Funny because they are so easy to see here in the southwest that no one pays them any attention. I mean not just do so many zoos have them, but in my city of Tucson they even live wild in the city. I have seen them within a few feet of me riding my bike not far from downtown.
@SivatheriumGuy In spite of how common they are in zoos here, no one (that I know of) breeds them because there is a constant supply of orphaned coyotes for any zoo that wants them. So I suppose that may be partly why they are rare in European zoos, because legally they cannot import wild born animals (even if they are non-releasable orphans). I think this is a major problem with CITES; in my opinion there should be a way for legitimate zoos to import animals from other countries that are clearly documented orphans. I know someone who works with Belize Zoo and they have approximately 19 orphaned jaguars but cannot send any out since they were all born in the wild.
@Arizona Docent Now that's interesting. I wonder how many species that affects exchange across the globe.
(19 jaguars! That's both impressive, and sad they can't send out those genes into the zoo populations...)
erm, CITES doesn't prevent wild-born animals from being exported/imported, and millions of wild-born animals are imported into Europe every year for the pet trade.
In spite of how common they are in zoos here, no one (that I know of) breeds them because there is a constant supply of orphaned coyotes for any zoo that wants them. So I suppose that may be partly why they are rare in European zoos, because legally they cannot import wild born animals (even if they are non-releasable orphans).
.....except that's precisely what the French collection in question did the reason they are rare in European collections is, put quite simply, a complete lack of interest. Until the animals in question arrived last year, there were none in Europe whatsoever. As @Chlidonias said, CITES doesn't prevent wild-born animals from being exported/imported whatsoever, as even a cursory look on the searchable database for CITES permits granted indicates.
