The AZA is a dinosaur. There's a lot of politics within the organization that seems to be involved in the bought in “country club" type atmosphere. AZA has forced a lot of species out already, having Zoos and accredited holders to fill up space to hold what they deem worthy. Their SSP and PMP are already having issues with space of species they deem worthy. Most Zoos are full-up and lack space, due to breeding pairs and so on. Babies hang on for a year or so, sometimes more to find homes. Other Zoos have aging animals taking up space. I don't see how Zoos will be eager to take on rehomed animals. A lot of plans are long-range and years down the road that aren't built yet due to no funding being available and current spaces untouched or housing species in older exhibits. I just don't see AZA stripping Zoos of animals to place elsewhere for not complying. If other Zoos follow suit, space will fill quickly. Then what? Hold species off-show? Having Zoo fans upset because their favorite animals are gone. Why would AZA chastise a Zoo for thinking outside the box and finding what works for them or their animals? Because of fear or because it didn't go through proper channels and approved by the “experts"? This is a major issue already with reptiles and amphibians where AZA Zoos, rather than working with Zoos and private keepers that are qualified, destroying eggs of certain species due to limited space. Radiated Tortoises come to mind, first. Eggs aren't incubated or we hatched 3 Radiated babies. When they clearly yield a higher clutch number. What happened to the rest? Or certain Frog species that lay thousand of eggs and 90-100 tadpoles emerged? Space is limited already and rather than share the wealth and increase holdings, they simply do not allow them to hatch by destroying them. If the reptiles or amphibians were more appealing like Komodo Dragons, they'd trade them overseas. Even Komodo space is limited due to good success in recent times. Most Zoos have older, larger animals they can't move due to housing restraints and most Zoos do not have housing for larger animals. They want juveniles, to get people excited, to fund a larger exhibit or two.
Not much else has changed besides gearing up for their pumpkin display.