This exhibit opened in 2002 and in 2012 the remaining African wild dogs will depart after a full decade of residence. Warthogs will be added in their place, and the exhibit will undergo a renovation before their arrival.
It will be the year of the pig at WPZ in 2012! May 5th is the opening date for both the warthogs (with mention of Pumbaa in the press release) and Visayan warty pigs, and interestingly enough the zoo simply has to renovate existing exhibits before unveiling its two new species.
This exhibit opened in 2002 and in 2012 the remaining African wild dogs will depart after a full decade of residence. Warthogs will be added in their place, and the exhibit will undergo a renovation before their arrival.
I'm sure the warthogs will do their own "renovation" very soon after gaining access to this enclosure. Enjoy the view of grass and shrubs; soon this will be a "hog heaven" mudhole!
This still leaves open the question of why wild dogs are being booted out of the zoo. Were they thought to be not as exciting as warthogs for zoo visitors?
From a conservation perspective there might actually be a valid reason to captive breed the wild dogs (i.e., the zoo as conservation ark model), but certainly not for warthogs.
That's a very muddeling question, infact, in personal experiance, Wild Dogs are more active, thus more interesting too the muggle of the zoo world. Why couldn't they just build new enclosures for warthog? What exhibit will the warty pigs replace?
