Buenos Aires Eco-Park Zoo News

ocean_boy

ocean_boy

Well-Known Member
A few updates from my last visit to the zoo:

- There are four new ostriches. No idea where they came from.
- The Common Eland exhibit was split into two different exhibits: the smallest is for them, and the larger one is for the somali sheep.
- The last Rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta) of the zoo was missing during my visit. It´s cage is now holding a Southern Tamandua. I will try to figure out if it has died or not.
- The coypus exhibit has been remodeled. You can see pictures in the gallery.
- The Southern Tamanduas are now living in new cages. One of those cages used to be empty and the other is the former Rhesus macaque cage. The "new" cages are bigger and have vegetation, they are not perfect but they are much better than the others. You can see pictures in the gallery.
- The couple of cheetahs are now living together. Let's hope everything goes well so they can reproduce for the first time.
 
A giraffe was born on February 16 to first time mother, Jackie. Unfortunately the calf did not make it and it died the next day. The staff did the best they could.

This is a terrible lost for the zoo, they were expecting this birth with enthusiasm. The breeding pair that it's currently living at Buenos Aires Zoo are the only giraffes in Argentina.
 
that is unfortunate. Hope for better luck with her next calf though.
 
That is unfortunate. Hope for the better next time.

I remember seeing only one giraffe when I was there in a largish yard.
This was around 2008-2009.
 
Yes, Jackie used to be alone until Bady came from Chile in July 2009.

I also hope for better luck the next time. We need more giraffes here, and Jackie definetly deserves a second chance.
 
It would be really nice and perhaps a bit revolutionary to combine all yards (giraffe, zebra and rhinos ...) into a bigger savannah.

And also the South American area with deer, vicunas, anteaters ....
(whether that is practical is of course somewhat conjecture).

Do they still hold mazamas?
What about new pudus?

An exchange of vicunas with European and Zoologico de Santiago, Chile would be nice too. BA has a large group.
 
A bigger exhibit combining many of the savannah species would be great. I do not know the reasons but the zoo is not very keen on making mixed exhibits. They once tried to put the zebras with the giraffes and ostriches but it didn't work out.

The mazamas are still at the zoo, there are three animals: the breeding pair, and a juvenile male which was born at the park. Adding pudus would be very interesting, there are not many argentinian zoos that hold them.

Yes, exchanging some of the vicunas would be a good move too, the group is alredy large and it continues growing.

The zoo needs lots of changes; some of them can be done very easily, while others will need a big amount of money. Nevertheless, until the government chooses a new private company to take over the zoo, very few changes will be made, especially those involving money.
 
Some updates:

- Last November a female common Eland was born, however, her mother rejected her so she had to be hand-raised by her zookeepers. She is named "Morena" and she is now on public display and living with her mother.

- Two female maned wolves ("Mora" and "Pampa") were sent to Córdoba Zoo, other argentinian zoo. Just one of them was born at the zoo, the other came from Corrientes.

- Jamel, a male white lion was also transferred to Córdoba Zoo. He was born at the zoo, no idea what the zoo is going to do with his two sisters. Córdoba Zoo is trying to get a female from a Mexican Zoo so as to reproduce him.
 
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o_b, does the zoo continue to exhibit maned wolf?

I thought they were integral as they do quite a bit of in situ conservation work too with these ...! What are the plans here?
 
Yes, the zoo still exhibits maned wolves. There are 5 or 4 animals but I have to find out well, now that ISIS is not public anymore.

The zoo reproduces them in order to provide more captive born animals to other zoos, and also some animals are reintroduced in their habitat. In addition, the zoo sometimes works as a rehabilitation center for animals that have been hurt or victims of the illegal trade.

Their in situ conservation work mainly consists in studying the wild population and avoid any factor that can damage it. Their studies provide information that help them in their ex situ conservation work in the zoo, specially in the specie's reproduction and diet. The zoo works along with some others zoos from Argentina, some private organizations and a few foreign zoos.

The zoo has many negative aspects, but most of their conservation programmes are excellent and well designed, specially taking into account that the zoo receives very little support form the local governments.
 
Exactly, as the article says the future of the zoo is very uncertain. However, I want to clarify that even though at the beginning of the article says that the government is going to sell the zoo, that's not fully accurate. The government is going to make a concession for five years (the article mentions something about this at the very end) with the person/company that will be the new manager, it's like renting the zoo for five years, but the real owner is still going to be the government.

