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Wisp O' Mist said:
Allowing Animal Rights Nutjobs to terrorize the zoo community is not sustainable.
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And the solution being? They sue, lie, and twist words to try and get what they want. Zoos have many more important places to put money than suing first.

Wisp O' Mist said:
Withholding information from the interested public just because somebody might try to use it for nefarious purposes is unacceptable.
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Not might, would. AR activists are notorious for getting their hands on information and being obnoxious with it. Also, the same argument could be applied to a lot of other areas of society - businesses, courts, government... there's a lot of information not out there for the sake of privacy and so that people don't misuse it.
 
In today’s age of social media, zoos are far more transparent with births, deaths, transfers, and day-to-day husbandry than ever before. The things zoos share now would’ve never been dreamt about 30-40 years ago. That said, @Great Argus and @TinoPup are still entirely correct — the scrutiny from AR groups that zoos face now are many times stronger than they were that 30-40 years ago, and there is just some information that needs to be private to protect zoos, their employees, and their animals from genuine and serious threats. When ZIMS did have a public aspect, it was only the species holding that was available to the general public. You could only see how many of a specific animal a facility housed — not anything specific about the individuals. Even this had to be taken down because the information was being weaponized against facilities by AR groups. In an industry as complex and dynamic as the zoo industry, there is so much information and so many technicalities and practices (all of which are harmless and in best practice) that without the proper understanding or knowledge could be distorted and weaponized by the wrong people against zoos and the work they do. This is not to say that a certain level of transparency is not important — I think the industry has done a very good job in recent years at balancing the welcoming-in of the general public into the day-to-day running of a zoo and of managing animals while still maintaining the level of privacy needed to protect themselves as institutions, their animals, and their employees.
 
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dillotest0 said:
To speak of 'animal rights nutjobs'...
I recall recently on Peta.org I was looking there and was surprised to see that zoos in general did not - or at least, not anymore have their own space on the website. There are some words about 'roadside zoos', aquariums, circuses.... but interestingly not good-quality zoos.
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I am sorry for steering away from the giraffe pedigree, however, I do recall a few years ago (2018) that PETA was invited to AZA’s conference. Based on the poster PETA presented in the conference (which I spoilered so it won’t take space) the two organizations are collaborating to crack down on ‘roadside zoos’ which does seem noble. But I do wonder how this “enemy of my enemy” approach will work out for AZA in the end.

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Anyone ever seen these photos before?

Jun. 29, 1972 - Spotless giraffe appeared for public: A spotless baby giraffe, who has been born at ueno zoo in Tokyo this winter, has appeared for public. The rare little animal has none of the usual markings of the father or mother, and no signs that it will develop them later. photo shows The spotless baby giraffe with its mother Stock Photo - Alamy

Jun. 29, 1972 - Spotless giraffe appeared for public: A spotless baby giraffe, who has been born at ueno zoo in Tokyo this winter, has appeared for public. The rare little animal has none of the usual markings of the father or mother, and no signs that it will develop them later. photo shows The spotless giraffe seen at Uenc zoo Stock Photo - Alamy

So, yeah. Apparently in 1972, a spotless giraffe was born at Ueno Zoo in Japan. His name was Toshiko. He also reportedly had an older sibling who was also spotless!

And evidently a third spotless giraffe also existed at some point in Uganda! So this baby in Tennessee is the fourth of her kind overall.

Source: See the Rare Spotless Giraffe Born at a Tennessee Zoo | Smart News| Smithsonian Magazine

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Oh! And before I forget, I found out the Tennessee calf's mothers name - It's Shenna. She's nine years old and has had three other calves before, all of those babies were spotted.

Source: Extremely rare spotless giraffe born in U.S. zoo
 
Wisp O' Mist said:
Anyone ever seen these photos before?

