Farms in zoos

[LARTIS]

The topic has been discussed on here before, in relation to what purpose farms and petting zoos serve, but I felt like there was more to the entire theme.

A note I wanted to make but did not feel comfortable enough back when I came across a group of members arguing the validity of these enclosures:

Petting an animal can be very relaxing, attending a place that at time would over stimulate my mind.

In a certain sense can autistic work like voice for younger individuals as our brains are said to skip a developmental stage at age four to five.
Please do not take this literal, this is way more complex, I am just trying to get my point thru.

First of all what forms of farms exist in parks around the world?

Like apenheul had as far as I remember correctly representive indonesian stilt house farm, with several levels. The ground floor had a playground within a petting zoo enclosure, which was pretty big, except a dwarf cebu cattle paddock that was too small and lacked enrichment elements.
Below the most back stilted houses were the stalls for the (anglo nubian and pygmy) goats (cameroon) sheeps and potbellied ans later replaced by kunekune pigs. Below one of the front stilted houses was an aviary for chicken.
The second floor was home to several separate exhibitions. One on hornbill from south east asia, as well as (fantail) pigeon holes. Another show cased reptiles that could be found living inside the original tropicals facilities, like tokkehs and one or two other species of geckos. I think there were also skins of a python, and a mouse ran over exhibited tools but I think it was not an enclsoure.
A third house was converted in a java sparrow enclosure. A fourth house showed cultural themes and a fifth was some interactive stuff.

I know there are both local and exotic farms.

How authetnic are these exotic versions?

Are there an exhibitions on domestication?

Probably gonna have more examples and questions but this was it for now.

 

[birdsandbats]

In today's world, many people, especially in urban areas, have become very removed from where their food comes from. This is important information that people should be aware of - people really should know exactly what they're eating and how it's produced.

I think zoos, especially urban zoos, should make an effort to help the public, especially children, understand where their food comes from. Sure, at the moment zoo have petting areas with farm animals, but there's usually very little education there. Children are visiting zoos and petting baby cows, and then going to the zoo restaurant and eating hamburgers and chocolate milk without making the connection in their mind between the animal they just saw and the food they just ate.

I have yet to see a zoo do this effectively, sadly. I've been to two zoos that are also active farms - Glacier Ridge Animal Farm is a beef/bison farm and Milwaukee County Zoo is a dairy farm. Milwaukee's dairy education is fine - there's a milking demonstration and everything but no talk of meat production at all. Glacier Ridge Animal Farms makes zero effort whatsoever on farm education despite the fact that they probably make more money on their meat then they do the visiting public!

I suppose Jack R. Facente Serpentarium (MToxins Venom Lab) also count as both a zoo and a farm, although a completely different type of farm altogether. Since that facility makes a huge effort to educate its visitors on how the venom lab works, it probably has the best farm education of any zoo I've been to.

 

[Komodo Dragon]

Farm Exhibits are rarely personal favorites for me, but they are fun on occasion and I appreciate their bucolic theming when it's done correctly. As was stated earlier, they serve a useful purpose in educating on domestic species. I would enjoy it if they focused more on rare and unusual breeds, perhaps using the domestication process to educate on the basics of evolution and on the importance of agricultural animals throughout human history.

I suppose a problem I have with them is that they don't reflect the factory nature of most food production, but that's not something I want to see replicated in a zoo. Still, it may perpetuate an inaccurate, idyllic image of where your lunch comes from.

I would like to see zoos start to possibly do exhibits on more modern farming practices. Are there any exhibits that focus on aquaculture? Hydroponics? Insect farming?

 

[JVM]

I disliked farm exhibits as an older child because I was not as interested in seeing domestic animals, generally much easier to find especially when my grandfather lived in farm country, and in addition associated them so heavily as part of a children's zoo that I felt grown past the concept. I am at a point as an adult, both in maturity, interest in history and no longer seeing local farms so often, where I would love the idea to visit a zoo farm again.