There have already passed several months since the government should have decided who would be in charge of the zoo. But unfortunately, the zoo is in the middle of a political battle, and the government's plan does not help either. The design of the plan is not the best, cause it focus more on the historical buildings and the money rather than on the animals and the zoo staff.

The opinions are very varied: some people want a completely new zoo; others want just a few changes while others do not want any change at all. Many groups are against the zoo, and some of them want a new zoo with no exotic species, and with just native animals which need rehabilitation or that have been victims of iligal trade.

I do not know what is going to happen, but I want this problem to end as soon as possible because the zoo is a bit "paralyzed": there are not many important investments, and no future plans can be done until a new manager is decided.
 
@oceanboy, it sounds like a municipality and national government trying to sell short their own responsibilities when it comes down to animal welfare and the future of Zoologico de Buenos Aires.

The resulting political infighting amongst zoo staff is understandable.

My question: what has happened to the zoological and animal management staff at Zoo de B.A. in all this?

If I had my say I would have Temaiken Foundation co-run the zoo!
 
Yes, you're right, the State does not want to be in charge of the zoo, and unfortunately, they give very little importance to this issue, the privatization contract expired over a year ago and they haven't decided what to do the with zoo yet. They are now trying to give the zoo to the company that offers the largest amount of money, without considering the experience or future projects.

Since 1991, the government has continued delegating the administration of the zoo to private people/companies. In that year the state made a contract which said that the zoo would be in private hands for twenty years. During those two decades many companies took over the zoo, some of the companies were disastrous; others were good; but none of them were excellent. Many species were lost, very few investments were done and those that were done, were poor or have become bad because of the lack of maintenance, just like the "Rainforest Building". Nevertheless, the potical and economic situation didn't help either. During those twenty years, Argentina had extremely different governments and a huge financial crisis around 2001, so not much money was really available.

Nowadays, the zoo is managed by a company that have been in charge of the zoo since a few years. The company is interested in continue managing the place, but many groups are against them. It is not the best nor the worst management that the zoo has had, nonetheless, they are more interested in adding more animals rather than improving the enclosures or repairing the historical buildings - I really hate those buildings, they're beautiful but most of them are unsuitable for the modern standars, however, most of the people are more keen on them than on the animals. The zoo has a low mortality rate, but also a low birth rate, so the zoo has many old animals that are going to be difficult to replace due to the lack of births.

The most important people of the staff, like the head of the Veterinary Department, are not very worried about the situation, they tend to think that this is just a political problem. Those in lower positions, might be more worried becuase nobody knows if all this issue will cause layoffs.

Temaiken Foundation is the ideal candidate: it has experience, money and a very good management. The government had tried to persuade them of taking over the zoo, but Temaiken rejected the offer.
 
The government has finally declared that the same company that is now in charge of the zoo, will continue managing the place for five years. The State made an auction with the three companies that were interested in taking over the zoo, and the company that offered the largest amount of money per month has won.

It's a shame that the State gave more importance to the money rather than considering the proposals and plans of each company. I really hope the company make a better job than it has done so far, the zoo needs many changes.
 
Sadly, a wash out. I do not see any guarantees for animal welfare or quality control in animal management or husbandry in this company. I find it sad that not a zoological society capacity management has been installed. Was and is in my mind the best solution and would leave management in the hands of local zoo staff instead of outside high rise capital investors with no connection to zoo management / or husbandry experience.
 
Sad News:

"Winner", the last polar bear of Buenos Aires Zoo died on Christmas mainly because of the unusually high temperatures. It is also believed that the fireworks also influenced due to his nervous temperament. He came from Chile some years ago.

This is a terrible loss, Winner was one of the most beloved animals of the zoo. However, it was well known that his living conditions were not great: his enclosure was outdated and was not prepared for housing polar bears. If his exhibit had been better, he might have had chances of surviving. Unfortunately, the zoo did not send him to another zoo that could have gave him better conditions.

The zoo has established that no other polar bear is going to replace Winner, and it's not decided yet what is going to happen with the former polar bear enclosure.

Now that Winner is dead, there is only one polar bear left in Argentina: Arturo, a male who lives at Mendoza Zoo. He's around 30 years old, and has some health problems because of his age.
 
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