Ouwehands Zoo Ouwehands Dierenpark, Rhenen

Yunha said:
Great news from the Clouded Leopards: yesterday cubs were born. :) Ouwehands doens't specify how many have been born but I counted at least three in the video. I visited on monday, just a bit too soon then ;) The babies will stay in their nest box for a while before they are visible to the public.

Source
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Indeed 3 Clouded Leopards are born.
Ouwehands Dierenpark on Instagram: "Het lijkt alsof er niet zoveel gebeurt, maar de drie jonge nevelpanters ontwikkelen zich enorm! Hun ogen zijn nog dicht. Die gaan na twee weken pas open. Ze zijn nu vooral druk met melk drinken en groeien. Kun jij ook niet wachten tot ze het binnenverblijf gaan verkennen? #nevelpanters #jongepanters #cloudedleopard #ouwehandsdierenpark #ouwehand"
 
The hornbills will get a big upgrade, new behind the scenes indoor enclosures are going to be built, a new hallway for zookeeper will also be added. The current indoor enclosures will be kept to separating birds if necessary. The outdoor enclosures will also be "optimized for the hornbills", it's not clear what is meant by this but building plans show only 3 species that are going to be kept in the future. The hornbills will stay behind the scenes during the construction and renovation of the enclosures.
 
 
PossumRoach said:
I’m not sure in this has been brought up before here but the zoo is in a case against the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature, and Food Quality over the sourcing of their rufous hornbills.

Rechtszaak om rosse neushoornvogels, Ouwehands Dierenpark en ministerie lijnrecht tegenover elkaar
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Mr Gharial said:
Quick translation of the article:

The case is about Ouwehands' two Rufous hornbills (Buceros hydrocorax). These animals have been in Ouwehands since 2009, but according to the ministry this wasn't done without the proper documents.

Because of this, the ministry claims that it now cannot be certain that the Rufous hornbills were acquired legally, and it may be possible that the animals were wild-caught (possibly without Ouwehands' knowledge).

According to Ouwehands, the animals arrived in 2009 with rings around their legs, which is required for all endangered animals. Which would prove that the animals were acquired legally and must have originated from a breeder.

Ouwehands' lawyer claims that in 2009, a ring was all that was required to show that the animals were acquired legally, but the ministry disagrees and says that this wasn't adequate even in 2009.

The ministry is threatening to confiscate the animals, to the great disappointment to Ouwehands. Ouwehands says they've taken very good care of these animals for the past 15 years, and confiscating or moving the animals will cause the animals a great deal of stress, especially since one of the suffers from a cataract.

According to Zootierliste, Ouwehands has received the animals from Avifauna...
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MennoPebesma said:
The judge ruled in favour of the ministry. The zoo has been given six weeks to prove that the rufous hornbills were indeed obtained legally. If they fail to do so, the animals will be confiscated. Ouwehands Dierenpark will appeal the ruling.

Source: Minister mag neushoornvogels Ouwehands Dierenpark in beslag nemen
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The zoo has decided to withdraw the appeal. According to the zoo, the decision was due to financial reasons. To avoid unnecessary costs, the decision has been taken to withdraw the appeal. As a result, the birds were taken away earlier this year.

Besides the pair of rufous hornbill (Buceros hydrocorax), the knobbed hornbill (Rhyticeros cassidix) has also been transferred to the RVO (Rijksdienst voor Ondernemend Nederland/Netherlands Enterprise Agency). Both bird species are now out of the zoo's collection, and will not return either.

Source: ZooFlits
 
MennoPebesma said:
The zoo has decided to withdraw the appeal. According to the zoo, the decision was due to financial reasons. To avoid unnecessary costs, the decision has been taken to withdraw the appeal. As a result, the birds were taken away earlier this year.

Besides the pair of rufous hornbill (Buceros hydrocorax), the knobbed hornbill (Rhyticeros cassidix) has also been transferred to the RVO (Rijksdienst voor Ondernemend Nederland/Netherlands Enterprise Agency). Both bird species are now out of the zoo's collection, and will not return either.

Source: ZooFlits
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I would like to know now ... what has happened with the birds next. This whole affair has been a charade of blind bureacracy to the fact that in the Philiipines wildlife rehabilitation centers are full of confiscated wildlife including loads of rufous and other hornbills with nowhere to go next. These birds have been in the Netherlands for yonker years first at Avifauna for a good decade or so and then in some of the best housing and under husbandry care at Rhenen Zoo.

This is a wildlife conservation own goal, a travesty of justice and a judicial system oblivous to the conservation realities here and in the Philippines and I now worry about the welfare of these birds and their loss to an ex situ conservation breeding project and program! I really do want to know ..., perhaps I will file a citizen's request with the RVO now. I also urge others to do so! I also demand of the RVO and the Ministry to start supporting substantially wildlife conservation and ex situ conservation of these birds in the Netherlands and in the Philippines and Sulawesi, Indonesia!
 
KevinB said:
Quite interesting footage of a sloth swimming at Ouwehands.

5.4K views · 245 reactions | Huh!? Is de luiaard in het water gevallen? Nee, geen zorgen. Dit is natuurlijk gedrag. Alsnog héél bijzonder om te zien. Ouwehands Dierenpark is de... | By Ouwehands Dierenpark Rhenen | Facebook
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Fascinating! I knew they could swim quite well, but I thought they only did it in case of emergency, especially seeing how the Amazon is quite possibly the most predator-filled river in the world. I never thought they'd also show that behaviour in captivity!
 
Sloths also swim to get from A to B, as it's much quicker than crawling or going from tree to tree.

