Colchester Zoo Death of the UK's only spotted hyaena

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ZooLeopard

Well-Known Member
24th December 2010

The last remaining spotted hyena in captivity in the UK has been put to sleep. 'Mbembe' who was born in September 1985, had been at Colchester Zoo since September 1988. During the last two weeks, Mbembe had been suffering with lameness and was anaesthetised on the 22nd December by the vet for examination.

The examination revealed he had some sore patches on the bottom of his feet which the zoo vet hoped could be resolved by antibiotics. Being a very old Hyena at 25 years of age, Mbembe did take some time coming round from the anaesthetic but was left at the end of Wednesday 22nd December alert and comfortable.

Unfortunately on the morning of the 23rd December he appeared to be struggling to get up and was unable to use his back legs properly. Mbembe was given treatment but did not respond and became very distressed, so the decision was made to put him to sleep to alleviate his suffering. It is thought that the symptoms could have been related to the anaesthetic or most porbably due to his old age.

Its an incredible shame that the UK has lost another species from its zoos but hopefully we will soon see this great species return soon.
 
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There is a great void in UK zoos for hyena. A large pack of spooted heyna's could create a great and exciting exhibit as well as providing a unique educational point (in terms of the victimisation of african carnivores). I hope in the future a park will take up the reigns of hyena's in the UK.
 
ZooLeopard said:
24th December 2010

The last remaining spotted hyena in captivity in the UK has been put to sleep. 'Mbembe' who was born in September 1985, had been at Colchester Zoo since September 1988....... but hopefully we will soon see this great species return soon.
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He was obviously Zooborn- do you know if it was at Dudley?

Colchester indicated recently they were going to continue with Spotted Hyaenas, I wonder if they will still follow the plan now their last one has died?
 
From this zoo nerd's viewpoint, a far sadder loss than the white tiger.

I understand that the remaining Striped Hyaena is also getting on in years, so the issue of Colchester's future hyaena plans will have to be resolved before long. I'd definitely like to see them go back into Spotted.



As a footnote, there is now no European country with all four hyaenid species on exhibit following this death - although it's been a long time since any species was in high numbers in the UK we had good species diversity, and the UK was home to all four species from the time of Port Lympne's Browns arriving until the death of Colchester's Spotted.
 
This zoo-nerd is also upset at this news (as Maguari says, "far sadder loss than the White Tiger").

I don't usually get attached to individual animals, but Mbembe one of the exceptions to that rule (probably aided by his status as the only one of his species in the UK). One of the first things I used to do at Colchester was go to the Information centre to find out which shift he was on in the enclosure -to ensure I didn't miss my chance to see him.

Spotted Hyenas are great and I hope Colchester (and hopefully others) continue with them.
 
Just playing devil's advocate but is Colchester really the best place for a pack of spotted hyaenas? I can understand the more solitary browns, striped and aardwolves.

A large fenced paddock at West Midlands, Knowsley and Woburn would be a more ideal setup.
 
I've certainly heard them mentioned by Knowsley staff as a possibility, but that was a few years ago and no sign yet.
 
a sizeable pack of spotted hyaena would look fantastic at one of the safari parks I reckon. How much more interesting would that be than a group of lazy old lions?!
 
Am I the only one who thought Mbembe was a female? Lovely animal, who will be missed. Colchester have a long association with the species, from their very early years. I too would like to see a decent sized group somewhere, & a safari park setting would be ideal.
 
ZooLeopard said:
Mbembe for some reason was always associated as being female but is indeed a male!
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I believe Hyaenas(or Spotted ones anyway) are quite difficult to sex as the male and female external genitalia are remarkably similar-looking.

Regarding exhibiting this species in future- Safari Parks might sound an ideal venue for a decent-sized pack but I'm not sure they would present much of an exhibit -much of their time when well fed is (like Lions) spent lying around and sleeping. They would be interesting to see at feeding time though...
 
robmv said:
I think Colchester's pair came from Belfast.
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I think you could be right there ( Dudley would be the second guess) , I have Belfasts Spotted Hyaena taxon reports somewhere to check.

It is a great loss , however it is interesting to note that this animal has been on the BIAZA surplus list for at least two years !!
 
Nanook said:
It is a great loss , however it is interesting to note that this animal has been on the BIAZA surplus list for at least two years !!
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Nanook do you get chance to look at the surplus list often? Just wondering and thats a real suprise? How many surplus hyenas are there approximatley?
 
lee456 said:
Nanook do you get chance to look at the surplus list often? Just wondering and thats a real suprise? How many surplus hyenas are there approximatley?
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There are very rarely any Hyaenas available on the list generally. The list can only be viewed by BIAZA members, zoo staff or associates, using login and passwords.
 
No BIAZA zoos and only four EAZA zoos currently have surplus hyaenas - interesingly, only striped and brown. I've been to several European Zoos that hold quite large groups of Spotteds so it is strange that there are none surplus.
 
I would love to see the return of these to Dudley Zoo in the Bear Ravine would be great with alot of planting this could be a great enclosure for them
 
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