It never ceases to amaze me what can be found at privately owned American zoos. This one has warthogs, spotted hyenas, sloth bears, capuchins, etc. Wow. All would be considered rarities in AZA establishments these days.
@snowleopard Warthogs, hyenas (both spotted and striped), and capuchins are plentiful outside AZA these days. The sloth bear was the only surprising one (it's normally an asiatic black or a brown supspecies). I saw warthogs 6 times last year, only 1 of those was AZA. In 2020 I saw capuchins 12 times, zero AZA. Last year it was 6 times, also zero AZA. I saw hyenas twice this trip... the one I'll be posting tomorrow (trying not to flood!) is much, much worse.
@TinoPup Those are fascinating statistics and they back up my thoughts that many non-accredited zoos are dumping grounds for animals like capuchins, hyenas and warthogs. There is amazing diversity to be found at privately run facilities, but it's just a pity that quite often the enclosures are mediocre.
@snowleopard The warthog boom is going to bust pretty quickly, unfortunately. Places keep getting them as ambassador animals and that just doesn't work with the species when they mature, especially with males, which most I've seen have been!
I think some of these places want to do good, but it's a struggle to financially find the balance between building decent exhibits and having enough new, interesting species to keep bringing in guests, especially these more rural places. Unfortunately too many don't care about the actual animals, and they're the main way these attempting-to-be-decent places can get species.
