do zoos have a "humane" requirement for enclosure sizes?

[moswen]

i'm sure animals at zoos get the absolute best diet, care, and vet attention that any animals could get, but those cages are just so small. i recently discovered that the tulsa zoo has 2 radiated tortoises (never knew it before because they're in the bird and monkey building, that place is so loud and it smells like you-know-what. whoever decided, "hey, i'm going to put the two loudest animals on the planet in one indoor space together!" should be fired.) and they are in the smallest cage... oh it looks all nice with fake tree roots coming out from the walls and plants hainging down from the ceiling, but i swear that cage is smaller than my hatchling spider enclosure, which is 2.5'x4'. poor tortoises barely have room to pace the walls!

and some of the other animals, the medium sized monkeys and the lions and tigers, their cages are tiny too!

 

[Marty333]

I agree that the enclosures at zoo's are way to small. At my zoo I feel mostly bad for the elephants because they only have a very limited amount of space here is a pic

I think Animal Kingdom has actually very good enclosures but then again its not really a zoo

 

[moswen]

oh yes elephants too! and right now, tulsa has even smaller spaces for their elephants because they are mating all the oklahoma city female elephants, and they're all prego now, so there will be BABIES too! all in one area that was designed for 3 elephants.

 

[Marty333]

Also I think better enclosures would attract more people. I would rather see a happy elephant in an appropriate space that resembles its native habitat instead of an Industrial looking havitat.

 

[sara]

I agree that zoos should have much larger areas for their animals. but unfortunately most them just dont have the room or the money. But at least the nicer ones have clean pens and the animals are given the proper diets for that species and they have 24 hour vet care. also they do have breeding programs so that animals can be shared among ather zoos and not have to go through the trauma of being wild caught. And people can appreciate them and learn.
And these are the nicer ones. think of all the not nice ones out there. now thats a tragedy.

 

[Yvonne G]

In order to be accredited by the AZA the habitats have to meet certain criterion. If they don't, they are not allowed to get any more animals.

 

[moswen]

this is good to know yvonne. are they really strict guidelines? the puppy mills have to meet "guidelines" too, but those guidelines allow for caged flooring and pens 2x the size of the animal. in my opinion that's not really humane, and those guidelines aren't even enforced. and when an inspector comes to check out the mill, when they enter their findings into the computer, the answers all automatically default to "good" unless the inspecter goes in and manually changes the answers.

lol, i'm not calling zoos puppy mills! my daughter loves the zoo, it only makes me sad. what type of criteria do the zoo habitats have to meet?

 

[chairman]

A link to some publicly available AVA guidelines:

http://www.aza.org/animal-care-manuals/

Sadly, it looks like you need to be a member to see all of the manuals... but I checked out the sheet on the condor, and it did list space requirements.

 

[Floof]

I don't know anything about guidelines and requirements... But this is one of Colorado Springs's AZA accredited Cheyenne Mountain Zoo's hatchling tortoise "habitats"...

And there were... What, 2 other tanks like this? It was depressing. Plus the room was exceptionally dark, and there wasn't a single light source (UVB or otherwise) anywhere--not even over their adult DT's habitat.

 

[terryo]

The Bronx Zoo is pretty good.
http://www.bronxzoo.com/animals-and-exhibits.aspx

 

[Madkins007]

The AZA criteria are, as I understand it from insiders, almost crazy tough and strictly enforced. They want to know not only what the diet is, but what it is based on, where do the food items come from, how is it prepared, how quality is maintained and documented, how the animal is actually fed, and proof this is all done every time. Also, every time an animal is sick or dies, it is logged and reported.

Many zoos use a 2-pen system where one animal is in a display pen while another is behind the scenes in a housing pen. Our local zoo has an indoor rain forest, and almost every animal in there is rotated to minimize stress.

Oh, and if you decide to blow off the AZA criteria, there are other federal agencies that pay attention to you instead, although they are less funded and staffed.

I'm not going to argue that zoos are perfect, they are more of a different track of reality. The way they view animals is very different than the way we hobbyists and local-level breeders do.

 

[Laura]

Yes there are size requirements that vary between species. Most Zoos offer bigger then the required space.
Elephants in the wild have to walk many miles to find food and water. It also natually keeps thier feet 'filed' and in good shape. In captivity, they are fed and watered and have no need to walk for miles.. but that also makes a need for the keepers to 'groom' them and file thier feet for them. So they have to be trained to accept this.
Yes, Id rather see them in more natural exhibits with grass and trees and more space, but most zoos dont have the land area and the gardening skills to keep up with the damage they would do eating all the pretty trees we want to see!

 

[terryo]

Look into the Bronx Zoo...they have pretty neat enclosures.

 

[Terry Allan Hall]

When was a youngster, Ft. Worth's Forest Park Zoo had a Kodiak bear in a cage just a bit larger than it was...pretty miserable existance.

