Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden What's Gnu at the Cincinnati Zoo - 2016

Moebelle said:
I find that surprising because in my opinion, the zebras have an adequate amount of space for the 2 of them. I would much prefer to see Red River hogs back in their former habitat.
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Agreed, I ideally would love to see the zebras in the savanna exhibit but their current exhibit is pretty large compared to others I've seen and Id rather they featured another species if they had the space.
 
The construction games blocking the hippo exhibit have been taken down, however one has been placed on the right side of the meerkat exhibit, so guests can no longer see the construction up close, also blocking access to the second painted dog viewing
 
SamMetz said:
Agreed, I ideally would love to see the zebras in the savanna exhibit but their current exhibit is pretty large compared to others I've seen and Id rather they featured another species if they had the space.
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The zebra(s) [currently we only have 1.0] would never be put out onto the savanna. It/they would not only destroy the exhibit, but it/they would also torment the other species on the savanna, all of which are really rather delicate and/or flighty, minus the ostriches. I actually disagree with you both, and have always seen the zebra yard (and herd) as too small... I would take a guess that there are two reasons this expansion is happening. The first I know is correct, and that is to allow the yard to be completely relandscaped and prevent as much runoff because the zebras housed in that yard all have had a history of hoof problems... And the second, the guess, is that they are taking the unfortunate circumstances in which they came to have only one zebra in stride and are looking to expand the herd beyond the usual two individuals.

Others things of note:

Walter the male warthog is officially on exhibit in Wildlife Canyon. I saw him today.... The reason as to why he has taken up residence in the yard is because the Baird's tapir that was to be coming from Sedgwick County died. I guess he was a rather elderly tapir... And with Walter having outgrown the interpretive department and the cheetah show, it just made sense to move him there!

Also, the first greater flamingo chick has externally pipped and should be hatching within the next two days!
 
The 1.1 golden-headed lion tamarins are named "Lucio" and "Serafina", respectively.
 
A yellow-billed hornbill went on exhibit at the entrance of Wings of The World, and three thick-billed parrots went on exhibit in the montane exhibit in the building.

A second greater flamingo chick has hatched in the veldt.

A sign was up in the renovated Indian rhinoceros yard stating that Manjula will be on display soon.

Construction continues in the former Indian rhinoceros exhibit that is being opened up for Grevy's zebras. A gate is being put in between the off-exhibit zebra yard and the yard under construction and two hardstandings have been installed.
 
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Yes, it was 17-year old male Harambe, and he was shot and killed. The sound of that gunshot will haunt me for the rest of my life.

In (better) news, Henry the Major Mitchell's cockatoo has gone on exhibit on the former macaw island.
 
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I know the right call was made to protect the boy but how horrible that because of the parents or adults in charge of the child an endangered species had to be killed. Harambe was just being a gorilla and protecting his home and females, or he didn't really realize he could be hurting the child. Sadly the zoo will be sued and forced to pay a settlement instead of the people in charge of the child being charged with something... anything... and being fined for the death of Harambe. Hopefully the child will recover quickly.
 
TZFan said:
I know the right call was made to protect the boy but how horrible that because of the parents or adults in charge of the child an endangered species had to be killed. Harambe was just being a gorilla and protecting his home and females, or he didn't really realize he could be hurting the child. Sadly the zoo will be sued and forced to pay a settlement instead of the people in charge of the child being charged with something... anything... and being fined for the death of Harambe. Hopefully the child will recover quickly.
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Agreed on all points. Obviously in this situation, the zoo should take steps to prevent the kid from getting hurt, but if the kid was properly supervised in the first place none of this would have happened. If the parents sue I'm gonna be pretty pissed off.
 
They said they would have tranquilized Harambe instead but apparently tranquilizers do not work well when the animal is particularly excited?

I kind of am very against great ape exhibits with moats, for some other reasons, but this was like the piece of hay that broke the camels back.

I understand that many of the other members of Zoochat believe that it is highly important to never have all indoor great ape exhibits, however I believe that having great ape exhibits with moats is worse, because its easier for them to escape, or its easier for people to fall in. And I personally believe that gorillas can live happily in indoor exhibits, but I will not argue about the indoors part since nobody's mind will be changed and it will all be a headache for anyone involved.

But about moats: I know you can always blame the dumb visitors and say "moats don't matter its just the dumb visitors fault, we can have moats anyway", but that would be like saying that rhinos are the biggest land mammals because elephants don't count. Like, its true that dumb visitors exist and we wish they didn't, but that doesn't mean you should act like they don't. You have to be prepared for this type of stuff.
 
This is a nightmare. I feel that the parents of the trespassing child are the ones who are mostly to blame here. Forgive me but I always thought that it was your responsibility to make sure your kids stay out of places like zoo exhibits. If they go suing I hope they don't get a cent.
 
ZooElephantsMan said:
But about moats: I know you can always blame the dumb visitors and say "moats don't matter its just the dumb visitors fault, we can have moats anyway", but that would be like saying that rhinos are the biggest land mammals because elephants don't count. Like, its true that dumb visitors exist and we wish they didn't, but that doesn't mean you should act like they don't. You have to be prepared for this type of stuff.
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Zoos also need to think about stuff like this when putting in fencing or railings. If a kid can crawl through the rail then they need to make it safer. The kids just don't know any better.
 
This sucks n a major way. After the dust settles, the anti-zoo and animal liberation crowd are going to have a field day with this dumpster fire of an incident.
 
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