Werribee Open Range Zoo Hippo hurray at Werribee Zoo

i remember watching "the zoo" a while back.
auckland had 3 hippos (3F, 1M) one female was the mother and the male (they were the compatible pair) and would attack the second female. maybe this was why he was castrated.

btw, how would u castrate a hippo?
 
It would be a damned dangerous business for the hippo.
To quote Dr.Mitchell Bush of the National Zoological Park, U.S.A.,"Hippotamuses have few medical problems, which is fortunate, because anaesthetising them is a problem. Anaesthesia of hippopotamuses is associated with a high mortality rate."
Or maybe they didn't anaesthetise him.
 
maybe the reason Auckland Zoo made the decision to castrate was that within New Zealand no other zoos wanted any hippos, Auckland didnt have room for more hippos, zoos in other regions excluding Australia already had self sustaining populations meaning Auckland's choices for exporting offspring were limited.....and within the Australasian region managing hippo is difficult because of quarantine laws.
it does seem 'silly' to castrate an intact hippo but the above reasons or a combination of them does rationalise it to a degree
 
I was at werribee almost half a year ago and the were mating the male and the mother from last time. And all the keepers were around taking notes and timing how long it went for.
The keepers let the daughter into the pool next door and thought she would be distraught from being seperated from her mother but she just went under the water and i didn't see her again
 
I think I remember seeing a program about Auckland zoo building a new area for their hippo's. Didn't they keep the old enclosure as well? If they didn't want to breed from the hippo's, why not keep the male seggregated from the females in the old enclosure.
 
Last edited:
Aucklands hippo enclosure

boof said:
I think I remember seeing a program about Auckland zoo building a new area for their hippo's. Didn't they keep the old enclosure as well? If they didn't want to breed from the hippo's, why not keep the male seggregated from the females in the old enclosure.
Click to expand...

That is basically correct . The hippo enclosure is basically the old one with a few alterations , and a more modern one adjacent to it
 
It's hard to defend the indefensible and castrating that hippo was indefensible.

They might as well have just shot him - one less mouth to feed!
 
I'm gonna jump in the deep end here but does casturating an animal , making it useless for breeding make it a commercial animal? so just being used as attraction (like a rollercoaster lol)
 
ZooYouthBen said:
I'm gonna jump in the deep end here but does casturating an animal , making it useless for breeding make it a commercial animal? so just being used as attraction (like a rollercoaster lol)
Click to expand...

Possibly, but in some cases (primates, let's say,) the castrated animal can still play an important role in the group dynamic...
 
yeah i understand with primates, what the hipo social stucture like for casturated males?
 
Ara said:
It's hard to defend the indefensible and castrating that hippo was indefensible.

They might as well have just shot him - one less mouth to feed!
Click to expand...

why? does a non-breeding animal have no display value? can it not aid in education, is its life of no value?

i got no problems with castration per se. what i do have is a problem with short-sighted decisions and poorly managed breeding programs. whether the decision in this case was wrong i cannot be the judge, since i have little knowledge of the issue.
 
Aucklands hippos

I am not going to defend Auckland Zoo on this point , and this is only my theory , but I think that the zoo was concerned over future hippo relations with each other , and didnt want to have several hippo enclosures due to aggressive behaviour by one or more hippo ....

I will be very sad though , if/when that exhibit is terminated . They are magnificent creatures !
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top