Happy to say that Louie now has two companions and lives in a much larger cage with lots of climbing ropes.
@Chatt Wolf I couldn't disagree more. DeYoung, while having some of the worst primate enclosures I've seen anywhere, has some of the best carnivore enclosures of the continent, and a wonderful hippo exhibit. Nearly all of their animals are rescues and they work closely with many other zoos, including AZA ones.
@birdsandbats Didn't the zoo purchase their first chimpanzee for $40,000? I think that DeYoung has some decent exhibits, but much of the zoo is reminiscent of a nasty roadside American collection of animals. It is NOT a good zoo and would probably be shut down if it existed in Western Europe.
"Best carnivore enclosures of (sic) the continent"...hmmm. Does the zoo still have these enclosures in existence? All the photos are ones that I took in 2014.
Caracal exhibit:
Bobcat exhibit:
Leopard exhibit:
Brown bear exhibit:
Tiger exhibit (with no overhang on the fencing):
Striped Hyena exhibit (all cement floor):
Another tiger exhibit with scary fencing:
Eurasian Lynx exhibit:
Black-backed Jackal exhibit:
White Tiger exhibit with yet more scary fencing (zero overhang):
Admittedly I've shown some of the worst carnivore exhibits, as there is a terrific enclosure for American Black Bears and a couple of others (grizzly, cougar) that are also good. However, DeYoung Family Zoo, when I visited only 6 years ago, was mainly a glorified roadside zoo. Hopefully it's improved a little since then!
@snowleopard It really has improved. I never said all of their animals were rescues, just most of them. Nearly all of the enclosures you showed there no longer exist. The Tiger ones do but I don't understand what you don't like about them. The Brown Bears have been recently built two massive exhibits that are among the best I have seen for the species.
@birdsandbats The overhangs on the fences prevent the tigers from breaking out by climbing. Thrigby Hall is a good example of inexpensive fencing that works when it comes to containing tigers. The deckwalk (from what I've seen) looks genuinely exciting.
@birdsandbats It is a good measure to take, to be on the absolute safe side of things in terms of keeping an animal safe and keeping good optics with the general public. That said, I'm interested in what material the fence is made of and how tigers are deterred from climbing.
