@KevinB Thanks for confirming it's a raccoon dog, never seen one before so wasn't entirely confident. As to the subspecies, I know leucistic morphs aren't a subspecies, but was unsure whether this was the Chinese or Japanese subspecies. I now realise that the Japanese raccoon dog is still considered a species by most sources: they were lumped on ZooTierListe so I thought that had changed.
@Junklekitteb Japanese raccoon dogs don't show up outside Japan terribly often, and leucism is much more prevalent in the mainland species anyway. Mainland species is very widely kept in captivity, including massive numbers in fur farms.
Near the reptiles, in the pen between the rheas and the iguanas. When did you last visit? It’s possible they have moved it to some other zoo or behind the scenes since my visit. There was no signage or anything on the enclosure, so it seemed more an impromptu confiscation being housed at the zoo than an intended exhibit at the zoo. There are many other unusual exotics on my January visit: purple glossy starling, pied crow, yellow-footed tortoise, green anaconda, a pionus and others.
I last visited in January
There seemed to be a few enclosures under construction near the area you mention, so I guess it might've been there you saw it?
I asked a keeper and he told me that there were some confiscated animals (mostly tortoises, from what I understood) arriving soon, so this individual might have been part of the confiscated lot I guess
@Tapirus Lar There was indeed construction in the area, but the path exiting the reptile area happened to pass behind this enclosure, so one could view it despite the construction. Perhaps the animal has been moved or that path blocked off.
About the confiscation, thanks for the information, that seems quite probable. I wonder what the long-term plan for these animals is, assuming they survive.
