Dogs and cats in zoos

N

Norwegian moose

Well-Known Member
Do any one, on the forum know of any zoos that actually have dogs and/or cats ? And now I am not referring to the normal wolfs, lions and tigers, that is so abundant in zoos, I am referring to zoos that keeps domestic dogs and cats. I know about a few zoos that have them, zootierliste lists 9 zoos in Europe that have domesticated dogs. Zootierliste lists as many as 25 zoos in Europe that keeps cats. I know that Beijjing Zoo have dogs that it is possible to take walks with in the zoo. I think it is a little strange that so few zoos have domesticated cats and dogs, when there are so many petting/childrens zoos with other domesticated animals in zoos. The reason is maybe that you see dogs and cats everywhere else as pets, than in zoos. And because they are so common, so few zoos feel that they need to have them. Do you know of any zoos with domesticated dogs and cats ? Writhe and discuss below.
 
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America's Teaching Zoo (Moorepark College) has a domestic dog. That's mostly to help train the students.

I don't think the zoo is the ideal place to keep animals that have evolved as our pets. The husbandry is much different, and they have a much greater need for human interaction.
In addition, there is no real conservation value to holding a domestic dog or cat in a zoo.
Besides, how would you create a "natural"-habitat exhibit? Put in a bed for the dog to sleep on? Give the cat a couch to scratch and kitchen counter to jump on? :) They are so far removed from the wild, they wouldn't belong in a typical zoo exhibit.
 
The Houston Zoo's elephant barn has a resident 'barn dog' that is taken care of by the elephant staff.
 
As far as I know, Beijing Zoo has free-range feral cats.

Here's the official Weibo of Beijing Zoo:
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Translated to English: "By 2012-12-12 23:30 pm, 20 cat beds have been placed in the south of the long river and 25 cat beds have been placed in the north of the long river in Beijing Zoo. "

gbwf.org Avicultural & Conservation Forums • View topic - Waterfowls in Beijing Zoo

The Chinese word for zoo is “动物园”, literally means "animal garden". 囧
 
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There are quite a few North American zoos that have domestic dogs and cats in their animal shows. The dogs and cats are normally rescues from shelters.
 
Last time I was in Dublin Zoo (admittedly this was nearly ten years ago, in 2004), it had domestic cats as an exhibit in its pets' corner, which I thought was pretty unusual.
Of course, some breeds of domestic dog, such as Huskies, used to be popular exhibits in zoos up to about the 1950s, when the tide of public opinion starting turning against seeing domestic dogs as zoo animals. Whipsnade once had a very successful breeding group of Huskies, and I believe I'm right in saying (somebody please correct me if I'm wrong) that in the first half of the twentieth century it had a display of different kinds of domestic dog for comparison purposes.
In my opinion, however, I now feel that zoos should concentrate all their energies on non-domestic animals (yes, I know how popular pets' corners, etc. are) and leave domestic animals to the huge numbers of petting zoos, children's farms, city farms, rare breed centres, etc. that have sprung up in recent years. I believe it is very important for people, children in particular, to have close contact with animals, but this can be achieved in those places that are dedicated to domestic animals as mentioned above.
 
Prague zoo has its own dog in the "children zoo". It is a mixed breed that has its own exhibit, next to oder domestic animals, but is taken for a walk by the keepers several times a day.

Prague zoo has 15 domestic cats. Most of the animal houses/stables has its own resident cat. Those cats are moving freely around, but stay mostly in or around their house. They are chipped, vaccinated, neutered and cared for by the keepers, they are vieved as a sort of a zoo employee. Their main purpose is to keep rodent populations in check and to keep stray cats off of zoo grounds.
 
Jana said:
Prague zoo has its own dog in the "children zoo". It is a mixed breed that has its own exhibit, next to oder domestic animals, but is taken for a walk by the keepers several times a day.

