Animals who get the short end of the stick

savethelephant

savethelephant

Well-Known Member
10+ year member
The title is fairly self explanatory but I thought it would be interesting and thought provoking to think of which animals in zoos are usually the ones who are generally mistreated/get poor enclosures in zoos, whether poor or well to do, and then attempt to find a possible solution.
I guess I'll start the thread off with large snakes.

One of the main staples of any herp house in a zoo is seeing an anaconda, reticulated python, Burmese python, rock pythons, boas, etc... However, often too many times these animals are in enclosures that either severely constrict (no pun intended) the amount of space these huge animals would be able to stretch out or are made almost entirely of mock rock and no suitable substrate for the animal. I think the green anaconda is mostly affected here as the snake in question is very much adapted to water yet usually (if it's lucky) only gets 5x5 pool and then only an even smaller portion of land.

Solutions:
1) Don't have these large snakes if you can't adequately provide for them
2) Cut back on the smaller additions of the reptile house. Although it would be disappointing if this is what zoos had to make room for the snakes it would still be worth it to finally see a more than adequate enclosure for these guys.
3) Add some soil on top of the mock rock

There are already some fabulous examples such as Adelaide Zoo and San Antonio so clearly if a zoo is well off then it's definitely capable of displaying these gorgeous animals sufficiently.

Alright guys, your turn
 
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I have yet to see a good pygmy hippo exhibit. My feeling is that they should have extensive wooded paddocks for their nocturnal wanderings as well as larger water areas.
 
I'd say that some zoos don't keep reptiles properly as mixed species exhibits may not always work because I have seen this repeated at various collections that will keep reptiles that may come from the same habitat such as a desert but live on different continents together.I have seen Hermann's Tortoise mixed with Bearded Dragons,Red footed Tortoise mixed with Panther Chameleon and Collared Iguana as examples.
Personally,I'm not overly keen on Chelonians co habiting with lizards as there is always the risk that because they have a habit of nipping whatever is in front of them which could well end up being a tail or toe.I have seen this happen before and it's not pretty.

Another animal I feel is left to the side would be pinniped species with the more noticeable example being California Sea Lions.Because of the amount of zoos that do the shows for the public,I feel that most people view them as nothing more than show animals and expect them to just perform tricks.Teaching animals tricks is a going thing for health and enrichment but it shouldn't be expected for these animals.

This is personal for me,but when the focus on certain Crocodilian species such as West African Dwarf Crocodiles,Spectacled Caiman,Dwarf Caiman,etc are exhibited rather than some of their larger cousins.I understand that some of these larger animals may be harder to come by as some species may not be as easily gained as the smaller variety are but it would be better as some of the larger species which are more endangered could do with more focus.

Mind you,this is just my personal feelings towards the issue of these animals.
 
I often think that the big flying birds, especially birds of prey, often have really terribly small enclosures. Even the biggest ones that I have seen like in Prague or Brno seem like they should be the standard rather than the exception.

And other large flying bird species like cranes or storks or flamingos are instead usually pinioned and I don't know if that's much better.
 
I think pinioned species are clearly being given short shrift, even if they can live adequately without flight. These species are born with the ability to fly and the least we can do is give them some vertical space to fly around. This applies to everything from ducks to cranes and pelicans. Don't get me started on birds of prey and parrots... Just wrong!
 
I tend to get bothered by most pinioned birds, with the exception of perhaps ducks (not sure why, I just don't feel as mad with them).

I feel (and I know many will disagree) that most herps get the short end of the stick, though crocodilians and tuataras less so. Crocs are impressive and tuatara are such a pain to get that from what I can tell, most zoos try to display them well.
 
CGSwans said:
Any cat that isn't a tiger, lion, cheetah or lynx.
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I've seen plenty of bad exhibits for lions and tigers. I also agree with pinioned and wing clipped birds, especially raptors. They look so miserable.
 
At Bristol Zoo they have some flamingos that are pinioned and some that aren't, it's not immediately obvious which are which when looking at them. I don't like pinioning but the ideas that pinioned birds 'look miserable' is nonsense.
 
Birds and reptiles also suffer in that once their enclosure is built its likely not going to change for a very very very long time. So long as it meets their needs and passes safety and other required standards they just don't pull the visitors to warrant renewed attention and funding. A lot of bird enclosures often look very old in design as can reptile houses.

I think the other side of the coin is that the big signature species that do draw the crowds also require more expensive housing; so not only do they get the lions share of attention; but also the funding too.



On the subject of pinioning its not nice, but its often more practical and birds kept as such can often have access to much larger enclosures that would otherwise be impossible/impractical to have a net built over the top to allow flight without escape. It's also less stressful in the long run since other methods, such as clipping flight wings, is far more stress inducing if you've got to catch each bird. You might see that more with raptors (possibly?) if only because raptors tend to be more handled than other birds.

Raptors do often seem to have impossibly small enclosures, but on the flipside many zoos will train them for flights for display. I think some also have display perches for raptors whilst their enclosures are off-view
 
I think many small fish get a raw deal in zoos. I have seen closely related and very similar species in a tank. They look so similar that it can be difficult to distinguish individual species, so I doubt if many visitors pay much interest in them. It would be better to place the species in separate tanks with species that look very different to each other.
 
Ned said:
At Bristol Zoo they have some flamingos that are pinioned and some that aren't, it's not immediately obvious which are which when looking at them. I don't like pinioning but the ideas that pinioned birds 'look miserable' is nonsense.
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I saw some pinioned (or maybe wing clipped I don't know) vultures this summer in Detroit and they seemed so listless. They don't exactly walk around much. Those types of birds fly most of the time. Just sitting on a log covered with excrement seems pretty miserable to me. Flamingos, cranes, and waterfowl swim and spend a lot of time walking around so in those cases wing clipping and pinioning may not be as bad, although it still leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I see no reason why parrots can't be kept in netted enclosures however.
 
Giant tortoises fare worst of all four-legged animals commonly kept in zoos.
Aldabra giant tortoise: 81 holders in Europe, breeding in 2.
Galapagos tortoises: 18 holders in Europe, breeding in 1, as hybrid pair.
In North America is not much better.
 
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