I see a lot of value in the argument to focus on discussion of food production and nothing I propose is meant to compete with or downplay that concept; but I think it would be interesting to discuss farming throughout history. Zoos exist as a place of reflection on nature, while agriculture is perhaps the epicenter of humanity beginning to alter nature to suit its needs. Talking about the role agriculture and domesticated animals played in humanity's ability to expand would provide some fascinating contrast with the rest of the zoo, and you could also explore the domestication process. What animals were domesticated and why? How do they differ from their wild counterparts? This is stuff a lot of kids might figure out on a surface level but that I feel is never really explored in depth. A little hamster exhibit talking about how quickly they were domesticated could be cute. It's a way to focus on the relationship between animals and humans, to contrast humanity and nature while also discussing how humanity has affected it, the role farming has played in this and by all extension integrate human history into a zoo setting. I think it could really resonate.

 

[GaryA]

The farm at Birdworld UK is used as a breeding facility for small mammals and birds which are sold in their own pet shop. Overall the collection is part of the plant nursery business next door, so I suspect this is all to support the collection.

 

[dillotest0]

I believe that people should learn about where their food comes from in a physical means, be it they eat meat - but I have a bit of an ethical problem on my part with zoos doing the work in this.
Agriculture and farming is one of the leading causes of biodiversity destruction and global warming. Zoos have a responsibility to tell guests in as transparent a manner as possible about how people affect the environment - farming included.
My problem therefore is - the children's farms in many zoos don't seem to do very much in my experience of teaching guests about the history of farming in a meaningful sense. More often than not - the children's farm at a zoo is not a wholesome experience of farming up until the present day - at most, some of the curious breeds there may have signs about their history. And so I worry that in having a farm in a zoo with animals such as pigs and cattle that it sort of 'puts honey on the lips' of the effect agriculture is having on our environment. The farm animals from many zoos are also sourced from farms themselves - I understand that typically these are small local farms, whose carbon output is a drop in the great ocean that is that of the greater farming industry that exists worldwide - but I feel zoos should still be held accountable for any possible contributions that they have for the agricultural business.
If it is also that a zoo chooses to have a village of rabbits and/or guinea pigs, as many major zoos in the UK so do, then I feel these exhibits should come with disclaimers to children who potentially want any of these animals as a pet. [And for adults who may pander to their children's demands]
I will say though - there is an asterisk here - I am not inherently against domestic animals of any kind being held full stop. For some animals like camels, water buffalo etc little alternatives exist to their domestic counterparts, and when used in the proper context can make for good educational exhibits as well. I hold animals like 'reindeer' at a secondary condition in this regard - in that I accept that most reindeer in captivity are of the domesticated form - but I would much prefer it that a breeding programme of wild-type reindeer were established.
I also see that there is a clause some will use to defend the 'zoo-farm', on grounds of 'experience'. Guests who are not in a position close to animals, when at a zoo farm, can have quite a new perspective after going. This is the argument. To which I argue using Marwell's revitalisation of its Encounter Village exhibit, which closed in 2006 from its original form simply because the zoo-farm model proved troublesome in the early 2000s due to the then-prevalent foot-and-mouth complications. The area is now home to two walk-through aviaries - which both are very attractive, and a wallaby area. I believe that the experiences guests can have with domestics can be replicated, for the most part, with exhibits like this. Though I suppose there's the inevitable argument also of 'these animals cannot be touched'. To which I respond that I feel, at least in part, that zoos should not be ones exalting the message that people are inherently dominant of living creatures - and that zoos as an environment should be, at least in part, critical of such a notion.
These are all just my opinions, however ...

 

[Bactrian Deer]

I see zoo farms in a educational sense. As many people have stated, people have lost touch in where their food comes from. It can also be a place for some to learn about how there are more than 1 breed of cow, pig, goat, etc, this along with learning about their feed and how it can impact the animals and the world, it only makes, for me, a place to learn about domestication and the sheer diversity in breeds.

