When Will the United States Stop Pinioning Large Bird Species?

Zoo Birding

Zoo Birding

Well-Known Member
5+ year member
As we move towards better husbandry and management practices, the one thing that irks me and infuriates me as a bird lover is seeing large bird species such as flamingos, cranes, storks, pelicans, large herons, and even ibises, spoonbills, and large, Old World vultures continue to having their wings pinioned.

What spurred this was seeing a video from the Brookfield Zoo where they were taking their new American flamingo chicks out onto the grounds. When I saw one of them flapping, I noticed it was pinioned.

I understand that pinioning a bird is used to keep these species from flying out in the enclosure (I heard from a zookeeper acquaintance that the African crowned-cranes are notorious escape artists), and to enhance a large, mixed species space. With some local species such as American white pelicans and turkey vultures, sometimes the birds come in that way or worse because they had a horrific injury.

Just because certain large species can reproduce while being pinioned, I feel doesn't mean it should be continued.

I love the proposed concept that Vogelpark Avifauna is doing by creating a large, I believe, 2.5 acre, covered (netted), African savanna enclosure that include some hoof stock and would allow large bird species to fly freely without being pinioned. I've seen on other forums European zoos having large walkthrough aviaries specifically for larger species to mix and interact with each other, sometimes with monkeys and some duikers.

Why hasn't the AZA and the ZAA come together to stop this practice?

These are just my thoughts and opinions on the matter.
 
Zoo Birding said:
Why hasn't the AZA and the ZAA come together to stop this practice?
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This is especially irritating. While I don’t expect ZAA and unaccredited zoos to stop it any time soon (I am not excusing it by any means) it is irritating to see AZA, which always parades about being the gold standard on animal welfare, to not acknowledge the issue at all. This even hurts their campaigns and messages as well. For example, zoos will tell visitors about how demanding large parrots are and how much space they need. However when one sees a macaw on a stick, all that talk about how parrots are demanding and such could fly over their head.

It is especially irritating for old world vultures. While the main reason to keep them on open top enclosures was to mix them with ungulates, the two open top enclosures I saw in person aren’t even mixed with large ungulates. But even so the ungulate savanna mix makes no sense. The image of a savanna consists of vultures flying in circles and only on ground while eating. Pinioning them doesn’t give that image so there isn’t even a immersion, for people to gush over. The AZA should not stand idly by as its members are giving cosmetic mutilations to endangered and critically endangered birds.

Of course if no one is standing up for macaws then waiting for people to stand up for vultures is going to be a long wait. Sadly we live in a society which people won’t emphasize with birds as much as charismatic mammals like elephants and apes which are often the poster children of anti zoo material. Heck, the fact that anti zoo activists hadn’t. Like they would have an easier victory with this than doing something as erroneous as giving personhood to elephants.

The best thing that can be done is to raise awareness until someone with a large platform picks up on the issue and is able to pressure AZA (or the federal government) to stop doing this.
 
PossumRoach said:
it is irritating to see AZA, which always parades about being the gold standard on animal welfare, to not acknowledge the issue at all.
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Maybe you are too harsh on AZA?

EAZA and BIAZA are not any better. It was only pinioning ban imposed by governments of first Denmark, later Netherland and Germany that forced their local zoos to discontinue pinioning. Which then prompted some TAGs (not even the EAZA as a whole) to recommend keeping certain large birds flighted in aviaries. It´s not even a hard rule for its member institutions today.

There was short campain of British animal right activits to shame local zoos and WWT centers about pinioning. It went nowhere because as you correctly stated general public simply doesn´t care.

I don´t know a single zoo that decided on its own to discontinue pinioning of all its birds while it was still legal practise in the country.
 
Many European zoos are leagues ahead of their American counterparts when it comes to showcasing birds in massive community aviaries or to allow every bird in a zoo to be fully flighted. Also, the act of pinioning seems to be far more common in the USA than most progressive, western European nations. All those American zoo "exhibits" with parrots on sticks are now viewed as an embarrassment, and yet vultures hopping around in fields and unable to fly is something that's still fairly common in America. The mutilation of wings is certainly cheaper than enclosing a space and creating an aviary. At least there are some US zoos that are finally beginning to enclose their flamingos in aviaries, which is a positive trend.

Even excellent, popular zoos have pinioned vultures, as shown in these three examples.

Living Desert Zoo has pinioned Eurasian Black Vultures sitting around on logs amidst hoofstock:

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San Diego Zoo Safari Park has had Hooded Vultures, Egyptian Vultures and other species hopping around and unable to fly in this exhibit for decades:

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Detroit Zoo has had several species, including this Cinereous Vulture, hopping around in a field with hoofstock for decades:

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@evilmonkey239
 
The LA Zoo I volunteer at is opening a new Cape Vulture Exhibit which is a mesh flight cage allowing the vultures to fly, most of the birds except the flamingos, Sarus Cranes, and Trumpeter Swans live in aviaries or mesh cages that allow them to fly.
 
While I don't want to shame any institutions or bash anyone in particular, I do feel that pinioning birds is blatantly compromising their welfare.

