wellington zoo furore » Wellington Zoo

wellington zoo furore
20-03-2007

Ok I'm suprised that this hasn't yet been brought up.
Big article - Whistle blower tells about cheetah abuse - Animal rights group calls for one on one encounter with cheetahs to be stopped.
Apparently one of the cheetahs used on publicity encounters, taken to schools, people pay lots of money to meet, has bitten a couple of people and the keeper has severly beaten it in the face.

Any more info Nigel?

21-03-2007

Scoop: Zoo whistleblower reveals attacks and abuse

21-03-2007

yea i heard of this, but not to take the zoos side, jeez its aloy of money for an encounter, so the would be making a mint!

21-03-2007

taking a big cat to a school!!!!

i have never been cool with these big cat encounters.. far too dangerous in my opinon.

21-03-2007

yes,
i like the way Monarto do them, 3 young male cheetahs, and in the cheetahs own enclosure, so the only new things are the people, not the whole environment

Cheetah encounters
21-03-2007

This is the first I have heard of this furore , and I am grateful for Jay to bring it out into the open --- Wellington Zoo certainly did a good job in keeping it quiet !

I had known about the cheetah encounters -- but as it cost so much , I cant afford that sort of $$$$$$$$$s .
We are led to believe that the cheetahs are still cubs ( I have seen bigger cheetahs , so I know that they are not fully grown )
There is a place out of Rotorua where you can mingle and play with lion cubs
so no doubt Wellington Zoo decided to have a similar but more controlled programme with "cheetah cub encounters" .
The cheetahs are on a leash during the encounters , with one keeper per cheetah .
From what I read in the article it was the animal trainer ( as opposed to keeper ) that punched the cheetah , but in any case , I certainly am opposed by that action . If I was the head of Wellington Zoo , I would seriously considering terminating the trainers employment .

I heard that their were some charities (for disabled people ) that were given a cheetah encounter with help from their caregiver , but I am not aware of any schools that were involved -- or which schools specifically

This is something that I will certainly be taking up with the zoo , as I am not happy with this sort of cover up .

21-03-2007

look - i'm not defending the actions of the trainer in any way, but this is the sort of situation that can arise when you mingle a dangerous, unpredicatable wild animal with people.

i'll happily admit for one that if a cheetah attacked me, or a cheetah under my care attacked someone else i wouldn't hesitate for a moment to punch and kick the animal in the head if need be. but i wouldn't put a cheetah in that kind of a situation in the first place.

likewise the zoo has an obligation to provide a safe working environment for its staff. its okay to sign yourself up to meet a big cat, but i'de be pretty pissed off if one turned up unnannouced in the middle of a staff meeting! if i or my (future) kid was significantly injured by a zoo animal on an encounter i didn't expect to have (such as by a supprise dingo, cheetah or elephant being walked) i would sue the zoos arse off!!

i get the whole up-close with amimals thing, but it seems many zoos have jumped from having virtually no encounters - to encounters with some of its most dangerous inhabitants!

maybe put the tigers away and bring out the lemurs....

21-03-2007

It's similar to the tiger encounter at Dreamwold, something that I would love to do never would, the tiger would smell how nervous I would be. Personally I think it is only begging for trouble. I would have thought that organisations would have realised that the worse thing you could do would be to try and cover something up. It always comes out in the end and the organisation looks worse for trying to hide it. Certainly Wellington zoo is now on the backfoot and any legitimate arguement that they might have is now destroyed by the comment ' it it wasn't so bad why hide it?"

22-03-2007

agree with the comments above .
Unfortunately I think that Wellington Zoo management have shot themselves in the foot ( or head ) by intimidating staff to keep the whole issue "quiet"
Now they are backpeddling in defence mode .
Ironic that SAFE stands for Save Animals From Extinction , rather than SPCA . But I think they have done the right thing by bringing this issue into the open .

copy of the letter that I wrote to Wellington Zoo
22-03-2007

The above newsclipping and letters refer .