 

[15399]

In today's world, many people, especially in urban areas, have become very removed from where their food comes from. This is important information that people should be aware of - people really should know exactly what they're eating and how it's produced.

I think zoos, especially urban zoos, should make an effort to help the public, especially children, understand where their food comes from. Sure, at the moment zoo have petting areas with farm animals, but there's usually very little education there. Children are visiting zoos and petting baby cows, and then going to the zoo restaurant and eating hamburgers and chocolate milk without making the connection in their mind between the animal they just saw and the food they just ate.

I have yet to see a zoo do this effectively, sadly. I've been to two zoos that are also active farms - Glacier Ridge Animal Farm is a beef/bison farm and Milwaukee County Zoo is a dairy farm. Milwaukee's dairy education is fine - there's a milking demonstration and everything but no talk of meat production at all. Glacier Ridge Animal Farms makes zero effort whatsoever on farm education despite the fact that they probably make more money on their meat then they do the visiting public!

I suppose Jack R. Facente Serpentarium (MToxins Venom Lab) also count as both a zoo and a farm, although a completely different type of farm altogether. Since that facility makes a huge effort to educate its visitors on how the venom lab works, it probably has the best farm education of any zoo I've been to.

This is a really good point, and one I've seen firsthand at Roger Williams Park Zoo, which has a decent farmyard area. One great thing I've seen at a number of facilities to help the educational component, or "making the connection" as you put it, is the inclusion of interactive components that don't involve live animals. For example, allowing children to "milk" a wooden cow, helps to make the connection that milk, including the milk they drink, comes from cows.

While they aren't my personal favorite sections of zoos, I do think farmyards serve an important purpose and having safe interactive areas (e.g. feeding or brushing goats and sheep) can be a profound experience that helps foster a connection with animals in children. This connection is important to build, especially when many urban children are far removed from all sorts of animal life.

Personally, I think the best farmyards, in an effort to increase the educational/conservation value should focus on or include one of the following two things:
1. A focus on endangered heritage breeds, and the efforts to conserve these breeds. This is especially nice in areas with a long history related to farms where many of these breeds come from (e.g. New England).
2. A global awareness component and focus on differing farming practices around the world. Highlight species that, while may not be typical livestock to us, serve important purposes to other cultures. Fitting this would be stuff like Camels, Llama, Guinea Pigs, Guinea Fowl, Ankole-Watusi Cattle, Yaks, etc., along with the diversity of breeds seen across the world (e.g. various of the African goat breeds).

 

[Jurek7]

I don't like children farms for several reasons:

- They compete for space with wild animal exhibits. Globally, looking at zootierliste, there is incredibly large number of domestic animals kept in EAZA zoos. In American zoos it is the same. Because petting zoo is a must. Curently zoos en masse rebuild exhibits to be larger, and in process many species are lost from collections, even endangered species. So there is a weird situation that a zoo claims no longer has space for elephants, rhinos, endangered deer or antelope, but has for domestic goats and pigs.

- Education, entertainment and contact with animals are important, but can be done in lots of other ways. For example using small wild animals like lorikeets or marmots. Or building children playgrounds which actually teach children something, not just mindlessly swinging on a swing.

- They miseducate public about real farming. An average 21. century farm is huge, highly industrial, specialized in one animal species and does not resemble a zoo farm at all.

- They hide the problem of farming as a threat to wild animals. Turning wild habitats into farms and killing by farmers are major dangers for wild animals. A zoo puts itself into a difficult position. Cute pygmy goats? These goats are the reason why Africans poison lions and leopards to extinction. And why African savannas are overgrazed and turn into desert.

- They are actually not even the topic of a zoo. Zoological garden is about wild animals. While children arguably should know about domestic animals, history, railways and lots of other things, the zoo is not the place to teach about these topics. Children farms and such institutions exist to fill this niche. Should a farm teach children about giraffes? Not. For the same reason a zoo needs not to teach about farms.