However, I think the way forward is trying to be positive about education, not trying to shame or yell at anyone. You gotta have a gentle touch.
 
The idea of pinioned vultures still blows my mind, I've never actually seen it in Europe personally but it may very well exist. With other birds commonly pinioned, at least these are birds which are typically moreso seen as "ground" birds but vultures? To me it looks especially sad compared to say cranes, flamingoes, pelicans etc. Not to anthropomorphise but it looks pretty depressing for the vultures and of course also the classic "parrot on a stick"...

I am glad pinioning is on the way out here, more and more zoos are constructing large aviaries for flamingoes and other birds.
 
The biggest problem with pinioning is also that it is a permanent procedure. If "Zoo 1" breeds flamingos, and pinions all their flamingos at birth, those flamingos will never be able to fly. It doesn't even matter if in five years they move to "Zoo 2" which houses flamingos in a large aviary that would otherwise enable flight. While it'd be unrealistic for zoos to overnight stop housing birds in open-topped enclosures, I do think it's reasonable to stop the practice of pinioning for good and instead wing clip when necessary. It's also something that how problematic it is varies by taxa. Vultures, spoonbills, storks, and parrots are all horrible species to pinion, and it frustrates me that there are still zoos that don't give these species aviaries. However, there are some species that, while I'm opposed to all pinioning, it doesn't seem problematic to wing-clip given their different natural behaviors and ecology, such as cranes and waterfowl.
 
I don't know if there is a difference in institutional interest between the United States and Europe, or if this may be a similar situation to lemur and primate walkthroughs which are common here, but not there.

My personal experience leans in the former direction -- it feels like the practice represents a lack of interest and commitment in birds. The animals typically used for this practice often feel very ornamental, a way to make a hoofstock enclosure or a pool feel more interesting but not in any kind of focus, where otherwise birds would not be present at all. I would personally prefer these pinioned animals be removed and new aviaries be added instead, but I fear many zoos would forgo the birds entirely in that situation instead. I have been to more zoos that lack macaws entirely than zoos that allow them in flight; it feels like there is a hesitation to invest in larger aviaries and flight cages appropriate for larger species like birds of prey, macaws, toucans, flamingo, storks, cranes, and so forth, and facilities seem more comfortable going without these animals than crafting better, proper exhibits for them. St. Louis removed their macaws on sticks from River's Edge, leaving a wasted, empty space. They made the right choice for welfare, but the fact macaws are not represented elsewhere is still disappointing and feels unsatisfying as a solution.

I am not suggesting pinioning birds should be justified for collection reasons, please don't misunderstand, I am saying I feel it represents a deeper problem.

I am especially disappointed in Brookfield for this practice with the new flamingos as they will be held most of the time in an indoor enclosure in The Swamp. The news they would be taking over that habitat made me expect they would be able to retain their flight since they would be indoors anyway, but the desire for them to be able to walk amongst guests once a day and act as ambassadors seems to have forced the pinioning. Of course, pinioned flamingo could have been held outdoors at the Formal Pool, making the decision to do this and then place them in an indoor building even more baffling.
 
Pinioning is not extremely common here in Australia, but wing clipping of waterfowl, storks, brolgas, and pelicans, and to a lesser extent bustards, pheasants and stone curlews, is prevalent. Australia Zoo has recently finally removed their "macaw-on-a-stick" exhibit, and although Shoalhaven Zoo does have a wing clipped Sulphur-crested Cockatoo and I have seen photos of a "parrot-on-a-stick exhibit at Tasmania Zoo, parrots are almost always kept flighted in aviaries. As some of you may know, we do not have flamingoes or vultures in Australian zoos, though New Zealand's only flamingo flock is wing clipped.

One of the main Australian offenders (at least that I have seen) for preventing flight in birds is Featherdale Wildlife Park. Though every other part of the park is brilliant, and they can be highly commended for having large aviaries for storks and brolgas, they do have rather a lot of flight-restricted birds. Pelicans, waterfowl, herons, ibises, egrets, a Golden Pheasant, even gulls, cormorants and a Tawny Frogmouth, are all kept in open-topped exhibits. Luckily, this practice seems to be on a downwards trend. Featherdale used to have the only Brown Skua in captivity (now long gone) flight restricted. (I was even unfortunate/lucky enough to be bitten by it)! They also used to have a very large number of kookaburras and Tawny Frogmouths on the ground in the koala walkthrough, as well as flightless spoonbills, pheasants, quails, a Laughing Turtle-dove, brush turkeys, and even Rainbow Lorikeets at one point. With all of these birds that are and were kept flight restricted at Featherdale, I do not know if they are pinioned, wing clipped or if some of them are rescues that had had some injury which means they cannot fly.
 
JVM said:
United States and Europe, or if this may be a similar situation to lemur and primate walkthroughs which are common here, but not there.
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I thought primate walkthroughs were more common in Europe. In fact there there is a greater number of species used in Europe including macaques which will never be kept in a walkthrough display in the US. That and, as far as I know, in Europe if a visitor gets in trouble for breaking the rules they can’t or don’t sue the zoo for their mistakes and get cause the zoo to lose money from it.
 