Nowdays, it's a much, much nicer place!

 

[moswen]

well, i'm very happy to know it's a strict thing. glad that thought is no longer plauging me!

taylor--- that is the worst pyramided pancake i have literally ever seen in my life. the poor guy barely even has room to turn around. where's his rock wall that he's supposed to be able to hide in? that is WAY worse than tulsa's radiated enclosure.

 

[tortoisenerd]

I too have seen many animal enclosures in zoos that made me sad, but Mark had a good point that many zoos do have other enclosures. The tort ones especially are tough on the heartstrings, as they remind me of pet store housing many times with the cramped glass enclosure with bad air circulation, poor diet, and often no water dish and lacking adequate hides. A lot of good does come out of zoos though. And, I have seen some really good zoo exhibits and programs.

 

[Floof]

taylor--- that is the worst pyramided pancake i have literally ever seen in my life. the poor guy barely even has room to turn around. where's his rock wall that he's supposed to be able to hide in? that is WAY worse than tulsa's radiated enclosure.

I think it was some sort of star tortoise, actually. I wish I'd taken a pic of its label.

To be honest, the rest of the zoo was pretty impressive, with nice, mostly spacious habitats. It was just the reptile house where they failed so miserably (the snakes were in cramped quarters, too). To me, at least, the fact that the rest of the zoo was so well done just made the unsatisfactory reptile habitats that much more upsetting.

 

[Angi]

I live in San Diego and our Zoo is fabulous Here is a strange story though. I bought my first house in Escondido 15 years ago from a couple that both worked at the Wild Animal Park. They had a tortoise in an aquarium that was probably too small, it did not have an outside enclosure and they said it got sick from eating the sand in the aquarium. Shouldn't these people have known better?! At the time I knew nothing about torts, but after a year I have learned enough to know their care was way off.

 

[Kalina]

I live 5 minutes away from our local zoo, I've been there a few times but everytime it makes me want to cry. The big cats (Lions/Tigers) are kept in small enclosures, I can guarantee that whenever I go to visit the zoo these animals will be sleeping. Most other animals tend to pace around the edge of the enclosures just so they have something to do. The monkeys are the worst for me to look at, they're very bored and you can see it in their eyes, they just sit there with a blank look. I've visited a few zoo's and in my experience, they don't offer humane housing conditions for the animals, not saying all Zoo's are like that, I'm yet to visit one that doesn't want to make me cry : (

 

[Madkins007]

Kalina- odd you should mention cats. I spoke with some zoo people about this years ago.

One of the sad things in some zoos are pacing cats. This usually means they have quite literally gone crazy in their habitat- it is a real, apparently incurable, psychosis. Zoos and behavioral experts worked hard to figure out the why and how and found that wild cats have a series of home ranges. The den is the smallest range. Then there is the 'front yard' (not the real name, but what I think of it as) where they lounge, stretch, play, etc.- then the hunting range- which can be miles.

They actually do better, behaviorally and otherwise, if their enclosure is a bit smaller than the 'front yard' range. If the enclosure is bigger than the 'front yard' it seems to make them think they are in their hunting range and triggers the psychosis. There is not a perfect formula for how big the 'front yard' is- it varies by subspecies, numbers, physical size and age, dominance, etc.

The goal is to try to find the right 'front yard' range, and they try to do this by watching behaviors. There are key behaviors that signal stress or the beginnings of the disease- and sleeping is considered a good sign!


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I don't mention this bit often since I am a big fan of zoos, but I may as well admit that I also know that many zoos have many 'disposable' animals- animals that are cheap, draw some eyeballs but are nothing special, and do not get a lot of keeper attention. Sadly, a lot of reptiles in a lot of zoos fall in this group. No zoo in their right mind will knowingly mistreat a Flat-tailed Tortoise, but they can get Sulcatas and iguanas for a dime a dozen, so why fuss over them?

This should not be read to imply that they knowingly mistreat them, but if there is only a limited number of resources available (time, man-hours, money, etc.), then other animals get the attention first. Other disposable animals are things like lions, a lot of the antelopes, lots of the birds, etc.

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As another aside- I know elephants get mentioned a lot, and most zoos have a love-hate relationship with them. They are HUGELY popular with visitors- overall, elephants get more visitors than other animals. Zoos that stop showing elephants almost always lose attendance big time, zoos that add them increase attendance. But, these are big, intelligent animals that need a lot of space, a lot of food, a lot of cares, and a lot of enrichments. They are social, so you need a small herd and that compounds all of the other problems. Add to the mix that they are a fairly dangerous animal and it is no wonder zoos have mixed feelings about them.

Is it any wonder that so many zoos are doing butterfly exhibits? Cheap, easy to feed, easy to house, fun, and popular. 'Walk through' sections are great for zoos, but hard to stock with good animals. Butterflies are great for this.