Welcome to Milwaukee, as this zoo has mock-rock mountains in almost every single exhibit, and there are plenty of buildings where the animals have zero access to the outdoors.
Every time you think it can't get any worse (i.e. see Oklahoma's "brilliant" otter enclosure), something like this comes along...
They really need to take that piece of wood out, the otters could catch an infection from this outdoor material !
Sometimes I wonder if the keepers and curators in charge of such enclosures read the posts on zoochat ? This enclosure is outdated in any way imaginable and even AZA minimum standards for Otters (which are not exactly up to date with modern otter husbandry either) call for natural substrates. Unfortunately, in the US that often means a little plastic tray with sand which is only given for a short period of time...
Sometimes I wonder if the keepers and curators in charge of such enclosures read the posts on zoochat ? This enclosure is outdated in any way imaginable and even AZA minimum standards for Otters (which are not exactly up to date with modern otter husbandry either) call for natural substrates. Unfortunately, in the US that often means a little plastic tray with sand which is only given for a short period of time...
Yes, some of us do read this and we are working on improving these exhibits and providing as much enrichment and training as we can. Hopefully, we will be able to build a new otter exhibit soon!
