perhaps it gave people a lot of emotion and care for the animals but we need to look behind the shocking headline. In the case of those gorillas I can vouch that they are looked after.”
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polarbear said:
Seems strange for HWP to be sending Brodie to YWP for a temporary stay then?
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In terms of 'South', Ipswich is slightly warmer than Doncaster but if you look at the mean average temperatures from weather stations on the met office site, the average temperature for Doncaster was 14.47degrees and for Ipswich 14.65 degrees (1991-2020) and August peak average was 21.89 vs 22.54 (1991-2020) respectively. Obviously with global warming these temperatures are on the increase but I am not sure on that basis it can be argued you have to worry more about the heat in Ipswich vs Doncaster per se.

If he's saying you should only hold polar bears in Scotland then it is indeed an odd situation to send a bear to Yorkshire, however I expect it means he and the organisation would focus more on ensuring bears have the right housing, enclosures, pools and general heat mitigation measures vs a blanket 'not in the South' concern. It's a bit too generalised in the article to be helpful.
 
Lafone said:
He spoke about the need to think of animals in a species context when considering whether they were 'happy' or not (giving the example of 'smiling' chimps as an example) which I thought was a good point to make as there is a fair amount of anthropomorphism in coverage on apes in particular and said he was happy to reassure the public that the gorillas were being well looked after.
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Thank you
 
Has it been said anywhere when the two rhinos replacing Qabid are likely to arrive? I'm planning a visit to Edinburgh some time in 2026, at the moment I'm thinking either late March, May, or October, though I'm fine with delaying until the new rhinos arrive if they are still coming in 2026.
 
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