Austin Zoo & Animal Sanctuary Austin Zoo's neglect of animals

One error of the article . Austin is not by far the largest American city without an accredited AZA zoo. In fact it is the fourth largest metropolitan area without an AZA accredited zoo. Riverside Ca, Las Vegas Nv and Charlotte NC are all larger metro areas. Though Las Vegas does have an AZA accredited aquarium. (granted Riverside is close to LA but it is considered a seperate metro area)

This situation mirrors a small facility that's is now closed in Las Vegas and for similar reasons: a board made up of people not really familiar with zoos,
an inexperienced keeper staff, and a part time/volunteer veterinarian whose recommendations were ignored.
It is flabbergasting to keep an animal alive, in pain in squalid conditions and not even on display. That would seem to not make any sense whatsoever.
The keepers should have complained to the USDA as that would have been the regulatory agency with authority to do something.
 
Just spent 15 minutes reading through the whole article and it makes for some grim reading. The story about the bear had me in shock, that they just left it like that for days was absolutely disgusting. Also, the CEO having her assistant who has no keeper experience work with dangerous creatures like big cats, ridiculous. This is the kind of stuff that needs to be kicked out of zoos, and is the thing giving anti-Zoo people ammunition.
 
This easily one of the most horrifying things I've seen in a while, if not the most. Babs' really stands out in my opinion.

On the plus side, I'm glad the zookeepers are taking responsibility. Hopefully this article leads to more people supporting and donating to AZA zoos that actually listen to zookeepers (is anyone else wanting to do so?). Also, I can just feel this will at least be nominated for a Pulitzer.
 
Daktari JG said:
One error of the article . Austin is not by far the largest American city without an accredited AZA zoo. In fact it is the fourth largest metropolitan area without an AZA accredited zoo. Riverside Ca, Las Vegas Nv and Charlotte NC are all larger metro areas. Though Las Vegas does have an AZA accredited aquarium. (granted Riverside is close to LA but it is considered a seperate metro area).
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Cities and metropolitan areas are two different things. The article stated that Austin is the largest city without an AZA accredited facility, which is actually true. Austin is the 11th largest city in the US, despite being in the 30's or thereabouts for metropolitan/urban area.
 
I was torn whether to visit after reading the article. Having seen @snowleopard's pictures of the place, I had no reason to doubt the article. Having visited I believe the article was largely correct, but gladly the zoo has started to improve bigtime. Many of the oldest exhibits and smallest have been closed. The birds are still in smaller aviaries, but the mammal collection seems to be slowly transitioning to much larger displays.

It's not a zoo befitting the great city of Austin though. Considering the amount of wealth in the area, its strange to see this sanctuary get elevated in public opinion.
 
As an ex-zookeeper at the Austin Zoo, I can confirm the events in this article, and to this day the same issues are occurring. Sometimes it feels like there's nothing more I can do to help the animals.
 
Skyler said:
As an ex-zookeeper at the Austin Zoo, I can confirm the events in this article, and to this day the same issues are occurring. Sometimes it feels like there's nothing more I can do to help the animals.
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I hadn't heard about the giraffe in Houston already getting sick, they've only had it since what, December? I don't understand why people keep working with the Covinos and giving them animals.
 
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TinoPup said:
I hadn't heard about the giraffe in Houston already getting sick, they've only had it since what, December? I don't understand why people keep working with the Covinos and giving them animals.
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Or how do they keep getting funding to open new places?
 
Is there any way to get a citation on the giraffe issues?
 
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SwampDonkey said:
Is there any way to get a citation on the giraffe issues?
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As far as I’m aware, USDA discovered the issues with the giraffe and did issues citations, but I’m not sure what the consequences will be. You can read more here and here.

The Covinos own all of these facilities, so addressing the issues at the Houston location definitely speaks on the care of animals in San Antonio and Austin too.
 
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