Jun. 29, 1972 - Spotless giraffe appeared for public: A spotless baby giraffe, who has been born at ueno zoo in Tokyo this winter, has appeared for public. The rare little animal has none of the usual markings of the father or mother, and no signs that it will develop them later. photo shows The spotless baby giraffe with its mother Stock Photo - Alamy

Jun. 29, 1972 - Spotless giraffe appeared for public: A spotless baby giraffe, who has been born at ueno zoo in Tokyo this winter, has appeared for public. The rare little animal has none of the usual markings of the father or mother, and no signs that it will develop them later. photo shows The spotless giraffe seen at Uenc zoo Stock Photo - Alamy

So, yeah. Apparently in 1972, a spotless giraffe was born at Ueno Zoo in Japan. His name was Toshiko. He also reportedly had an older sibling who was also spotless!

And evidently a third spotless giraffe also existed at some point in Uganda! So this baby in Tennessee is the fourth of her kind overall.

Source: See the Rare Spotless Giraffe Born at a Tennessee Zoo | Smart News| Smithsonian Magazine

--------------------------------------------------

Oh! And before I forget, I found out the Tennessee calf's mothers name - It's Shenna. She's nine years old and has had three other calves before, all of those babies were spotted.

Source: Extremely rare spotless giraffe born in U.S. zoo
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The older one was born in 1962. 1962 - Spotless Giraffe born in Tokyo.: A spotless baby giraffe has been born at Ueno Zoo...

I've never seen photos of them as adults, however.

A friend visited the other day and there was a massive crowd.
 
Wisp O' Mist said:
And evidently a third spotless giraffe also existed at some point in Uganda! So this baby in Tennessee is the fourth of her kind overall.
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Fourth of her kind that we know of. I'd be highly surprised if it hasn't occurred occasionally in the wild and go undocumented, especially if the individuals didn't survive very long.

SwampDonkey said:
It will come back to bite them.
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I don't necessarily think it's as definitive an answer as that, as it is a very nuanced question. While that could happen, it's also important to acknowledge that refusing to have a working relationship with a group can lead to further animosity down the line. Furthermore, when the two groups share a common goal (this does happen sometimes), why shouldn't the AZA and PETA use this common ground to forge a professional, working relationship? For example, PETA has sometimes helped in finding placements for animals when roadside zoos close, and some of these animals have been placed in AZA zoos. What's the problem with this sort of relationship, and working together when there are commonalities in their goals? Obviously, I'm not recommending going out of our way to work with PETA and other ARA groups, however I don't think it is reasonable to say that any working relationship with PETA will come back to bite them either.
 
A few observations based on my visit today, compared to my only other visit from about a year ago - Brights Zoo Species List/Review (5/27/23) [Brights Zoo]
  • Grey winged trumpeter, which was signed as off-exhibit from the South America house during my prior visit, seems to have been permanently rehomed to near the llama/alpaca enclosure. The lowland paca is also no longer on the SA house map. Those two enclosures are now filled by the white-faced sakis that had previously been kept on the western small mammal row, and a new cane toad.
  • The zoo’s addax and dama gazelle were nowhere to be found, with those exhibits both being filled with highland cattle now. It feels a bit insulting to swap two critically endangered antelope for a domestic meme animal, but I also get that neither of those species are terribly uncommon in captivity and the coos sell so whatever
  • The former otter exhibit, which housed white-nosed coatis on my last visit, is now split in two. One half has ring-tailed coatis (which is also in the SA house, meaning white-nosed seems to be gone), and the other half has the most active armadillo I have ever seen in my life. This enclosure wasn’t signed, so I’ll upload a picture shortly to try and compare to/confirm the ID given to the SA house armadillos.
  • Caracals seem to be gone. Their old habitat was signed for binturong, itself a no-show. The former binturong enclosure was empty and unsigned (the one on the small mammal row; the one connected to the SA house was still present)
  • At least two new lar gibbons were in cages where the family’s dog had formerly lived.
  • The overcrowding situation with the squirrel monkeys and red kangaroos seemed less dire than my previous visit (some may have been indoors however) but now the degu population seems to have exploded wildly and has no signs of stopping. The number of degus stuffed in that terrarium is genuinely disturbing.
  • The zoo’s new crown jewel, Kipekee, seems to be very shy. This is to be expected to an extent - she’s still under a year old. But it was a bit more difficult to photograph her or truly appreciate her than I’d hoped.
Additionally, I rode the train this time, which I did not do previously. I jotted down a quick species list, almost all of which were train exclusive, but none of which really justify the $5 charge per head unless you’ve never seen a sable antelope before I guess. The conductor did point out a new construction area for a secondary giraffe exhibit, which is sorely needed, but I wonder if they’re mainly doing that to hide Kipekee away where they can charge a premium to see her. Anyway, the train list:
  • nyala (no show), bongo (no show), sable antelope, grey crowned crane, scimitar horned oryx, bison, sable antelope, ostrich + ankole-watusi, common eland, fallow deer + emu, greater kudu

