Use of Dead animal products in Zoos

F

foz

Well-Known Member
What do people think of the use of dead animal products in zoos, such as skeletons, skins, stuffed specimens etc?

I personally am in total favour of these products, I feel they can give insights into animals that can't be seen in live animals. used as educational tools they can be really effective and often add to the woeful educational dispalys found in zoos (often just a sign with a name, picture, diet, and range)
 
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I love it! I just purchased a number of taxidermy books in the hope of trying some out for myself, and am preparing some skulls too.
 
Hi,

This is ok, and educational benefit. You can organise a nice exposition with skeletons, stuffed animals, showing details like diet, function of some bones, organs, etc.

I only would avoid it in case of some animals that where before "special" animals at the place.

You uderstand what I mean? I meaning you would immagine Knut stuffed in a Museum in Berlin Zoo? Ah Meng in Singapore zoo?

This would be shoking the people that loved this animals, and some zoos/ museuns do that, not thinking one the emmotional of this people!
 
A great educational tool. Best used on 'what not to buy' touch tables which educate visitors on being cautious of the souviners they might buy on holiday.
 
Indeed, it certainly is educational but like has been mentioned, best not to use animals the public "know personally" if you will :p
This is why I can't understand CAPS throwing such a hissy fit when NAZF planned on doing this with their deceased tiger.
 
I'm all in favor of it. Royal Ontario Museum has a taxidermied rhino which once lived at Toronto, and I'd rather they use deceased captive animals than wild for museum mounts (which is quickly becoming a thing of the past, thankfully). Toronto Zoo also has several touch tables and I've learned a lot from them (and still do).
 
It may be different between countries how far zoos can go in these matters. In the US they probably have to be somewhat careful with the use of dead animal products (thanks to 'Bambi' and 'Lion King' and such) but probably less in countries like France and Australia. But perhaps no country beats Denmark. A related topic is the famous carcass feeding in Copenhagen Zoo; but I remember when I visited Aalborg Zoo in 2002. In a tunnel by the polar bear exhibit was and maybe still is a glass box containing a stuffed cub. It had been born in the zoo I think the year before but did not survive more than a few weeks and probably never made it to public display.

We have now had three years of Knut and it has been confirmed how much the public loves polar bear cubs. Polar bears have again become a 'must' in every zoo, zoos that had sent theirs away are getting them back and trying to breed them in order to get a piece of the Knut cake while it is still warm out of the oven. But this was before Knut was born. As Eduardo noted, no one could imagine Knut upon his death being stuffed at a Berlin museum. But this particular polar bear cub in Aalborg never made it to public display which means the general public never managed to form emotions for it.

So is anything wrong with exhibiting a stuffed, small, innocent, cute little polar bear cub in a box next to its living mother and other relatives. Again, it probably depends on the country in question, but overall I think it is nessessary to try and let zoo visitors realise how small chances are that a polar bear cub in the wild will reach adulthood, for if three cubs are born, almost certainly will at least one die soon after birth and often another one later, making it only one that becomes adult.
 
Baldur said:
A related topic is the famous carcass feeding in Copenhagen Zoo;........
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Yes, related and perhaps slightly off-topic but nevertheless: is it really that unique? (The reason that I am asking is that I have not visited nearly as many zoos as most other forumsters have.)
 
I think it's fantastic for educational purposes! but as a christian i belive something that's dead should be left peacefully in the ground! not saying all zoo's do this (probably most do not, exept for animals that they are very fond of) which i disagree about! One of the main resons why i say this is that they've educated already to the world about themselves and endanger-arity and deserve to be left peacefully! Which thinking about it, is strange coming from a non-veggitarian! but animals were put on the earth for US, wheather it being entertainment or food! and for god, us eating them is acceptable! Sorry for preaching! but it's just my belief and as many here have different belifef's it's nice to see other sides of things and religions! Also coming off religion, if zoos/animal parks start selling dead animal products, the public will think it's acceptable to buy these products and buy illegal ones, i.e endangred animal products! or ones from terrible conditions i.e chinease fur farms!
 
