Are All Zoos Like This?

[bengal21]

I was searching on the net for a zoo that had my new favourite animal the White Bengal Tiger! I found one about a 3 hour drive from my parents house back home in Canada, for when I go home for the summer. I was really excited but puzzled at the same time.

Anyone who has read my intro to this forum knows I have yet to visit a zoo. I always thought a concept of a zoo was to have exotic and different animals from across the globe in captivity for people to view. But at the same give the animals a similar environment as they would be in the wild. So i never thought of zoos as a bad thing and something cruel to animals as opposed to a circus.

Reading about this zoo on their website http://www.bowmanvillezoo.com/home.html they are very proud that many of thier animals are celebrities, having appeared in various different films. Also have shows "the cast of celebrity animal talent reveal the secrets of movie making magic." This makes the zoo seem almost circus like having the animal perform tricks and such.

I assumed a zoo was where we (humans) just observed the animals in a natural habitat type thing not performing tricks and stunts for us. If i wanted to see that i would go to circus (really wouldnt want too excpet Cirque De Soiel.)

Please tell me all zoos are not like this

[superlion]

Generally, no. Most of the animals are on exhibit, but some animals do go into shows about once per day for educational/entertaining things for the guests. The main point is seeing the animals in the exhibits/habitats, but the shows usually allow people to learn more about the animals such as behaviours they might not see normally... like demonstrating how binturongs can climb down a vertical pole/tree by turning their feet backwards... not unnatural or presumably cruel things like making them jump through flaming hoops...

[jwa1107]

when i first saw "Bowmanville Zoo" i did not recognize it, predominantly because it is not accredited by the American Zoo & Aquariaum Association. AZA checks out facilites and animal care - a governing body sort of thing and almost all zoos in the United States are members as well as some in Canada and Bermuda.

so i started off worried, but have found out it is part of CAZA, the Canadian entity equivalent to AZA. And Toronto Zoo in Ontario is both a CAZA and an AZA member...

so i think it is probably an okay place to go/support

more often than animal shows, i have found, are keeper talks at specific times of the day, or docents who can answer questions and provide insight, or education-based animals appropriate for handling and up-close encounters (mostly small reptiles and mammals)

[phantom]

Jwa raises an important point. If a "zoo" or wildlife park is not accredited by the AZA or another like animal welfare governing body in whatever country the palce is in then do NOT visit. That's not to say all places without accredidation are bad but odds are it is. If the place is accredited then go and have fun. The accredidation is a good way to see if the place is properly and humanely caring for its animals.

[okapi_07]

yes not all facilities without AZA(or other organization) accredidation are bad and some facilities can lose their accredidation from time to time( the columbus zoo lost theirs for a year in 1992 because they got some pandas on loan from china going against what the AZA thought was best for the animals) but the Col. zoo is still a great facility

acctually almost all good zoos train most animals to follow simple commands(lift foot, hold out arm, etc) for practicle reasons(such as not having to tranqualize animals for simple procedures) and quite a few good zoos have small groups of animals such as birds reptiles and small mammals that perform in small shows to teach people about conservation and problems in the animals natural habits(using macaws to teach people why we need to save the south american rainforest)

[Wolfyu]

My cousins told me that when they went to a zoo the keepers were making some animals (wolves, I think) perform tricks in front of audiences, but they said the keepers explained it as giving the animals something to do. I would go to this zoo that you're talking about, Bengal.

[superlion]

As far as training is concerned, most zoo animals are trained for some things so that zoo veterinarians can check up on them more effectively... like a bear could go up to a fence and open its mouth so a vet could check its teeth - make sure they've been brushing... jk... to make sure they don't have any problems... walruses will display their back flippers so the vet can get a blood sample... these are some examples I learned when a zoo vet came and talked to my Vet Med 102 (careers in veterinary medicine) class...

[bengal21]

Thanx for the clarification everyone! I will make sure that when I do go to a zoo that it will be an accreditted one for sure.

Earlier Today:
my mother - "You've been to a zoo before!"
bengal21 - "huh?"
my mother - "MarineLand in Niagra Falls when auntie came up."
bengal21 - "That's a Zoo?"
*got off the phone to dig in my memory*


HAHA shows how much I cared for animals. I didnt even consider it a zoo b/c it was all marine animals. Now that I remember I saw plenty of animals a Beluga Whale, and a show with walruses and killer whales. And not a animal lover at the time I do recall seeing the poor bears and knowing something was not right.

We were on some kind of bridge over top of these bears. They were so skinny and for 1 dollar you could buy one of those ice cream cones filled with some sort of cereal. I think it was cheerios. And you could feed the bears. They would be standing up with there paws begging for the people to throw down cheerios. I wasn't happy about being dragged to marineland for a "family outing" b/c I was "too cool". But i do remember saying to myself that doesn't seem right for bears to be begging for cereal. And an older couple beside me I overheard them saying the same thing. Soo sad...

[skwirlinator]

Here is the american zoo

http://natzoo.si.edu/default.cfm

have fun/do research/see if you can make one in zt