Are there any exhibits at this carnivore house that are justified in the year 2009? Brutal conditions, but I'm assuming that the long-range plan for the zoo calls for the total destruction of this abomination. Perhaps it was trend-setting when it was built, but it is obviously outdated in this day and age and there is simply nothing to defend in such an antiquated building.
To answer your question - no, at least not for the large cats. There is a cheetah enclosure on the back on that house which is ok, and some of the cages house smaller species like serval/binturong/fishing cats, for them it`s not so bad space-wise.
Unfortunately the building is heritage listed (I can`t understand how such a ungly building can be listed, and I would cheer if it were demolished..). Plus the director of the zoo thinks it`s a totally acceptable way to house big cats and he has no intention to empty the house, so that each animal could be at least 2 cages and permanent acess to an outdoor cage. Not necessary in his opinion - the cats breed well, so why are you complaining??
Breeding has aboslutly NOTHING to do with a good animal welfare, so animals are breeding also in the most worse conditions youc an imagine. Or do you think, Yassa, foxes, mink, cats, and racoons are like it to be kept in tiny cages with fence ground at the fur farms ? And the aniamls teher are breeding very well...Do you think, this a a good keeping of animals ?
So the hippos at Frankfurt or Stuutgart have berd almost every year in their small bathtubes, or remember how the zoos have kept their elephants in very small, boring exhibits, surrounded by high fences, in former times, but they have bred.....
If it is not possible to change the keeping conditons of all the small and big cats in the Alfred-Brehm-House, they have to stop the keeping of that species and use this house only as a bird house. Its not necessary to show three subspecies of tigers or leopards...
And the outdoor cages and the small rocky outdoor enclosurs for tigers and lions are ridiculous, the merkat exhibit in Duisburg is bigger and has much more and better structures and enrichment...
I shouldn't rise to these comments - I've promised myself I wouldn't - but how can your comments on this zoo be taken seriously when you have never visited it?
No, breeding results alone do not tell the whole story. But the condition of animals is indicative of their health and well-being, and I don't see too many animals at the Tierpark who are in anyhting other than the best of condition.
This is a wonderful house. Thank god it is protected, so that the neophytes will never be able to get their hands on it.
Do we need to keep three sub-species of leopard? Do we need to keep any sub-species of leopard? possibly not. But the opportunity to see that amoujnt of bio-diversity in one place is just stunning.
Not sure that the leopards in this house have less space than that enjoyed by the ones in Jungle World (Bronx Zoo). but because it's not got some Disneyfied version of 'the wild' around it, it is open to criticism.
@sooty mangabey: ZooChat member Zebraduiker tore into the Tierpark on this thread, and I only offered up a single sentence and not an overall condemnation. It is well known that the two Berlin zoos are still proud of their status in terms of their amazing collections...but exhibitry is another matter altogether. Also, I have consistently criticized the space for the leopards at the Bronx Zoo and thus agree with your take on that particular Jungleworld exhibit.
The big cat exhibits at the Omaha Henry Doorly Zoo are horrible, and I've often commented on them in photos and in my review of that zoo. Gone are the days when such enclosures in Berlin and Omaha are even remotely acceptable.
