@mweb08: Omaha is rightly being judged on its indoor exhibits because when I was there in the summer of 2008 I saw countless big cats locked indoors with ZERO access to any outside grottoes. The sheer number of cats (over 40 now?) means that probably half of them are locked indoors for most of their lives. This complex is huge but badly outdated, and it will be interesting to see how many more decades the structure survives before being either demolished or extensively renovated. The outdoor yards are average at best, but the majority of cats were inside and unable to leave due to locked gates on my visit.
For the cats that never go outside, I agree, however the lions do go outside and have a pretty good enclosure. And I think most, if not all of the big cats do have access to outdoor exhibits, and yes, those are average at best. Now some of them very likely spend more time then they should indoors, but the same can be said about some other exhibits that don't get judged much or if at all on their indoor sections.
Like I said, if they only showed the cats outdoors, and just kept the other cats off-exhibit in the same indoor holdings, I'm sure the cat area would be rated better. Does that make the cat section better? No. But it would be perceived to be on here imo.
I doubt it's much worse if worse at all compared to most off-exhibit indoor holding areas. But once again, Omaha gets punished for having their indoor area visible while many zoos don't and thus people ignore that element of the animals exhibit and life. The lions here have a pretty good outdoor exhibit.
The lions do have an outdoor run. Some of the interior enclosures are pretty small but I think the cats are rotated between enclosures. I do dislike the bars though.
Well if this is only the indoor exhibit, and they have access to the outdoors, then I retract my earlier statement. I was under the impression that this was the only exhibit space for the lions.
The only real grip I have with the Henry Doorly Zoo is that there are quite a few silverback gorillas who are housed alone. Even so, they had nice, spacious enclosures.
Well if this is only the indoor exhibit, and they have access to the outdoors, then I retract my earlier statement. I was under the impression that this was the only exhibit space for the lions.
