Beveridge Birdworld
- Thread starter Jesse
- Start date
normaeinstein
Active Member
Hi,
I am long time lurker, but just wanted to show you some pics of birdworld if you wanted to see. This was from 2008 so they MAY have made some changes in their animal welfare practices (I really hope so. Feeding animals stale bread and leaving them in such conditions is not cool)
Anyway you can look here:
Birdworld - a set on Flickr
I am long time lurker, but just wanted to show you some pics of birdworld if you wanted to see. This was from 2008 so they MAY have made some changes in their animal welfare practices (I really hope so. Feeding animals stale bread and leaving them in such conditions is not cool)
Anyway you can look here:
Birdworld - a set on Flickr
normaeinstein
Active Member
Sure, but I really don't think moldy loaves of bread that are wet are a good thing to feed animals. And water that is mud is also not appropriate.
Sorry got to disagree with you here. Bread is highly refined, high in sugar and low in fibre compared with whole grains. I'm struggling to think of animals where it is appropriate, maybe mammals such as deer, elephants, pigs etc, I don't know, I'm no expert on these species. Certainly not for any of the Australian animals we keep, and in any case only ever as a small part of a balanced diet. The problem is that day-old bread is cheap, and can soon become a staple for parks struggling to cover their costs. Not good for the animals.
The issue of using human foods is complex, and not nearly as clear cut as it seems. For instance diabetes in some captive animals has recently been traced back to the feeding of fruits. Our supermarket fruits have been bred to contain more sugar than their wild ancestors, and so increasingly the recommendation is to increase the amount of vegetables fed at the expense of fruits.
normaeinstein
Active Member
Cool zyBen.
This place did use it as a complete diet. The enclosure were stacked full of uneaten moldy bread. It was disgusting. Seriously, if you can't afford to feed animals properly you should not have them. I do not see people and money as the most important things in a zoo or an animal park, the most important thing is the welfare of the animals...simple as that.
This place did use it as a complete diet. The enclosure were stacked full of uneaten moldy bread. It was disgusting. Seriously, if you can't afford to feed animals properly you should not have them. I do not see people and money as the most important things in a zoo or an animal park, the most important thing is the welfare of the animals...simple as that.
I'm sorry I still have to disagree. I have never seen a recommended diet including bread, at least for Australian mammals and birds. I've just flicked through Jackson, no bread mentioned. My personal opinion is that it is just not ok for any part of the diet. As I said, maybe for hoofed mammals, I don't know.
Jesse
Well-Known Member
i don't see the problem in using bread (preferably wholegrain) as a dietary component but not as a complete diet. as do i not see the problem in using many human made foods to provide a mixture in the diet of the animal.
Ky Fauna Park uses the following ingredients in their wombat diet-
sweet potato
weetbix
farex (like oats)
a slice of wholegrain bread
carrot
green leaf
a couple of marie biscuits
corn cob
(aswell as a full yard of grass)
as you can see four of the eight ingredients are designed for human consumption but a fine as a dietary COMPONENT.
Ky Fauna Park uses the following ingredients in their wombat diet-
sweet potato
weetbix
farex (like oats)
a slice of wholegrain bread
carrot
green leaf
a couple of marie biscuits
corn cob
(aswell as a full yard of grass)
as you can see four of the eight ingredients are designed for human consumption but a fine as a dietary COMPONENT.
Jessie,
Agreed that one slice of bread is not going to make a lot of difference to the diet of these wombats. But the question I'd have is why include it in the first place? If the aim is to introduce whole grains why not just chuck a handful of wheat in there? It would be cheaper, and better for the animals.
Wombats need low energy, high fibre diets. High energy diets can lead to obesity and other health problems. Jackson* gives the following suggested diets:
ad lib meadow hay
ad lib oaten hay
ad lib fresh grass
500g carrots
eucalypt or wattle branch
or as an alternative
400g pellets
50g maize
50g crushed oats
50g wheat
The quality of these diets to be improved during breeding season to promote breeding.
The KFP diet does include a high grain component, with all the "human" foods contributing to this. But for what effect? Weet-Bix is 12.4% protein and 3.3% sugar, marie biscuits are made from white flour and have a high sugar content, while Farax is ground white rice, and if rice is important, why not brown rice with it's higher fibre content?
I'm not saying the KFP diet is bad, just it seems unnessisarily complex and expensive, and introduces the potential for too much protein and sugar.
Of course the problem is not parks like KFP which maintains extremely high standards of animal husbandry, but those parks that just go out and pick up a bag of day old bread and dole it out to all and sundry, either out of ignorance, or just to cut costs.
* Jackson, Stephen, Australian Mammals Biology and Captive Management, CSIRO, Melbourne 2003.
Jesse
Well-Known Member
MRJ, a varied diet can enrich any animals life. the same applies for humans. we eat many things not necessary to out dietary requirements but yet we eat them. in saying that i see no problem in mixing up the diet. although i agree that the KFP goes the extra mile to mix up the diet and in the process spends more money than probably needed
Can we have a little context here please?
Ben said Bread isnt such a bad food source many many parks use it. Many many parks don't hold eland, most parks are mostly Australian natives. And he is right. Many parks do feed day old bread, either in the context of the KFP example above, where it is an (unnecessary) part of a balanced diet, or to the other extreme, the example of BBW where if we are to believe the posts above, it may provide almost the entire diet for some animals in that collection.
Jesse said above that KFP feed a slice of bread to their wombats as enrichment, that is as a treat. Likewise with a few slices of bread to the eland. But the reasons it is a treat is the reason it shouldn't be a substantial part of the diet - it would be like humans existing on a diet of Mars Bars.
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Back on topic:
It is my understanding that the Beveridge park has been closed to the public for some time.
Certainly the big signs have been gone from the highway for a good while now.
I last visited this park about two years ago. If it is closed, the closure was long overdue.
Bread? If you've got some left over from your kiosk at the end of the day why waste it? But only for mammals such as primates, or maybe waterfowl, as a treat. We have an elderly pair of macaques who just love their slice of multigrain bread each morning. At their age it won't do them any harm.
Feeding bread as an integral part of a diet for any animal is a false economy. Sure it may be free BUT - essentially, your animal's good health begins with what goes down it's throat. That is well worth paying for in order to avoid those expensive trips to the vet further along the way.
It is my understanding that the Beveridge park has been closed to the public for some time.
Certainly the big signs have been gone from the highway for a good while now.
I last visited this park about two years ago. If it is closed, the closure was long overdue.
Bread? If you've got some left over from your kiosk at the end of the day why waste it? But only for mammals such as primates, or maybe waterfowl, as a treat. We have an elderly pair of macaques who just love their slice of multigrain bread each morning. At their age it won't do them any harm.
Feeding bread as an integral part of a diet for any animal is a false economy. Sure it may be free BUT - essentially, your animal's good health begins with what goes down it's throat. That is well worth paying for in order to avoid those expensive trips to the vet further along the way.