I've seen a lot of sloths in zoos and a few in the wild, but I never saw one swim before. Ofcourse, most zoos don't offer them the opportunity. Perhaps zoos should take it into account when designing enclosures for these animals...
 
ralph said:
Sloths also swim to get from A to B, as it's much quicker than crawling or going from tree to tree.

I've seen a lot of sloths in zoos and a few in the wild, but I never saw one swim before. Ofcourse, most zoos don't offer them the opportunity. Perhaps zoos should take it into account when designing enclosures for these animals...
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In the wild, they don't have the choice but to swim at times to access females/food. It's actually more common than you think - I've seen a lot of videos online of sloths swimming in the wild.

I personally don't know of any facility that offers Sloths the opportunity to swim. Would be interesting to see more often. Nonetheless, it's nice to see Ouwehand's have given their sloths the opportunity.
 
Ouwehands specifically mentioned in their post they are the only place in the Netherlands (and quite possibly much more broadly) were sloths can be seen swimming.

Some zoos might have sloths in tropical houses where they could theoretically access some pools (Pairi Daiza's Tropicalia comes to mind).

It would be interesting to keep an eye on how often the sloths at Ouwehands actually swim, with regards to improvements to future sloth exhibits.
 
KevinB said:
Ouwehands specifically mentioned in their post they are the only place in the Netherlands (and quite possibly much more broadly) were sloths can be seen swimming.
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Amersfoort also has a decent water section in their nocturnal house, although I've never heard of them swimming there (the water is also way more shallow than in Ouwehands).

Technically Overloon also has a little creek in the Sloth walkthrough, but not enough for swimming
 
Kifaru Bwana said:
perhaps I will file a citizen's request with the RVO now. I also urge others to do so! I also demand of the RVO and the Ministry to start supporting substantially wildlife conservation and ex situ conservation of these birds in the Netherlands and in the Philippines and Sulawesi, Indonesia!
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Splendid idea. Unfortunately I can’t do much since I’m not Dutch myself so I can’t do much. Perhaps you can give updates after you file your request to the ministry.
 
A new elephant bull arrived at Ouwehands Dierenpark. It's 'Yoga', a 19YO tuskerless male who resided at Boras Djurpark before this week. He sired 4 living offspring there, so lets hope him and Duna are a better match.

"Het echte leven in de Dierentuin" (a Dutch zoo reality series featuring Ouwehands Dierenpark and Blijdorp zoo) started season 7 off with the definite break off for trying to introduce Tooth and Duna together to have more offspring. The series showed Duna disliked / was scared enough of Tooth her reproductive cycle was disturbed. She is apparantly a genetically valuable individual and the zoo hopes for (more) offspring from her.

Sources:
Ouwehands Dierenpark Facebook
Elefante-lexicon.de
'Het echte leven in de dierentuin, season 7', you can view the season for free on NPO Start
 
MennoPebesma said:
The zoo has decided to withdraw the appeal. According to the zoo, the decision was due to financial reasons. To avoid unnecessary costs, the decision has been taken to withdraw the appeal. As a result, the birds were taken away earlier this year.

Besides the pair of rufous hornbill (Buceros hydrocorax), the knobbed hornbill (Rhyticeros cassidix) has also been transferred to the RVO (Rijksdienst voor Ondernemend Nederland/Netherlands Enterprise Agency). Both bird species are now out of the zoo's collection, and will not return either.

Source: ZooFlits
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I missed this news, how sad is this. :( I hope the birds are in good care, but I think it would have been waaay better for them to have stayed in Ouwehands in specialist care. A case where the law does not equal justice, I think.
 
Yunha said:
I missed this news, how sad is this. :( I hope the birds are in good care, but I think it would have been waaay better for them to have stayed in Ouwehands in specialist care. A case where the law does not equal justice, I think.
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Hmm, I’m not too sure. When it comes to transferring animals around the world, the western world always answers from some kind of moral high-ground. If you really believe that you have the right to react from this high-ground, you have to make damn sure that you uphold this high ground yourself.

It feels to me like Ouwehands should never have been in a situation where it could become accused. But I can imagine that if the birds have been in NL since the 90’s it might be a grey area.

In the end it’s just rediculous that both parties (Ouwehands and the government) couldn’t manage to work out an agreement outside of the courtrooms. This way everyone loses.

So I also feel this may not be in the birds best interest, but if there really is any reason for the government to take the birds, they should.
 
jwer said:
Hmm, I’m not too sure. When it comes to transferring animals around the world, the western world always answers from some kind of moral high-ground. If you really believe that you have the right to react from this high-ground, you have to make damn sure that you uphold this high ground yourself.

It feels to me like Ouwehands should never have been in a situation where it could become accused. But I can imagine that if the birds have been in NL since the 90’s it might be a grey area.

In the end it’s just rediculous that both parties (Ouwehands and the government) couldn’t manage to work out an agreement outside of the courtrooms. This way everyone loses.

So I also feel this may not be in the birds best interest, but if there really is any reason for the government to take the birds, they should.
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Everybody loses indeed by this turning into a court case.

For me this is not a west vs. the rest discussion, but a humans vs. animals discussion. If someone before us decided to take an animal from their home into a zoo (or the pet trade, or wherever), we in the current time are responsible for making sure they are in good care. It would have been in the birds interest to stay at Ouwehands.. I'd find it much fairer if the ruling said: Ouwehands must keep the birds, but they can't be on show anymore or there's a fine of ......€ per day. But in our laws, animals are still legally "goods". And that's just how these birds are treated at the end of their lives: as goods. That's the injustice to me.
 
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