I absolutely hate this part of the zoo! One of the most jarring displays I've seen in an AZA facility. On all my 2022-2023 visits though these were empty, so I was hopeful the zoo decided to phase them out. Unfortunately, it looks like I was incorrect. Must've been bird flu and/or weather.
@Neil chace It is possibly the worst thing I've seen in an AZA zoo. It has no purpose and is gross. Everyone gets upset by it. *Maybe* if they had some signage about how these species are used by hunters and how they are kept, but I think most falconers keep them better than this. The birds couldn't even go any further back on their perches than the front edge, the one on the right was trying to and couldn't.
@TinoPup It easily ranks in the three worst animal-related things I've seen in an AZA zoo. Both the other two also happen to be in New York: Buffalo Zoo's giraffe barn and Aquarium of Niagara's pinniped exhibits. I've seen a few other bad exhibits in AZA zoos too, but none anywhere near how horrible these three are (Philly's giraffe and hippo exhibits are the only other thing that even comes close to being as bad as these three).
At least Philly's strapped for cash and is focusing on smaller improvements before working on their larger animals... this is beyond horrendous, a blight on an otherwise very good zoo.
@StoppableSan agreed, I think the bad Giraffe exhibits at Philly and Buffalo (and Cleveland's gorilla exhibit, which is just as bad as the Philly ones but I forgot to mention yesterday) are both a lot more justifiable than these raptor stands since they would be so costly to replace. Buffalo's Giraffe house, while horrendous, is also connected to their vet hospital and is in the corner of the zoo so expansion would not be possible without a new vet hospital as well. While if I was in charge of Buffalo or Philadelphia I would strongly consider at least temporarily phasing out giraffes, I can understand why a zoo would be hesitant to get rid of one of their most popular species, especially a zoo that has hemmoraghed other popular megafauna in recent years.
I recall a while ago [must've been about 10 years ago now?] my local falconry place had birds that were tethered much like can be seen here.
Thankfully in the intervening years they have built aviaries for the birds, which allow for freedom of movement. Of course not quite as much as in the demonstrations, but at least they have autonomy.
