Are raccoon dogs fairly common exhibits in European zoos? They don't have much (any?) presence in American zoos, but I see them popping up in European zoo photos with some frequency.
I have only seen them at the Oakland Zoo in California (long gone; last time was 1992) and the Omaha Zoo (also gone I think).
They're in quite a lot of European zoos, but mostly in quite small collections and largely in Central/Eastern Europe. They're pretty rare in the big zoos so they always feel a bit special when you see them despite being theoretically one of the more numerous canids in European zoos.
As we discussed in another thread, it's intereting to note that they appear to be relatively widespread in private ownership as pets in the UK but not at all common in zoos.
I think they're like a lot of smaller carnivores - zoologically very interesting but rotten exhibits. The abundance of short-clawed otters and meerkats compared to (say) zorillas and palm civets is directly linked to that.
Are raccoon dogs fairly common exhibits in European zoos? They don't have much (any?) presence in American zoos, but I see them popping up in European zoo photos with some frequency.
