ZooChat Cup Group D2: Plzen vs San Diego

Plzen vs San Diego: Asia

  • Total voters
    35
  • Poll closed .
amur leopard said:
Yes... unfortunately Plzen spends blows all its budget on hiring people to find the most obscure rodent species in the deepest, darkest corner of the Internet so they can import it :p :D
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Not at all sure if you are joking or serious - if the latter, I think you are being rather unfair given a) the vast majority of Plzen's oddities come from Czech private keepers and hence aren't imported from far-flung climes and b) I suspect a massive proportion of the zoo budget is devoted to the ongoing redevelopment and refurbishments of the zoo which have taken place over the last 25 years; it's easy to forget that well into the 1990s Plzen was regarded as a poor quality backwater zoo of no note even by zoonerds, and that since the end of the Cold War the zoo has come along by leaps and bounds.
 
ThylacineAlive said:
I don't think we need to have another discussion on how little Western zoos keeping pandas really accomplishes...


This is the safari park..

Is this not all zoos participating in the wild horse program?

They also maintain a mixed herd of African and Asian Elephants...

~Thylo
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1) We are talking about in situ conservation
2) I think it is both but on the premises of the safari park.
3) No - Plzen isn't :p Anyway doesn't detract away from the fact that they are still participating in it.
4) So?

TeaLovingDave said:
Not at all sure if you are joking or serious - if the latter, I think you are being rather unfair given a) the vast majority of Plzen's oddities come from Czech private keepers and hence aren't imported from far-flung climes and b) I suspect a massive proportion of the zoo budget is devoted to the ongoing redevelopment and refurbishments of the zoo which have taken place over the last 25 years; it's easy to forget that well into the 1990s Plzen was regarded as a poor quality backwater zoo of no note even by zoonerds, and that since the end of the Cold War the zoo has come along by leaps and bounds.
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I was joking - when I post :p beside it it normally means it is meant jokingly.
 
Coelacanth18 said:
That giant panda research is done in situ? I'm a little surprised that China uses outside labor/expertise for in-country panda conservation.
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It is. They monitor wild panda eating, sleeping and movement patterns.


Source: https://institute.sandiegozoo.org/sites/default/files/2019-ICR-Book-Pages-Email-10MB.pdf

Quote: ' Our Reproductive Sciences team developed key advances that led to the first successful artificial insemination. For more than 20 years we have collaborated with Chinese researchers on behavioral studies, sensory biology, nutrition, spatial ecology, genetics, and animal health. Today, we continue behavioral studies of pandas as they are reintroduced into the wild.'
 
birdsandbats said:
What exactly is the issue with this?
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Keeping the two species mixed undermines any work to preserve Asian Elephants in the wild- although hybridisation is rare it is not unknown and it's a risk SD should know better than to take; it also increases the risk of zoonotic infection between species.
 
TeaLovingDave said:
Keeping the two species mixed undermines any work to preserve Asian Elephants in the wild- although hybridisation is rare it is not unknown and it's a risk SD should know better than to take; it also increases the risk of zoonotic infection between species.
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However it does not cancel the conservation work they are doing out. I don't see how this has any bearing on their in-situ elephant work at all.
 
TeaLovingDave said:
Keeping the two species mixed undermines any work to preserve Asian Elephants in the wild- although hybridisation is rare it is not unknown and it's a risk SD should know better than to take; it also increases the risk of zoonotic infection between species.
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Well I think SDZ's elephants are all older females so hybridization isn't really possible. It's more the passing of infection that bothers me.

@amur leopard it doesn't really cancel out their conservation work, but it is bad husbandry and therefore worthy of note regardless.

~Thylo
 
Also about the amount of money spent on conservation: Plzen hasn't adopted the "Crown from a ticket" policy yet. This policy gives 1-3 (depending on zoo) crowns from each ticket sold to conservation projects and the bigger Czech zoos (Prague, Zlin, Ostrava) use it. This could also see the amount of money given to conservation efforts rise.

Using this policy, Zlin has raised from April (when they started using this policy) to December 2018 949 thousand crowns, split to three conservation projects. Ostrava raised 500 thousand crowns that split to 13 projects.
 
ThylacineAlive said:
@amur leopard it doesn't really cancel out their conservation work, but it is bad husbandry and therefore worthy of note regardless.
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Other than to the degree that actively creating a situation which potentially exasperates one of the biggest conservation issues facing Asian Elephant both in the wild and captivity weakens their conservation work :p
 
TeaLovingDave said:
Other than to the degree that actively creating a situation which potentially exasperates one of the biggest conservation issues facing Asian Elephant both in the wild and captivity weakens their conservation work :p
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Don't see how an infection spread by African elephants is a major issue faced by Asian elephants. :p

EDIT: Sorry I meant wild Asian elephants
 
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amur leopard said:
Don't see how an infection spread by African elephants is a major issue faced by Asian elephants. :p
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Are you aware of Elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus? Without exaggeration, this virus could single-handedly wipe out the entire species if it infects all the wild populations considering it has a near 100% mortality rate in elephant calves in captivity. As it stands, less than a dozen calves across the US and Europe have ever been able to be saved once the disease takes over since its identification in the mid-90s. The disease spread from African elephants to Asian Elephants thanks to zoos continuing to mix their herds/hold them in close proximity. This is why it's pretty awful to me that San Diego insists on continuing to house elephants in this manner.

~Thylo
 
Coelacanth18 said:
Worth noting that four of Plzen's Asian conservation projects are all less than 2 years old, which could indicate a ramping up of conservation funding in that region. The difference in financial situation between Plzen and San Diego is an interesting one... especially since San Diego charges roughly 11 times the admission price that Plzen does ($58 USD for SD versus $5.23 USD for Plzen in summer).
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An interesting comparison that has so far been totally absent from the competition!
 
FunkyGibbon said:
An interesting comparison that has so far been totally absent from the competition!
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In some ways it's a similar comparison to the point I tried to make in the Chester/Taronga match with regards to the former collection having to work more, and choose, to have its strengths with regards to Islands.
 
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