Zoo Boise Zoo Updates

Ituri

Ituri

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
I've been thinking about starting a Zoo Boise update thread, but have hesitated seeing as I'm probably just about the only one on the forum to have visited this collection. However, I did realize just how much I enjoy reading updates from zoos I've never been to, so here it goes.

The two remaining bighorn sheep ewes have been sent to the Pocatello Zoo to participate in their breeding program. The bighorn exhibit is undergoing renovations to house a pair of striped hyenas due to arrive from San Diego next month.

The former gemsbok exhibit will then be remodeled in order to house a bachelor group of Visayan warty pigs.

The cotton top tamarins are moving over to live with the sloth in the Small Animal Kingdom building, and the tamarin building will be renovated to house a group of island flying foxes.
 
Visayan warty pigs are slowly but surely expanding throughout North American collections, and it's great to see so many zoos adding the bizarre-looking species to their collection.
 
Ituri said:
I've been thinking about starting a Zoo Boise update thread, but have hesitated seeing as I'm probably just about the only one on the forum to have visited this collection. However, I did realize just how much I enjoy reading updates from zoos I've never been to, so here it goes.

The two remaining bighorn sheep ewes have been sent to the Pocatello Zoo to participate in their breeding program. The bighorn exhibit is undergoing renovations to house a pair of striped hyenas due to arrive from San Diego next month.

The former gemsbok exhibit will then be remodeled in order to house a bachelor group of Visayan warty pigs.

The cotton top tamarins are moving over to live with the sloth in the Small Animal Kingdom building, and the tamarin building will be renovated to house a group of island flying foxes.
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actually, the striped hyena are coming from Dickerson Park Zoo in Springfield, Missouri
 
Yes, I wasn't sure where they were coming from, I only knew that they were owned by San Diego.
 
@Ituri: how often do you go to Zoo Boise, and how long do you and your family spend there? I'm guessing that the visits are not as long as at your old stomping ground the Phoenix Zoo...
 
No, Zoo Boise is NOWHERE near as large as the Phoenix Zoo. The Phoenix Zoo is spread across 125 acres. Zoo Boise is crammed into 11. Essentially, the path that goes around Phoenix Zoo's Africa Trail would pretty much encompass all of Zoo Boise. But, I suppose that is to be expected if one compares the size of a city like Phoenix, with a city like Boise. The entirety of Zoo Boise can be covered extremely well in a couple of hours. In fact I'm usually only there for a half hour at a time (except when I'm volunteering) and I can see about half the zoo on any given visit.

A side note, the zoo has 4 new animals. A group of one month old western spotted skunks have taken up residence in the Simplot Education Center.
 
Along with the 4 new spotted skunks, another new arrival came in this week.

A male North American porcupine from the Red River Zoo in Fargo, ND. He lives in the former Harris' hawk enclosure next to the Penguin Pavilion.
 
I heard that Boise Zoo has a couple of new Visayans Warty Pigs. Some from the San Diego Zoo and one from the Oregon Zoo. They're awesome pigs that are highly endangered in their homeland! Hope Boise will enjoy the male's punk rocker hairdoos when it comes to mating season. They're quite the sight.
 
Yes, there are 4 Visayan warty pigs living at Zoo Boise. All, males, a little over a year old (to the best of my understanding) three from SD, one from Oregon. They are all integrated together now and living in the old gemsbok yard. They are very energetic little pigs and do manage to attract quite a crowd. Along with their relatively newer neighbors the striped hyenas, that area of the zoo has become quite the crowd-pleaser.

I've posted a few photos of the SD boys in the gallery already, when I get a chance I'll get some new photos with all four pigs.
 
Awesome. I'm glad people have taken a liking to them.
I got an e-mail from the Boise Zoo not too soon after my first visit that they would be having Hyenas soon. I'll have to see if we can make a stop by there, the Idaho Falls, and even the Pocatello zoo (Been YEARS since I was there) this September. Though Yellowstone may take up a lot of my time.
 
Idaho Falls has a really nice small zoo. I've posted pictures of both the Tautphaus Park Zoo in IF, and the Pocatello Zoo. The Pocatello Zoo has come a long way, but still has a long way to go.
 
Zoo Boise has posted the following on their Facebook page:
Zoo Boise is making plans for 2011 and they include a few new animal additions. Want to know which ones? Here's a hint for one of them. Any guesses?
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The photo is clearly that of a giant anteater.
 
May 15th heralds the arrival of a new exhibit called "Animals of the Pampas". Species list: giant anteater, maned wolf, rhea and kinkajou.

New Exhibits for 2011
 
Sloth Bear Exhibit and In Situ Conservation

Here is an article about Zoo Boise's sloth bear exhibit renovation and fundraising for in situ conservation of sloth bears.

Zoo Boise donors help sloth bears here and in India | Voices.IdahoStatesman.com

Donors who have helped rebuild the sloth bear exhibit at Zoo Boise also raised $50,000 for a program to protect them in their home in India.

Zoo Boise has awarded a first-year $19,000 grant to Wildlife SOS to create a manual that will help law enforcement officers identify smuggling and poaching activities and a step-by-step guide on how to prosecute wildlife crime. Additional projects will be identified for future phases.

The conservation project coincides with an effort to renovate Zoo Boise’s sloth bear exhibit. Eighty-percent of the $550,000 needed to renovate has been raised from private donors, according to Zoo Boise Director Steve Burns.

Funds raised at this year's Boo at the Zoo benefit Saturday, Oct. 29 will go to both the renovation of the sloth bear exhibit and the animal trafficking education efforts in India.

Preliminary repairs and improvements have already been made to the zoo’s sloth bear exhibit. Visitors will see that a large concrete wall has been painted a vivid blue, which is reminiscent of homes in the city of Jodhpur.

Wildlife SOS has campaigned to end the cruel treatment of “dancing bears,” sloth bears that are tortured as cubs by handlers who string ropes through their sensitive muzzles.

Wildlife SOS co-founder Kartick Satyanarayan will be in Boise Tuesday to speak to zoo staff and donors about the Wildlife SOS and the challenges it faces as a leading conservation organization in the Indian subcontinent.

He led Wildlife SOS and its effort to end the brutal centuries-old practice that was endangering India’s wild sloth bears. In December 2009, the last dancing bear was rescued from the Indian streets.

Only 6,000 to 20,000 wild sloth bears remain in Asia; the species was recently declared extinct in Bangladesh.
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