DeYoung Family Zoo DeYoung Family Zoo News

[Chlidonias]

I said "by far the highest quality "roadside zoo" I have seen". That's a bit different than high quality.

Actually you said "It has a few truly awful enclosures but most enclosures are average and many are among the best I've ever seen. In the end I would say DeYoung's enclosures all average out and it is about equal to an AZA zoo in quality."

 

[birdsandbats]

Actually you said "It has a few truly awful enclosures but most enclosures are average and many are among the best I've ever seen. In the end I would say DeYoung's enclosures all average out and it is about equal to an AZA zoo in quality."

I am aware of what I said. To me high quality means above average, and DeYoung is nowhere near that.

 

[birdsandbats]

Some updates from my visit today:

• The zoo's collection has been significantly downsized recently. The primates are basically all gone, and lots of other animals around the zoo are no longer there. Their tagline "Home of the Big Cats" now seems no longer accurate since only one species now remains on exhibit (Tigers). It would take far too long to list all of the things that have changed, but here are some of the more important changes:
• The Lions are no longer on exhibit (but still kept bts). Their enclosure is now home to Coyotes, making one of the best Coyote exhibits ever - but also a little disappointing since Coyotes are also found elsewhere in the zoo (and it was previously one of the best Lion exhibits in America).
• The large rocky exhibit between the hyenas and the Malayan Tigers (formerly an amazing Cougar exhibit, then a Domestic Turkey exhibit) is now home to a pair of young Spotted Hyenas.
• The primate area has permanently closed. Only the Olive Baboons (and possibly a Hamadryas Baboon?) remain on-exhibit. The rest of the species appear to have left the zoo, with the possible exception of the Chimpanzees (their huge new exhibit is still visible, but I didn't see any).
• The large Gray Wolf exhibit (once signed as Timber Wolf) that was once home to the Hayden's Howlers show is now home to a single American Black Bear. Hayden's Howlers now takes place at the British Columbian Black Wolves.
• The European Mouflon exhibit (once home to a large herd) was empty. Two mouflon remained on exhibit - a lamb and a ewe can be found with two Domestic Sheep at the Animal Encounters.
• The North American Porcupine exhibit is completely gone.
• Signs discussing a new raccoon exhibit, a new brown bear exhibit, and a new hippo barn all coming soon were all over the zoo.

 

[snowleopard]

This zoo certainly moves its animals around, with carnivores swapping exhibits with each other and many other inhabitants being shifted to other enclosures. It probably has many different animals from when I visited back in 2014. I wanted to ask, @birdsandbats, whether you know what the Chimpanzee situation is like these days. Are the chimps still behind the scenes after all these years? There's this small metal cage, which looks rather ominous, but it's in a photo that is now 4 years old:

@birdsandbats

Apparently the zoo somehow managed to acquire 8 Chimpanzees and it would be intriguing to know where those apes came from. I went on a Google search and came up with this article as now the zoo is supposedly home to 7 chimps:

https://www.roadsidezoonews.org/pos...ily-zoo-in-the-past-three-months-records-show

 

[birdsandbats]

This zoo certainly moves its animals around, with carnivores swapping exhibits with each other and many other inhabitants being shifted to other enclosures. It probably has many different animals from when I visited back in 2014. I wanted to ask, @birdsandbats, whether you know what the Chimpanzee situation is like these days. Are the chimps still behind the scenes after all these years? There's this small metal cage, which looks rather ominous, but it's in a photo that is now 4 years old:

@birdsandbats

Apparently the zoo somehow managed to acquire 8 Chimpanzees and it would be intriguing to know where those apes came from. I went on a Google search and came up with this article as now the zoo is supposedly home to 7 chimps:

https://www.roadsidezoonews.org/pos...ily-zoo-in-the-past-three-months-records-show

I don't know if they still have chimps, but if they do they would be in that metal cage. I know it looks fairly small from the photos but It's actually pretty big - about the size of one of their big cat exhibits. Definitely an improvement from the former exhibit!