The new master plan for the zoo calls for moving all the big cats into zoogeographic exhibits....over time. The area now occupied by the big cat house will eventually become a children's zoo and education center. It will be many years and many millions of dollars before this relic is gone.
The new master plan for the zoo calls for moving all the big cats into zoogeographic exhibits....over time. The area now occupied by the big cat house will eventually become a children's zoo and education center. It will be many years and many millions of dollars before this relic is gone.
In an era when AZA elephant exhibits are uniformly getting updated, is it acceptable that other species be kept in relics also?
Obviously it depends on whether the relic meets any standard of adequacy. I don't know much about big cat husbandry. Is this exhibit still adequate in 2012?
In an era when AZA elephant exhibits are uniformly getting updated, is it acceptable that other species be kept in relics also?
Obviously it depends on whether the relic meets any standard of adequacy. I don't know much about big cat husbandry. Is this exhibit still adequate in 2012?
This "relic" has probably seen more large cat beeeding successes than any other comparable facility in the country since it opened in the late 70s/early 80s. So from a pure husbandry POV it's fine. From a public exhibition standpoint, it is atrociously outdated. But the current zoo management knows it, and I would guess future development priorities at the zoo will reflect that.
There are a few outdoor exhibits, but many of the cats are stuck in the concrete boxes shown in this photo. I'm not sure if all cats get rotated outside at some point; I hope that they do. Even the outdoor yards are pretty small though.