Dan said:
Yes, related and perhaps slightly off-topic but nevertheless: is it really that unique? (The reason that I am asking is that I have not visited nearly as many zoos as most other forumsters have.)
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I think so but then I have 'only' seen around 120 zoos. Almost in every zoo you can watch reptiles, birds of prey and small carnivores being fed white mice but those are the only 'non-processed' foods I have ever seen used. Feeding large carcesses of say goats that have died in the petting zoo is not common anywhere, at least not during public hours. However there was a small zoo here in Iceland from 1968 to 1988 which would buy seal carcasses from hunters and dump them whole in the polar bear enclosure from time to time during public hours. A feast for the inhabitants!
 
I think it's fantastic for educational purposes! but as a christian i belive something that's dead should be left peacefully in the ground! not saying all zoo's do this (probably most do not, exept for animals that they are very fond of) which i disagree about! One of the main resons why i say this is that they've educated already to the world about themselves and endanger-arity and deserve to be left peacefully! Which thinking about it, is strange coming from a non-veggitarian! but animals were put on the earth for US, wheather it being entertainment or food! and for god, us eating them is acceptable! Sorry for preaching! but it's just my belief and as many here have different belifef's it's nice to see other sides of things and religions! Also coming off religion, if zoos/animal parks start selling dead animal products, the public will think it's acceptable to buy these products and buy illegal ones, i.e endangred animal products! or ones from terrible conditions i.e chinease fur farms!
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No one's saying they should be sold though. And I'm pretty sure that the bible states that the animals were put there for us to care for and the plants were for us to eat? That's from the Adam and Eve saga.
 
i feel that this is ok but i prefer to see confiscated custom objects e.g rhino horn, fur snake, skin etc. Colchester have a really good education table full of an array of things. I think this helps show people espescially children what animals are cruely turned into.
 
ZooLeopard said:
i feel that this is ok but i prefer to see confiscated custom objects e.g rhino horn, fur snake, skin etc. Colchester have a really good education table full of an array of things. I think this helps show people espescially children what animals are cruely turned into.
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Yeah it is great, but lets not hope for more customs confiscatees :p
 
ChesterGemsbok said:
I think it's fantastic for educational purposes! but as a christian i belive something that's dead should be left peacefully in the ground! not saying all zoo's do this (probably most do not, exept for animals that they are very fond of) which i disagree about! One of the main resons why i say this is that they've educated already to the world about themselves and endanger-arity and deserve to be left peacefully! Which thinking about it, is strange coming from a non-veggitarian! but animals were put on the earth for US, wheather it being entertainment or food! and for god, us eating them is acceptable! Sorry for preaching! but it's just my belief and as many here have different belifef's it's nice to see other sides of things and religions! Also coming off religion, if zoos/animal parks start selling dead animal products, the public will think it's acceptable to buy these products and buy illegal ones, i.e endangred animal products! or ones from terrible conditions i.e chinease fur farms!
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I don't know if you were aware of it, but legally zoos are not allowed to just bury many species in the ground, and even if they were why should they? As far as I'm aware, the bible doesn't say that people (even less animals) should be left in the ground, and even if it did then Jesus certainly went against that teaching! In addition, there aren't undertakers roaming the savanna burying every deceased dung beetle, so why should it be any different in a zoo - it's just an uneccessary waste of space and time.

PS. I object to the view that God gave us the animals, there is no proof in this claim and it leads us to think we are above the natural world - a very dangerous idea.
 
redpanda said:
I don't know if you were aware of it, but legally zoos are not allowed to just bury many species in the ground, and even if they were why should they? As far as I'm aware, the bible doesn't say that people (even less animals) should be left in the ground, and even if it did then Jesus certainly went against that teaching! In addition, there aren't undertakers roaming the savanna burying every deceased dung beetle, so why should it be any different in a zoo - it's just an uneccessary waste of space and time.

