Santa Barbara Zoo What do you do when a wild eagle wants to snack on your residents?

Most wild predators in zoos are attracted by waterfowl that have been rendered defenceless, I'd guess.

I never, ever like seeing birds that have been pinioned. If zoos chopped off the hands of gibbons or spider monkeys there would be howls of protest.
 
You may be right about the waterfowl Ian, but in the case of this zoo the waterfowl are actually wild individuals living on a wildlife preserve right next to the zoo. There is also a wild cormorant rookery that has established itself in the middle of the zoo, so between the birds and the fish in the wildlife preserve pond I can see where it would be very attractive to a bald eagle.
 
The role of zoos as sanctuaries for wildlife is often understated. I can remember seeing a flock of Northern pintail in the old hippo pond in San Diego; this side of the Atlantic, these are very wary birds that you wouldn't get within a quarter of a mile from. London Zoo sits in a park that has a wild heronry, and the resident grey herons are often to be seen loitering near the zoo's pelican flock.
 
At our home zoo of Cleveland we used to exhibit African Grey Parrots in a open tree at the bottom of Giraffe Hill.The exhibit soon became a buffet for local birds of prey and the parrots have since been put in a gawdy cage in the same location.When it was announced that Elephant Crossing would include an Aviary containing African birds we thought the greys would be moving there.However this never happened as the zoo opted for smaller bird species.While we completely understand the value of these birds it is our opinon that if they cannot be exhibited in large covered aviary then we would rather them not be displayed at all.A horrid looking bird cage is not accecptable for such magnificant birds.

Team Tapir
 
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