Cougar exhibit

Sorry to bring this up again but there are two pumas/cougars/mountain lions at Melbourne.

According to the ISIS there are (as Eclectus Parrot Said) two females at Dreamworld and a pair at both the National Zoo and Aquarium and Melbourne, but there may be more at other non-ISIS Zoos.

I have not been to the National Zoo so I cannot comment on the size of the enclosure but from this photo it seems more than acceptable, especially considering the cages many cougars are kept in worldwide. They have shade, water and can climb. Seems like a very fine cougar enclosure, even if not a multi-million dollar remake of the Canadian Rocky Mountains.

But on the subject of pumas in Oz, one reason why Terri Irwin (then Raines) went to Australia in 1991 (in which trip she famously met Steve) was to check if there were any Australian zoos and wildlife parks willing to take cougars from her wildlife sanctuary in Oregon that could not be reintroduced. In her book 'My Steve' there is no mention of if there was any interest in taking her cats then, and no mention of if she made a later attempt. Not even the Australia Zoo has to my knowledge ever had a puma, so if she couldn't get them into her husband's zoo, what are the chances of getting them into other places. One can only assume that Australia's strict quarantine regulations put a stop to her ideas of puma import but would love if anyone knew more.

Baldur said:

I have not been to the National Zoo so I cannot comment on the size of the enclosure but from this photo it seems more than acceptable, especially considering the cages many cougars are kept in worldwide. They have shade, water and can climb. Seems like a very fine cougar enclosure, even if not a multi-million dollar remake of the Canadian Rocky Mountains.

Click to expand...

It is certainly quite acceptable for a pair of cougars, quite large in fact. I was saying it was a bit on the small side for elephants.

To give you a better idea of the size, the following two photos were taken of the two cougars in the little black cave to the right of centre frame - the first photo is of the left side of the cave, the second is the right side.

http://www.zoochat.com/63/cougar-61638/
http://www.zoochat.com/63/cougar-61637/




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