New private zoo opening in Monterey?!

Unlike other zoos, Sammut intends to continue to train and work with the animals in a free contact environment, where the trainers touch the animals, as if they're still invited to participate and entertain. But, he emphasized that only trained employees will handle the animals.
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Sounds like a recipe for disaster.
 
"During the past five to six years the demand for trained exotics animal appearances has nose-dived, said Sammut."

Interesting statement that is a bit of a surprise.

And I disagree with the previous post implying that professional trainers working with animals equals disaster.
 
Arizona Docent said:
And I disagree with the previous post implying that professional trainers working with animals equals disaster.
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I agree with Arizona Docent. In Camp Verde, a town about an hour or so north of Phoenix, there's a wildlife park called Out of Africa. Every day keepers have free contact with tigers during a show called Tiger Splash where they run around a large enclosure with the cats, playing tug-of-war with them and encouraging them to chase them and jump into the large pool with them. And while there have been occasional injuries, it's never been disastrous.

As for Wild Things, no, I've never been there but only because I wasn't into visiting zoos the last time I was in the bay area and this thread may be the first time I've heard of the place. My main concern is that the guy is thinking he'll be able to cover operating costs on zoo admissions alone. I guess he's expecting lots of visitors once he opens as a zoo.
 
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Two things:

1- I agree wholeheartedly with "Shirokuma" (not always a regular occurrence:)) because the era of free contact with many exotic animals is practically at an end. There have been numerous deaths at Howletts over the years, Out of Africa's owner and his wife have suffered countless injuries at the hands of big cats during the past few decades, and elephant trainers are notorious for suffering ailments from their charges. Soon protected contact will be mandatory in AZA-accredited zoos in regards to elephants, but of course the tiny, frequently subpar facilities that are not accredited can do whatever they like without any consequences. Some ZooChatters maintain that non-accredited institutions can still be of a high quality, but other than Toronto Zoo they are few and far between.

2- Secondly, any new zoo is a genuine surprise! There have been around 50 brand-new aquariums that have opened in North America in the past 20 years but very few zoos and so the idea of an establishment in Monterey is intriguing. That is a tiny city that attracts close to 2 million visitors just to its world-class aquarium, so perhaps folks would stick around Salinas to take in a zoo at the same time.
 
DavidBrown said:
Has anybody here ever visited this "Wild Things" place in Salinas? According to this story the owner of this animal performance company plans to open his facility as a private zoo. The guy has a whole herd of elephants. It will be interesting to see how this goes.

Wild Things looks to convert to unique zoo in Salinas - MontereyHerald.com :
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This operation seems destined to provide the tar with which all zoos can be painted by AR activists and other critics. It sounds exceedingly "sketchy" to me. Doesn't the soon-to-be non-AZA Six Flags in Vallejo provide a sufficient dose of retro-circus "trained animal" experiences for Northern California?
 
reduakari said:
This operation seems destined to provide the tar with which all zoos can be painted by AR activists and other critics. It sounds exceedingly "sketchy" to me. Doesn't the soon-to-be non-AZA Six Flags in Vallejo provide a sufficient dose of retro-circus "trained animal" experiences for Northern California?
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Yes, that was exactly my gut feeling about it as well. I have avoided going to Marine World (or whatever they call it now) since 1989 for exactly that reason.
 
reduakari said:
This operation seems destined to provide the tar with which all zoos can be painted by AR activists and other critics. It sounds exceedingly "sketchy" to me. Doesn't the soon-to-be non-AZA Six Flags in Vallejo provide a sufficient dose of retro-circus "trained animal" experiences for Northern California?
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Exactly. And yay! Snowleopard and I are in agreement. Peace in our time :)
 
People are killed (and maimed and other horrible things) every single day of the year in automobile accidents. I mean literally every day. Why is there no outcry to ban driving?

The average death by big cat in the United States over the last two decades is one person per year. So now we have to ban all animal trainers to stop this epidemic? Ridiculous.
 
Arizona Docent said:
People are killed (and maimed and other horrible things) every single day of the year in automobile accidents. I mean literally every day. Why is there no outcry to ban driving?

The average death by big cat in the United States over the last two decades is one person per year. So now we have to ban all animal trainers to stop this epidemic? Ridiculous.
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So unless driving is banned, everything that results in fewer human lives lost shouldn't be addressed? Is that the logic you want to go with?
 
Arizona Docent said:
People are killed (and maimed and other horrible things) every single day of the year in automobile accidents. I mean literally every day. Why is there no outcry to ban driving?

The average death by big cat in the United States over the last two decades is one person per year. So now we have to ban all animal trainers to stop this epidemic? Ridiculous.
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I'm not sure where you are getting this logic Arizona Docent. Who is talking about banning animal trainers in any of these posts?

My concern about this project is that these people have bunch of big cats, a herd of elephants, and who knows what else and they seem to be advertising that they want to open a glorified petting zoo with them.
 
It is not a petting zoo - the public will not be allowed contact. The professional trainers - who have been working with the animals already for years - will continue to do so. Only difference is public will now be allowed in.
 
reduakari said:
...Doesn't the soon-to-be non-AZA Six Flags in Vallejo provide a sufficient dose of retro-circus "trained animal" experiences for Northern California?
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(boggle!)

Pardon the off-topic (for this thread) query, but... Six Flags Vallejo is losing their AZA accreditation?!

When did this happen? Circumstances? Details?

I can't say I'm sorry. That place has been suffering from an identity crisis ever since they were ... altered ... by Six Flags. I've often thought they need to choose between being a thrill-ride park and an animal facility, and make that choice permanent.

Perhaps this will provide motivation to do just that...

Keep the peace(es).
 
Arizona Docent said:
People are killed (and maimed and other horrible things) every single day of the year in automobile accidents. I mean literally every day. Why is there no outcry to ban driving?

The average death by big cat in the United States over the last two decades is one person per year. So now we have to ban all animal trainers to stop this epidemic? Ridiculous.
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In all fairness, the amount of people who die in cars is largely because so many people own cars, drive, and ride in them. If tons of people owned big cats as pets, I'm sure we'd see lots of people get injured by them, ha ha.

Anyway. My concern with unprotected contact, even if it's just with trained handlers, has more to do with protection of the animal. If a tiger is attacking a trainer, the tiger may be injured or killed to save the trainer. If the unprotected contact is done purely for entertainment purposes, I don't think it's really fair to risk the animal's life for it, ya know?
 
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