Zion Wildlife Gardens Crippled animals need money for surgery to help them walk

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ptig said:
I do apologize for the confrontational tone. I have read a little article about the procedure and doubt that the benefits to the cats are worth putting them through it.

Apology accepted ptig , I was concerned when reading the articles about the procedure and like yourself wonder if it really is worth puting the cats through this.
I just think that supporting medical evidence from the specialist vetinarian who would carry out the procedures is needed and should be made available .I understand that she has not examined or actually been consulted about this as yet . That is the main reason for my reservations
Also just a thought , it such a pity that Craig Busch is not being involved in any discusions about this , maybe if these procedures are urgent and do need to be carried out his Big Cat Rescue Trust would be able to pay for the procedures to be done, thus saving ZWG having to raise the money themselves. His spokesperson has said that the trust is willing to step in at any time should the cats ever need help .( However I would like to add she did not mention the trust paying for these operations, as I do not think the question was asked ).
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Steve Robinson said:
Hey, if begging for money on dodgy premises worked for Craig, why wouldn't it work for Patricia Busch and Tim Husband?

Seriously though, as there isn't an icecube's chance in hell of Craig or his motley crew of supporters ever being accountable for his misdeeds, this may be the only way that Mum and Tim can try to right some of the wrongs. However, my vet also raised his eyebrows at the likelihood of this procedure's long term success.
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I agree with everyone that the declawing procedure was very wrong and unfortunatley it can't actually be reversed. Craig Busch has said that he intends to work with big cats in the future , but at least we can now be assured that de clawings cannot and will not happen again .
Also the reasons for his dismissal did not include animal cruelty , if you read the ERA reports and documents cruelty to the animals at the park has never been mentioned , had this been a series issue it would have been.
 
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Zion Wildlife Gardens have established a trust account which is overseen by Barter & Co in Auckland. Steve Barter of Barter & Co and Tim Husband are the independent trustees. The amount they need to raise is NZ$250,000. The money will be used directly for the surgery on all 29 cats. According to the November Newsletter from ZWG they were approached by Dr Jennifer Conrad of the Paw Project after she had heard about the cats being declawed. She started doing Paw Repair surgery in 2000 and to date has performed surgery on 70 big cats. I'll track down the preliminary report she did from 2006. It includes case studies on various cats and also would you believe an Iguana which had been declawed.
 
Not a problem Peter. I'll get that link up to Dr Conrad's report to. It's included as part of supporting evidence from 2006 when submissions were being made to have the declawing of Exotic and Captive Wild Indigenous cats banned. The entire document makes for very interesting reading. Here's the link for further information on the Paw Project founded by Dr Conrad. I'll get that other link tracked down in the meantime.
Publications about Cat Declawing | Paw Project Newsletter
 
madbushfarm said:
Not a problem Peter. I'll get that link up to Dr Conrad's report to. It's included as part of supporting evidence from 2006 when submissions were being made to have the declawing of Exotic and Captive Wild Indigenous cats banned. The entire document makes for very interesting reading. Here's the link for further information on the Paw Project founded by Dr Conrad. I'll get that other link tracked down in the meantime.
Publications about Cat Declawing | Paw Project Newsletter
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That would be very helpful thank you . Is the document concering her actual opinion on the ZWG cats or de clawed cats in general.
 
The document I'm referring to is from 2006 so no it isn't about the ZWG cats. It's referring to case studies of cats she has actually operated on herself and her other comments are based on her own direct experiences as a wildlife and Zoo veterinarian. I'll be back a little later with the link for that. Just tied down right now with a heap of other stuff. Dr Conrad approached ZWG recently concerning the paw repair surgery. I am going to see if I can get permission to reproduce that part of their newsletter according to the ZWG newsletter Dr Conrad has had 100% success rates with the surgery. She has not examined the ZWG cats. Her comments in the news article from Sunday News for instance were generalised comment again based on her own experiences and knowledge and were not referrring to the ZWG animals.:)
 
madbushfarm said:
Here is the link to the PDF that contains a copy of Dr Jennifer Conrad's Prelimary Report.
Start at PDF page 13 onwards. I would recommend reading the entire PDF right through.
http://www.rexano.org/Documents/USDA_FOIA_Declaw.pdf
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Thank you . This is very informative . I did note that the document mentions that the treatment plans should include diagnostic and prognostic reports, and this was my original concern, and still think that the Vetinarian Surgeon should examine these cats first and make known her findings and medical reports.
 
I would think logic would dictate that Dr Conrad will examine each cat should the funds be raised. Her opinions and the examination results would be presented to ZWG Management. However the public cannot expect that such findings given that the park is a privately owned facility will necessarily be their right to view. If ZWG chooses to make such things public then it is solely at their discretion not because members of the public demand that they have a perceived right to dictate how the park should conduct its business. This is not I hope offensive in any way I'm just pointing out that we must keep in mind that ZWG is not required by some unwritten law to disclose all of its business. Given the nature of this particular project and the support ZWG has shown for the welfare of the cats concerned I would think that they would make news available concerning this. They have done so far - I don't see that changing.:) This is my own opinion.
 
Zion are still collecting donations for the claw operation, but whether or not the money is being put in any sort of a fund devoted to that cause is unknown.

The Zion managment which is pretty much Pat Busch and her daughter, are crying poverty and claiming the costs of running the park, and on going court action is draining their money.

They are so broke they say that Pat has had to put her two houses in Auckland nad her farm in Cambridge on the market.

Owning that much property means she can't be too broke though.

I live near enough to see some of the park operations, Pat drives around in a new Nissan Navara, while her daughter has several horses she carts about for eventing.

The staff numbers have certainly dwindled though. Most days they have maybe three there.
 
I'm no fan of Craig Busch at all, and Zion's never been anything worth writing home about in my opinion, but just in response to some of your points here (and no offence intended for any of them):

kiwipo said:
Zion are still collecting donations for the claw operation, but whether or not the money is being put in any sort of a fund devoted to that cause is unknown.
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I think this comment is just trying to stir up controversy for the sake of it.

kiwipo said:
The Zion managment which is pretty much Pat Busch and her daughter, are crying poverty and claiming the costs of running the park, and on going court action is draining their money.
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I would imagine this would be very true. With that many cats and the park not being freely open to the public as I understand it (only by tour, is that right?) the place must cost a fortune to run, and the court case is dragging on and on and on.

kiwipo said:
They are so broke they say that Pat has had to put her two houses in Auckland nad her farm in Cambridge on the market.

Owning that much property means she can't be too broke though.
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already owning property has nothing to do with how much money one has now, and if the properties have had to be put up for sale I would think that indicates they are in trouble financially

kiwipo said:
I live near enough to see some of the park operations, Pat drives around in a new Nissan Navara, while her daughter has several horses she carts about for eventing.
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I'm guessing you don't live in Christchurch any more then ;)
There's nothing wrong with having a new car - you don't know the circumstances behind her having it after all - and are you suggesting the daughter shouldn't have other interests outside the park? Presumably there is money to be made from eventing? (I don't know anything about horse shows so I wouldn't know)

kiwipo said:
The staff numbers have certainly dwindled though. Most days they have maybe three there.
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cutting staff numbers would be due to money issues (I'm guessing that's what you were meaning yourself?). Honestly though in a zoo a large number of the staff aren't keepers but are rather there for the public side of things, so if the park is only open by tour then they wouldn't need a lot of staff anyway.

Note: nothing of the above is intended to be antagonistic or offensive to anyone :)
 
Hi Mark, I suggest closing it please, there is really nothing new or of substance to say on this subject.
 
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