Status of Exotic Bears in U.S. Zoos

Thanks for the all of the responses so far... keep 'em coming, please!

@loxodonta Henson Robinson no longer has Asiatic black bear, their last individual died before I visited in 2015.
 
I can confirm Oakland has three females. Two of them I believe were born at San Diego so they are the youngest in the US as of now right? The names are Pagi, Bulan, and Ting Ting.
 
San Diego is attempting to breed Andean here soon based on several blog posts about their current young pair.
 
Just did some more background research and Bulan was born in 2006 at San Diego and Pagi is one of the twins born in 2008. The other twin, Palu, is at Virginia zoo.

Fresno's sloth bears have been moved and will return when the new asian exhibit is done.
 
Coelacanth18 said:
The situation with polar bears in American zoos currently is definitely interesting and worthy of debate, but since they are a native species and not relevant to this particular thread I'd appreciate it if we could stay on topic :)



I thought Columbus Zoo's sun bears were no longer on display and were presumed deceased or transferred? Also how long have they had sloth bears?
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They switch the two species on the indoor and outdoor exhibits.
 
As for Andean bears, the Good Zoo at Ogebay Resort still has 1.0 as far as I know. Not sure for how much longer.

The zoo's female went to Toledo, so that means Toledo now has 0.1.
 
When did San Antonio go out of Sun Bear because they had them in January? Also yes Gladys Porter Zoo still has them (or did in January at least).

Lupa Zoo in Massachusetts might still have Asiatic Black Bear but I'll try and visit to find out before the year is out.

~Thylo
 
TheEthiopianWolf03 said:
I can confirm Oakland has three females. Two of them I believe were born at San Diego so they are the youngest in the US as of now right? The names are Pagi, Bulan, and Ting Ting.
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Is there a reason why the youngest female Sun bears in the US are being held by a collection without a male?
 
FunkyGibbon said:
Is there a reason why the youngest female Sun bears in the US are being held by a collection without a male?
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The sun bears are a lost cause in the eyes of the AZA. They had a lack of breeding success so the AZA doesn't really care that much about the species. They are putting more focus now on the sloth and andean bears as they have had some cubs and have a better chance at maintaining a captive population than sun bears do. Also Oakland is very lacking on the breeding side of things. They haven't had much progress with many of the animals they house so most of them are old, in sibling groups, neutered, or just no success. In the case of the sun bears, its a all gender/sibling group with the only exception being Ting Ting who I believe was born in the wild. I have hope for the sun bears as I heard that Chester got a cub a week or so back so maybe the Europeans can help us Americans.
 
TheEthiopianWolf03 said:
The sun bears are a lost cause in the eyes of the AZA. They had a lack of breeding success so the AZA doesn't really care that much about the species. They are putting more focus now on the sloth and andean bears as they have had some cubs and have a better chance at maintaining a captive population than sun bears do. Also Oakland is very lacking on the breeding side of things. They haven't had much progress with many of the animals they house so most of them are old, in sibling groups, neutered, or just no success. In the case of the sun bears, its a all gender/sibling group with the only exception being Ting Ting who I believe was born in the wild. I have hope for the sun bears as I heard that Chester got a cub a week or so back so maybe the Europeans can help us Americans.
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Well aza initially had a population of mostly mainland sun bears. In the 90's they decided to import bornean sun bear, with most of these animals coming from neglected captive situations in Asia. I believe around 20 were imported, only 1 pair ever successfully bred. Otherwise the rest of the population is either mainland sun bears (who have had a moratorium on breeding since the importation of bornean) or part of the Borean import. Their are likely less than 10 sun bears that could even breed in the US. While this is the main reason for the phase out, it also works out that sloth bear needed more spaces to support the SSP, so they have become the focal asian bear species as of 2012. Massive importations would be needed to get the program going and giving the declining space allocation of the species, as well as breeding in other regions being similarly bad (Australia as an example), I doubt they will be back in the future.
 
nczoofan said:
Well aza initially had a population of mostly mainland sun bears. In the 90's they decided to import bornean sun bear, with most of these animals coming from neglected captive situations in Asia. I believe around 20 were imported, only 1 pair ever successfully bred. Otherwise the rest of the population is either mainland sun bears (who have had a moratorium on breeding since the importation of bornean) or part of the Borean import. Their are likely less than 10 sun bears that could even breed in the US. While this is the main reason for the phase out, it also works out that sloth bear needed more spaces to support the SSP, so they have become the focal asian bear species as of 2012. Massive importations would be needed to get the program going and giving the declining space allocation of the species, as well as breeding in other regions being similarly bad (Australia as an example), I doubt they will be back in the future.
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So what is the fate of the sun bears of Oakland?
 