    Had a lot of fun again, and will definitely go back, just hopefully next time without my niece convincing me to buy her every single type of Kipekee merch they have for sale lol
 
I'm here right now and almost all the rarities seem to have been subbed for near domestics.

Like you said no Addax, no Sitatunga, no Bison, no Bongo/Nyala on the main exhibits, no Arabian, no wildebeest, very few Scimitar, I arrived about 15 minutes late for the train and they didn't let me do a walking tour like they did in the past.

It's went from a Hoof stock destination trip for me to a cheap (in quality) kid's zoo.
 
Just left the zoo. The new giraffe barn isn’t anything amazing (more gravel everywhere just like the main lot), but it is nice that Kipekee is here and she’s a lot more visible and active than she was at the overcrowded other lot. That may also simply be a result of her being older and more confident, of course.

I’ve now visited this zoo three times over the past three years, incidentally in May or June each year. There’s been a very visible downward trend in species on display even over this timeframe. Consider:

Changes between May 2023 and June 2024:
- Lowland paca
- Addax
- Dama gazelle
- Caracal
+ Highland cattle
+ Cane toad

Changes between June 2024 and May 2025:
- Degu
- Red panda
- Warthog
- Silver trumpeter
- Toco toucan
+ Egyptian goose
+ Red-billed toucan (SNS)

Granted, this is just kind of thrown together based largely on what signage has been added or removed combined with what I observed, so it probably isn’t spot on, but that’s still significantly more species leaving than coming in, with the replacements also being generally less enticing (ymmv of course, but I doubt many who would be reading this would actually prefer seeing domestic cattle over addax, for instance).

Either way, I imagine I’ll still be making roughly yearly trips back up here. I enjoy the zoo a lot, they’ve still got plenty of rare and exciting species, it makes for a very nice day trip and my wife really enjoys it too. Nice drive, great Japanese restaurant nearby (Hachimi Japanese in Johnson City - can’t recommend it enough, it may very well be half the reason we keep coming back to Brights). Until next year, I guess!
 
biggest_dreamer said:
Changes between May 2023 and June 2024:
- Lowland paca
- Addax
- Dama gazelle
- Caracal
+ Highland cattle
+ Cane toad

Changes between June 2024 and May 2025:
- Degu
- Red panda
- Warthog
- Silver trumpeter
- Toco toucan
+ Egyptian goose
+ Red-billed toucan (SNS)
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Wait so are the paca still there or have they left the collection?
 
Paca has not been on display during my visit either this or last year. The enclosure I saw them in two years ago has held cane toads during these two more recent visits.

In this thread by @Mr. Bobcat he says that the owner mentioned that the paca was still in the South America house, but unless it’s unsigned, sharing an exhibit with another species, and particularly good at hiding (and these exhibits aren’t that densely decorated), then it’s certainly not on display.
 
Considering the collection the way it was on my first visit (July 2015) until now is present sad.

It was always a hoofstock destination for me. And a nice long trip unless I was already in the Smokies (4.5 hours from home but only an hour from Gatlinburg).

Now it's frankly not worth the trip.
 
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