Night quarters
- Thread starter Shirokuma
- Start date
Ann Littlewood
Well-Known Member
Since no one else has tackled this... I would guess that practices depend on how confident the staff is that the animals would be secure at night, not only in terms of escaping or tearing up their exhibit, but also in terms of (human) intruders and predators. There would also be concerns about animals fighting with no one around to intervene, and perhaps a whole additional list of concerns. Highly situational, I would say. But it is sad to see animals out in a spacious, varied exhibit for only perhaps 8-10 hours a day and confined to a much smaller and more boring space the rest of the time.
Some animals are given access to the exhibit and night yards of a night time. Others are locked away at night. When bad weather is expected all animals are often locked away into night yards. I also believe some animals are provided access to the exhibit of a night for when they are due to give birth e.g. Barbary Sheep at Taronga Western Plains Zoo
ZYBen
Well-Known Member
Our animals have acess to both Exhibit and Night Houses at night, and during the day on days when we are not open to the public or days of expected bad weather. The only time they are locked out of Nighthouses are on open days for display and when the nighthouses are being cleaned. and in turn they are locked in nighthouses for exhibit servicing. Species this applies too are African Lion, Hamadryas Baboon, Rhesus and Crab Crab eating macaques.
What I don't like to see, particularly in summer when daylight hours are long- is animals being put into their 'night quarters' at, or even well before, the Zoo's public closing time- you know they will still have several hours of daylight to wile away and often in very close confinement and the same in the morning before being 'let out' gain..
I think this practise is becoming much less common nowadays though and 'free access' such as at places like Howletts & Port Lympne where nearly all their animals are out and about 24/7 and never closely confined, is becoming more the norm. So, despite the usual reasons given- security etc, it is perfectly possible to avoid doing this, at least in many situations.
Last edited:
eduardo_Brazil
Well-Known Member
For some time we locked our animals in the night houses around 6 pm.
Since last year we decided to let them the free choice to stay inside or outside 24 hours a day, this is the best thing what we could change in the last years. Its great for the animals.
They are only locked outside at the cleaning time of the night houses and inside for cleaning of the outdoor areas or when we have severe storms. In winter we get temperatures as low as - 5º C and we also give them the choice, normally the primates preffer to stay inside but also take some walks at the frozen substrats of the exhibits).
We never have had any scape or predators making problemms over the night.
Since last year we decided to let them the free choice to stay inside or outside 24 hours a day, this is the best thing what we could change in the last years. Its great for the animals.
They are only locked outside at the cleaning time of the night houses and inside for cleaning of the outdoor areas or when we have severe storms. In winter we get temperatures as low as - 5º C and we also give them the choice, normally the primates preffer to stay inside but also take some walks at the frozen substrats of the exhibits).
We never have had any scape or predators making problemms over the night.
procyonlotor
Well-Known Member
I find that within London it depends entirely on the species and the risk of escape. It's not particularly difficult to jump over the fence at night, and no-one wants some idiot to do any harm to come to any of the animals whom have access to outside areas that are quite jump-able. In those cases though, the night quarters are generally roomy, and the animals prefer spending time in them at night when the temperature drops anyway.
It is big problem for animal welfare in modern zoos.
Many zoos started to let their animals move indoors/outdoors 24/7 except in very bad weather. But still too many shut animals in small stalls for 16 hours a day - even if most mammals are nocturnal or active both day and night!
Zoo animals pace or weave most commonly at the doors of their exhibit, trying to get in our out.
I hope that every zoo modifies its exhibits and protocols to let animals have 24/7 access to both indoors and outdoors exhibits, except cleaning time. And every new exhibit is designed with this in mind.
Actually, one problem is desire for too low fences and too narrow moats. Arguably, some zoos fear that animals in full activity at night will jump out.
Many zoos started to let their animals move indoors/outdoors 24/7 except in very bad weather. But still too many shut animals in small stalls for 16 hours a day - even if most mammals are nocturnal or active both day and night!
Zoo animals pace or weave most commonly at the doors of their exhibit, trying to get in our out.
I hope that every zoo modifies its exhibits and protocols to let animals have 24/7 access to both indoors and outdoors exhibits, except cleaning time. And every new exhibit is designed with this in mind.
Actually, one problem is desire for too low fences and too narrow moats. Arguably, some zoos fear that animals in full activity at night will jump out.
I think some of the worst examples are the Safari Parks where big cats are driven in to small holding cages outside of visitor hours- which is probably almost two-thirds of each 24 hour day. Woburn's lions for example have a row of tiny primitive-looking kennel -like structures -though I believe they are building something much better shortly. This practise is usual done on safety grounds and may be insisted on by local councils etc rather than the parks wanting to do it themselves. But others, like Howletts and Port Lympne, are able to avoid this, though admittedly their cats are not living in large drive-through reserves.