TheEthiopianWolf03 said:
So what is the fate of the sun bears of Oakland?
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AZA zoos are not banned from breeding, yet their are no longer any breeding recommendations and institutions are essentially encouraged to let them live out their lives. Basically putting it on the level of asiatic-black bear. So I imagine Oakland will over time become one of the last zoos to hold sun bear, although they could always shift them to another zoo eventually. Given the ages of most bears, by 2025 the population will be extremely small.

These changes in AZA coincide with EAZA deeming none of its tropical bear programs sustainable (andean, sun and sloth). None of these species have enough space and in 2016 they considered phasing out a species of these 3 to focus on the other two. This was rebuffed by certain zoos according to an EAZA report. Tbh european zoos focusing on andean/sun and AZA zoos focusing on Sloth and Andean would have been the ideal situation. Instead now for europe to maintain these 3 species will require cooperation between both organizations.
 
The US is already working with Europe on the Sloth Bear program. They seem to have abandoned the plan to maintain the Sri Lankan ssp in the AZA and Indian ssp in the EAZA and several zoos have begun importing Indian animals to cross-breed with their Sri Lankan.

Tbh the status of bears in captivity in both America and Europe seems pretty grim apart from native species that can reliably imported... Europe seems to be in a bit better shape than we are, though, imo.

~Thylo
 
ThylacineAlive said:
The US is already working with Europe on the Sloth Bear program. They seem to have abandoned the plan to maintain the Sri Lankan ssp in the AZA and Indian ssp in the EAZA and several zoos have begun importing Indian animals to cross-breed with their Sri Lankan.

Tbh the status of bears in captivity in both America and Europe seems pretty grim apart from native species that can reliably imported... Europe seems to be in a bit better shape than we are, though, imo.

~Thylo
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That is good although, with the complexity of importations, it will be good to see an expansion in Sloth Bear spaces in coming years in the US. At least AZA has been able to convince its zoos to listen to recommendations though, yet this is generally a trend we see. Like the phasing out of Asian black bear and Sun Bear. Hopefully now this trend follows as AZA can focus on breeding sloth bear, andean bear and Polar Bear (although if reproductive trends do not change, we will see a lot of spaces open for brown bear). Polar bears as I said earlier are an area where the US must go it alone and given current trends will not fill even all of the exhibits in coming years. Andean bears have not been breeding well with very few pairs reproducing. Sloth bears are doing a little better on breeding, but still not great.

Europe is definetly doing better though, yet without consolidation of species being focused on, most of their programs will not be sustainable.
 
Sloth Bear (Melursus ursinus)

Akron Zoo, OH: Phased out.
Capron Park Zoo: Vicki and Johnny
Zoo Boise, ID: Paji
Brookfield Zoo, Chicago, IL: Hani and Kartik
Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, OH: Balawat and Chiva (European import)
Creation Kingdom Zoo, Gate City, VA: still holding?
Fresno Chaffee Zoo, CA: I believe phased out.
Lee Richardson Zoo, Garden City, KS: Namba
Little Rock Zoo, AR: Khali, Sahaasa, Pabu, another young male
Lowry Park Zoo, Tampa, FL: Ann and Ken
Sunset Zoo, Manhattan, KS: I believe phased out.
Zoo Miami, FL: Keesha and Hank
Montgomery Zoo, AL: Thelma
Smithsonian Zoo, DC: Remi and Niko (European import)
Philadelphia Zoo, PA: Kayla and Bhalu
Woodland Park Zoo, Seattle, WA: Tasha, Kushali, Bhutan, 2017 two cubs
Tautphaus Park Zoo, Idaho Falls, ID: Priya and Jag
Toledo Zoo, OH: Phased out, Andean bear instead.
*Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo: Kara and Bodo (European import)



Andean Bear (Tremarctos ornatus)

Alexandria Zoo, LA: Spangles & Bandit
Baton Rouge Zoo, LA: Oso
Gladys Porter Zoo, Brownsville, TX: Monco Capac and Pepe
Cincinnati Zoo, OH: Chester
Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, OH: European female import and Lalo
Queens Zoo, Queens, NY: Nicole and one year old cub
Houston Zoo, TX: Phased out
Nashville Zoo, TN: Luka, Muniri and Holt
Smithsonian Zoo, DC: Billie Jean, Bouba, and Quito (European import)
Phoenix Zoo, AZ: Rio & Freckles
Racine Zoo, WI: Nooreja and Diamond
Rolling Hills Zoo, Salina, KS: Japura and Boo Boo
Salisbury Zoo, MD: Chaska and Pinnochio
San Antonio Zoo, TX: Bernadette and Curt
San Diego Zoo, CA: Alba and Turbo
Saint Louis Zoo, MO: Maria and Poncho
Rosamond Gifford Zoo, Syracuse, NY: Kahless and Morath
Reid Park Zoo, Tucson, AZ: Lucy and Morph
Good Zoo, Wheeling, WV: Male (soon to be relocated somewhere else)
*Toledo Zoo: Nieve
 
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