Prague zoo has 15 domestic cats. Most of the animal houses/stables has its own resident cat. Those cats are moving freely around, but stay mostly in or around their house. They are chipped, vaccinated, neutered and cared for by the keepers, they are vieved as a sort of a zoo employee. Their main purpose is to keep rodent populations in check and to keep stray cats off of zoo grounds.
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I saw a couple of cats by the desert house at Prague and thought they must be cats from neighbouring properties, as they were too friendly to be strays. I was a bit worried about them, as they can spread Toxoplasmosis to zoo animals, but maybe this can be controlled.
 
Several do, at least according to Zootierliste. I've been to one, Munkholm Zoo in Denmark, which is a couple (or man?) who turned their private farm with animals into a visitor attraction and, with the acquisition of exotic animals and construction of new exhibits, now has become more or less an actual zoo (albeit a very small one). Or they don't seem to have dogs, but the owners' cats with kittens were roaming freely around the area when I visited.

Hjortdal Dyrefarm, also in Denmark, which is similar to Munkholm Zoo (private farm with visitor entrance and some exotics) has a dog which greets visitors. But that may be pushing the definition, since Hjortdal is counted as a "besøgslandbrug" ("visitor farm", meaning public open farms who are not granted zoo rights and thus can only keep the same animals as private citizens, meaning that most non-domesticated mammals, many larger birds and poisonous reptiles/amphibians are forbidden; some of them only keep cows, sheep, horses etc., while others also focus on exotic pets like squirrels, parrots, raccoons and so on - Hjortdal is the latter), and Munkholm Zoo is authorized as an actual zoo.
 
zooboy28 said:
I saw a couple of cats by the desert house at Prague and thought they must be cats from neighbouring properties, as they were too friendly to be strays. I was a bit worried about them, as they can spread Toxoplasmosis to zoo animals, but maybe this can be controlled.
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I´ve read that a cat is able to spread Toxoplasmosis only during first 2-3 weeks after it is first infected. In the Czech rep, around 30% of people have T. and practically 100% of stray cats. Stray cats get infected as kittens. The cats for the zoo come as half-growns (from a nearby animal shelter I think), they are T. positive but not infectous anymore. They are neutered so they produce no kittens and they protect their teritory against other strays (Prague city has a large population of them). In this way, I believe, a long-time existence of a controlled non-infectous cat population on zoo grounds minimalizes the risk of a T. infection for zoo animals and visitors.
 
Whenever Connecticut's Beardsley Zoo catches a feral cat, they spay/neuter it, and then release it. One cat took a liking to zoo staff, and they decided to put her on exhibit in the New England Farmyard. During the day she sleeps, but during night they open up her exhibit and allow her to roam the farmyard interacting with other feral cats, and by morning she comes back. This is her exhibit:
 

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Jana said:
I´ve read that a cat is able to spread Toxoplasmosis only during first 2-3 weeks after it is first infected. In the Czech rep, around 30% of people have T. and practically 100% of stray cats. Stray cats get infected as kittens. The cats for the zoo come as half-growns (from a nearby animal shelter I think), they are T. positive but not infectous anymore. They are neutered so they produce no kittens and they protect their teritory against other strays (Prague city has a large population of them). In this way, I believe, a long-time existence of a controlled non-infectous cat population on zoo grounds minimalizes the risk of a T. infection for zoo animals and visitors.
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That sounds like a great, proactive way to control the situation, and the friendly cats are a bonus too! :D
 
I am not fond of cats but I can see where a population of cats that live on zoo grounds would reduce the mice and rat populations (which can be substantial in a zoo).
 
I spoke with a German zoo director (Dortmund) who also used neutered male cats in the zoo to fend off local feral cats to help control the toxoplasma outbreaks the zoo was having. From his report, the experiment was a huge success.
 
During my visit to Mexico, end 2013- beginning 2014, I saw Mexican naked dogs at 2 collections : Merida Zoo ( Parque Zoologico del Centenario ) and Crococun .
 
The Pyongyang Zoo is known for keeping dogs and cats since those are outlawed as pets in the city.
 
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