PS. I object to the view that God gave us the animals, there is no proof in this claim and it leads us to think we are above the natural world - a very dangerous idea.
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There are many different versions of the bible and most associate with the country the bible is read in! I'm a "welsh celtic bresbetarian festri Cristian", don't ask about the long title! and in ours it DOSE state the things that i have said! But most of it is the same! @ Ash, the bible was just word of mouth from jesus's stories for a long time and things like "animals were to care and plants to eat" goes from country to country people some minor changes hapen! and as animals and plants are so close things tend to change over time. Which is fine, because religion is meant to adapt! and Religion = Belief
and no one has the right to tell you what to belive in! wheather it's one version of the bible or not! Another thing is, the "leaving animals in peace" is my opinion, my belief. @ redpanda, Why was Jesus against that teaching? and as animals die they either get eaten or die of natural causes (i.e without man involved) and those who die of natural causes go to the ground, and in a wierd way so do those who get eaten (droppings)!
 
i see it as perfectly fine. the Ky Fauna Park has a stuffed freshwater croc on display with a species of monitor.these stuffed animals provide the opportunity for the public (school kids in particular) to feel some animals that they would not normally be able to touch in captivity and in the wild.

although......after seeing some less than reputable taxidermy jobs i have to say it is better to have a realistic animal on display rather than a un-realistic scraggly animal. a real example (dead echidna with the skeleton torn away and the flesh left to shrivel)
 
ChesterGemsbok said:
@ redpanda, Why was Jesus against that teaching? and as animals die they either get eaten or die of natural causes (i.e without man involved) and those who die of natural causes go to the ground, and in a wierd way so do those who get eaten (droppings)!
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It was kind of a joke in that when jesus was buried, he didn't exactly stay in the ground. And I don't pretend to know the strange teachings of every christian church, but if it makes you happy to believe that all animals return to the earth, then so be it although I object to you asking zoos to bury their animals, what about the risk of a disease that animal may have spreading to others? Anyway, as arrogant as it sounds I don't want to get into a religious debate with you as I am certain that you're beliefs are wrong (in the same way you are sure that I am) so, as neither of us will be converted, I see no point in dragging this thread further off topic.
 
redpanda said:
then so be it although I object to you asking zoos to bury their animals, what about the risk of a disease that animal may have spreading to others?
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Zoos are not allowed to "give the animals back to the ground". We have to incinerate all animals after a necropsya is made if we dont want to preservate the body or part of it.
 
redpanda said:
It was kind of a joke in that when jesus was buried, he didn't exactly stay in the ground. And I don't pretend to know the strange teachings of every christian church, but if it makes you happy to believe that all animals return to the earth, then so be it although I object to you asking zoos to bury their animals, what about the risk of a disease that animal may have spreading to others? Anyway, as arrogant as it sounds I don't want to get into a religious debate with you as I am certain that you're beliefs are wrong (in the same way you are sure that I am) so, as neither of us will be converted, I see no point in dragging this thread further off topic.
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I don't ask them to bury their animals AT-ALL as my beliefs are different to other beliefs, but i just dissagree with it personally, but wouldn't make a fuss about it. I agree that we should end it here!
 
Baldur said:
I think so but then I have 'only' seen around 120 zoos. Almost in every zoo you can watch reptiles, birds of prey and small carnivores being fed white mice but those are the only 'non-processed' foods I have ever seen used. Feeding large carcesses of say goats that have died in the petting zoo is not common anywhere, at least not during public hours. However there was a small zoo here in Iceland from 1968 to 1988 which would buy seal carcasses from hunters and dump them whole in the polar bear enclosure from time to time during public hours. A feast for the inhabitants!
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Thanks! Very interesting. Well it might just be then that the Danish zoos are more open in these matters. I have even seen on tv how a keeper fetched a goat from the petting zoo, killed it and fed it to some predators. It wasn´t Copenhagen but some of the other bigger zoos, perhaps Aalborg or Givskud Park.

In this picture you see the wolves in Copenhagen fed with a pig´s carcass:

http://www.zoochat.com/419/wolfpack-being-fed-31951/
 
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