PossumRoach said:
I thought primate walkthroughs were more common in Europe. In fact there there is a greater number of species used in Europe including macaques which will never be kept in a walkthrough display in the US. That and, as far as I know, in Europe if a visitor gets in trouble for breaking the rules they can’t or don’t sue the zoo for their mistakes and get cause the zoo to lose money from it.
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That is what I meant, sorry, seems I mixed up the "here" and "there".
 
Zoo Birding said:
I love the proposed concept that Vogelpark Avifauna is doing by creating a large, I believe, 2.5 acre, covered (netted), African savanna enclosure that include some hoof stock and would allow large bird species to fly freely without being pinioned. I've seen on other forums European zoos having large walkthrough aviaries specifically for larger species to mix and interact with each other, sometimes with monkeys and some duikers.
Click to expand...

I should add that this aviary was never going to happen. It was an extremely high-concept plan that was made only as a sketch. In reality, it would have been the size of half the park and multiple brand-new projects would have had to be demolished. Avifauna is still planning a sizeable aviary, but not mixed with hoofstock.

Saying that, however. These aviaries do still exist in Europe. Most famously in Antwerp (with Cape buffalo and Hooded and Rüppel’s vultures, as well as multiple ducks, starlings, spoonbills, storks, ibises, pigeons, turacos, hornbills, rollers and weavers (24 species total in avairy)), Beauval (Hippos and Nyala with Hooded, White-headed and Palm-nut vultures, as well as multiple ducks, storks, ibises, pelicans and formerly cranes) and Doué la Fontaine (Okapi with Palm-nut and Hooded vultures, as well as a whole bunch of other birds and even guenons! (this is the only aviary I don't have a species list for but I'm sure someone can help me out))

That's just the hoofstock aviaries, of course. There's still many amazing aviaries where vultures can fully soar in the open air for a little while, including Amersfoort and Burgers' Zoo (BZ being a greenhouse)
 
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Fallax said:
The idea of pinioned vultures still blows my mind, I've never actually seen it in Europe personally but it may very well exist. With other birds commonly pinioned, at least these are birds which are typically moreso seen as "ground" birds but vultures? To me it looks especially sad compared to say cranes, flamingoes, pelicans etc. Not to anthropomorphise but it looks pretty depressing for the vultures and of course also the classic "parrot on a stick"...

I am glad pinioning is on the way out here, more and more zoos are constructing large aviaries for flamingoes and other birds.
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In Beauval there has been a pinioned pair of Griffon Vultures living with Sitatungas, Emus and Marabou Storks, that had a strange story, being unable to fly before they were pinioned (I don't know their early history, but they were an elderly pair when I saw them). Nonetheless they managed to breed, the keepers building a small fenced area around the nest to avoid trampling or other incidents.
This old pair isn't anymore present since 2020, they are now either dead or removed off-exhibit.
 
JVM said:
I
I am especially disappointed in Brookfield for this practice with the new flamingos as they will be held most of the time in an indoor enclosure in The Swamp. The news they would be taking over that habitat made me expect they would be able to retain their flight since they would be indoors anyway, but the desire for them to be able to walk amongst guests once a day and act as ambassadors seems to have forced the pinioning. Of course, pinioned flamingo could have been held outdoors at the Formal Pool, making the decision to do this and then place them in an indoor building even more baffling.
Click to expand...

Pinioning flamingos is done at a couple days of age and would have been done by whoever bred these birds (not Brookfield) probably before knowing which facility would be housing them later.

I hear a lot about pinioned parrots on this site as well but as someone who has worked with parrots, this is not generally done (I am not sure it is done at all.) Every parrot on a stick I have seen is a wing clipped bird. If not trimmed, they would regain flight feathers within a year, though muscle loss from clipping early in life is not always reversible and some would still never fly.
 
Jana said:
Maybe you are too harsh on AZA?

EAZA and BIAZA are not any better. It was only pinioning ban imposed by governments of first Denmark, later Netherland and Germany that forced their local zoos to discontinue pinioning. Which then prompted some TAGs (not even the EAZA as a whole) to recommend keeping certain large birds flighted in aviaries. It´s not even a hard rule for its member institutions today.

There was short campain of British animal right activits to shame local zoos and WWT centers about pinioning. It went nowhere because as you correctly stated general public simply doesn´t care.

I don´t know a single zoo that decided on its own to discontinue pinioning of all its birds while it was still legal practise in the country.
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Chester Zoo discontinued pinioning some years ago. It’s still legal in UK.
 
Sheather said:
Pinioning flamingos is done at a couple days of age and would have been done by whoever bred these birds (not Brookfield) probably before knowing which facility would be housing them later.

I hear a lot about pinioned parrots on this site as well but as someone who has worked with parrots, this is not generally done (I am not sure it is done at all.) Every parrot on a stick I have seen is a wing clipped bird. If not trimmed, they would regain flight feathers within a year, though muscle loss from clipping early in life is not always reversible and some would still never fly.
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Thank you for clarifying this, it does make me feel a lot better about Brookfield's choices regarding these animals.
 
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