Monarto Safari Park rhino escapes

Rookeyper,

I was not saying we should not consider public safety. I am just saying that given the current technological advances and efficient/adequate safety procedures in zoos, we should and need to look at a different courses of action.

I have in-depth personal experience of game capture, tranquilisation et al under varying conditions and circumstances - even where stress has made dosing game more or less inadequate - yet I have never encountered a situation where we were not able to handle individual animals .... by hand or by the blowpipe / or gas-powered rifle. In all these instances a fully experienced vet with long history in wildlife game capture was present and oversaw all proceedings.

I am not saying we have never lost any game in our care ...! We have and ... it aint pretty and cuts you down to the bone! I am just saying we should be more diligent in dealing with escapees in an enclosed environment, be they inside zoos or outside and out of control. Euthanasia or mercy killing should only be a last resort. I feel far too quickly authorities opt for the easy cop way out. Hence, to me on and off site zoo personnel should be in the driving seat and should be the only decision makers and the executioners ... if it has to come to that at all.

If you look at the Monarto rhino case in greater detail ... you will find that the animal walked back to his enclosure of its own accord with some coaxing by zoo/ animal management personnel.

If this decision had been entirely the police's alone ..., we would now have been looking at a stone dead genetically valuable rhino male :eek:! What a comforting thought that would be for everyone involved!
 
Many zoological institutions have very good working relationships with local emergency personnel. Meetings are held, plans are discussed and finalized, and agreements are written. This works until.....the animal escapes when the highly trained veterinarian is out of town or otherwise unavailable, the police personnel responding have yet to read the agreement, and animal is bearing down on a class of children. My point is that there can be all sorts of planning and agreements made but emergencies and unforseen circumstances can and do happen. I too have been involved in capture/restraint of wild animals on several occasions. In emergencies the unexpected is the norm. At that time the genetics of the animal is the last thing to be considered. In every instance human life and well-being must come first.
 
sounds like someone's pressuring the zoo over it....
Zoos warned over randy rhino | The Australian
*Monarto Zoo suspends rhino breeding program
*Rhino escapes enclosure in fit of jealous rage
*Zoo warns breeders to reassess security fences

JEALOUS rhino Satara has got his way - the breeding program with his young rival has been suspended with world zoos alerted to the dangers.

The planned breeding between his former mate and a younger male was suspended after an angry Satara rampaged out of his enclosure at Monarto Zoo this week in an apparent jealous rage.

The fallout from the love fury has also led to an alert to rhino keepers at zoos around the world to reassess the security of their enclosures.

Satara's escape sparked a lengthy search of the 2500ha park that ended only after he was shot with a cocktail of drugs.

Monarto senior curator Peter Clark said the new rhino pairing's breeding program had been suspended to avoid upsetting two-tonne, 18-year-old Satara again.

"He can still smell her and the other bull, but we'll probably suspend any breeding until we get things organised," Mr Clark said.

"I don't want to get him upset again, and not until we know we're capable of keeping him in at all times.

"That area where he broke through looked fine, but they are very strong animals and for some reason he decided to break it. We can't afford to have that happen again."

Mr Clark said a New Year refurbishment of the six-year-old, wooden-fenced rhino enclosure had been fast-tracked.

"We will be making the exhibit a bit bigger and taking out a lot of existing fencing and replacing it with other types," he said. "We've fixed up the breach but until we get the fence to a new standard for bulls, we won't be keeping bulls out there.

"It's not as strong as it once was. Some of the timber has dried out a lot since it was built . . . a bolt hole through that could be a stress point and crack. We're not happy with that so we will be replacing it with other types of fencing including cable, electric fencing, steel posts and rail fencing in certain areas."

The zoo has also alerted counterparts around the world about the episode.

"Whenever there's an incident somewhere with an animal escaping, we go out and start measuring and assessing the enclosure," Mr Clark said.

"Other rhino keepers will probably go out now and do a risk assessment on what they've got.

"If someone was designing a new rhino enclosure and they asked us what we thought, I'd tell them I wouldn't do it that way now."

Mr Clark said a tired and stressed Satara had taken several days to settle down and to eat and drink normally after his "big adventure".

Satara, who was recaptured about 5.30pm last Monday, remained blissfully unaware of how close he came to his big day out ending badly.

Mr Clark said a decision had been made on how to deal with the escaped rhino had he not been recaptured by nightfall.

"Our last resort for that night was that if we didn't get him in before dark, we'd have to take the risk and give him another big, knock-out dose of a drug," he said.

"Our problem was with all the other drugs he had, it could have been fatal. But we just couldn't take that risk of him being out at night."

The refurbished rhino enclosure should be completed in the first half of next year.
Click to expand...
 
Satara was calm until the channel 7 helicopter decided to break it's promise to not fly over Monarto and chose to get a ripper story instead by flying right above the rhino as close as possible and scaring it out of it's mind. Had there been a fatality it would have been the fault of the stupid helicopter crew.
 
It's isane that the media goes to such lengths sometimes to get killer stories.
 
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