Yi Qi
Well-Known Member
On my visit today, there was a single condor in the exhibit rather then a bear, so the zoo doesn't have Andean/Spectacled bear.
Status of Exotic Bears in U.S. Zoos
- Thread starter Coelacanth18
- Start date
They have not held this species for quite a while. I was there two years ago and the species was already gone and replaced by a condor.
Racine no longer has Andean Bear.
Corangurilla
Well-Known Member
Neither does Toledo.
Or Cincinnati.
ZooTampa no longer keeps Sloth Bear, but they do have a Sun Bear.
They did say something about "continuing their partnership", as I doubt they're going to leave a decent-sized yard and two dayrooms just for something smaller like red pandas or even an Asian black bear.
San diego did exactly that and would have thought they would do something more interesting than red panda.
None of this shocks me about giving up giant pandas. Having friends/colleagues that worked with giant pandas at two of the facilities, it sounds like a much bigger headache (and expense) than dealing with the Hunts and Giant Eland. Atlanta makes sense given their breeding record and having funding more so than San Diego, Memphis and D.C. specifically for pandas but will be interesting what the future holds for them as well.
None of this shocks me about giving up giant pandas. Having friends/colleagues that worked with giant pandas at two of the facilities, it sounds like a much bigger headache (and expense) than dealing with the Hunts and Giant Eland. Atlanta makes sense given their breeding record and having funding more so than San Diego, Memphis and D.C. specifically for pandas but will be interesting what the future holds for them as well.
I sure hope that Memphis doesn't get more pandas. As beloved as they are with some members of the public, they're a species, in my opinion, not worth the cost of keeping (over a million a year!), and with little transparency as to where the funds go once in China. It would be one thing if the million dollar loan went to Panda conservation, but unfortunately the Chinese Government isn't very transparent about what the funds go to. Memphis (and Smithsonian and Atlanta) would be better off choosing different uses for their Panda complexes- whether it be swapping to a different species or re-theming the area altogether.
Persephone
Well-Known Member
I haven’t been to Memphis so can’t comment on its ideal replacement. Atlanta, if they ever lose theirs, could retheme in the area easily enough. The Smithsonian couldn’t as they have a big (South)East Asia complex around it. Maybe they could move the sloth bears in or fill the space with Asian hoofstock, which they don’t have a great deal of.
I've said this before, and I'll say it again, as much as I like Asian hoofstock, the ideal choice for National Zoo if they lose pandas is to move the tigers onto Asia Trail. Lion-Tiger Hill is one of the older, weaker exhibits in the zoo, and they'd benefit from giving a new, more modern home to their Tigers. With some slight renovations, the Panda space could become a great new home for Tigers, freeing up Lion-Tiger Hill for either a larger lion exhibit or some other sort of new development.
Persephone
Well-Known Member
I honestly forgot they had tigers. Yeah, no, agreed. That’s a much more suitably sized exhibit for the species.
The National zoo sloth bear habitat is already really good, arguably it would be a downgrade to move them over.
Smithsonian is unlikely to be going out of them, in a Connect article from a few months back they stated that they are committed to Giant Pandas and are already in negotiations on contract renewal.
Giant Pandas
Giant Pandas
I feel like the National Zoo has built their whole brand around them having pandas, its their big selling point to tourists. Why should you spend some of your limited time in D.C. at the zoo over any of the museums/monuments/historic sites etc., especially since you likely have a local zoo already? Well to see the pandas obviously! I'm not saying there's zero chance they stop keeping pandas, I'd just think it'd be highly unlikely it was the zoo that made that decision.