First things first ;
I am not a member of SAFE , and I do not agree
that this issue has anything to do with animal
extinction .
I am a member of a zoo forum that has members
from all around the world . It was an Australian
member who alerted me to this .
This issue is no longer within the confines of
Wellington Zoo

I do not know whether any , some or all of these
allegations are true .
But I am concerned if there is ANY truth in any
of them , especially using physical abuse to
"train" any zoo animals . Thats why I support
(good) zoos , and not circuses .
I am also concerned about allegations that
Senior Management try to force zoo staff "to keep
it quiet "
Any leaks like this will immediately put you in
very bad light . Good management should be able
to deal with problems like this in a professional
conduct , so there is no room for any Animal
activist organisations to make up allegations .

I would like to have reassurance from you that
ALL of your animals are treated in a decent
manner ( no violence or psychological deprivation
or punishment )
I would also like to know which allegations ( if
any ) have any basis of truth in them .
I am very disapointed if you have tried to sweep
any of these matters under the carpet . If these
allegations are all false , for your own benefit
, say so ( and prove it if possible )

Can I also ask if the zoo has considered
terminating the close encounter of any animal
that could do serious injurious harm to people
( includes big cats , chimpanzees etc ) so no
future "incident" can possibly happen ?

I look forward to hearing from you . If you
choose not to respond , I will have to assume
that the allegations are probably true , and will
then strongly advocate to Cr Wade Brown that the
zoo should be closed for the safety of both
people and animals .

Yours sincerely

22-03-2007

Accidents will happen.....

'Animal encounters' have now become an essential part of almost every zoos
exhibits- whether it be Parrot shows,flying birds of prey, snake handling sessions, walk thru' squirrel monkey enclosures, 'meet the lemurs' facilities- and now the chance to get 'Up close and personal'( and how I hate that overused term too!) with some larger species e.g. big cats, as well.

Obviously the desire to make peoples' zoo visiting more enriched by such 'animal encounters', and by bringing animals out of the zoo to schools etc will mean more chances of such accidents etc arising. Some UK safari parks now offer additional 'off road' access to parts of their animal reserves not normally accessible for the public- at a large extra cost, so providing additional revenue. Payig additional money to get extra close to big cats and other animals would be another form of this.

Perhaps its time for zoos to pull back a bit from this sort of exhibitionism, or at least recognise where to draw the line between what's sensible and unstressful for their animals, and what isn't.

Animal encounters
23-03-2007

I agree fully with you grant , there is always a risk that something could happen

There are 2 points in this Wellington saga that I do not feel comfortable with
( and for this argument sake , I will assume that the allegations are true )

(1) The animal trainer used physical violence on the animal which was not self defence
(2) The zoos management trying to "keep it quiet"

23-03-2007

yeah accidents will happen - but the difference between a parrot and a cheetah is that in one case a person could at worse loose a finger, in the other a severe mauling or possibly their life.

i'm sure even a cheetah is capable of killing a small school-aged child.

elephants are potentially the most dangerous of all, in terms of the damage and speed at which the can inflict it, however they are, unlike tigers and other big cats, a little more predicatable and easier to judge in my opinion (though i know many a keeper has been killed by elephants). i would not be supprised if in most cased of elephant attacks there was, if looking back, some sort of indication that the animal was not happy about something.

my point? that with elephants should you take every precation necessary and always keep the closest attention to the animals mood, the pros of unrestrained contact between elephants and people might actually be worth the minimised risk (for both animals and people).

still, whilst i'm prepared to take the risk and have contact with elephants, i think if a person or their family was killed or injured by an unexpected encounter with one on the trail of the melbourne zoo, they would have every right to sue the pants off of the zoo.

large carnivores like tigers on the otherhand are just too unpredictable. its just asking for trouble. an elephant doesnt eat other large animals in the wild. attacking unprovoked is not part of its instinct. tigers kill other animals for a living and a big bald ape is no exception - especially when they $%#@ off and stop telling it what to do...

23-03-2007

statistically elephant keeping is the most dangerous job you can have in the US!
taronga has, wisely, started walking the elpehants daily throughout the zoo but of a morning before visitors are let in. in hindsight its a good manouvre, especialy since the days of a quiet visit to taronga seem well and truly behind us. every time i have been there in the last couple of years it just seems to be getting busier, and busier, and busier...

24-03-2007

speaking of

i met with 2 very nice people who have very high jobs in the local and state offices of the rspca, and i have leanrt that the elephant opposition has been relaised buy the rspca as one of there biggest mistakes, and many mebers belive they heads of rspca took it to far. they now see that taronga (and melb respectively) did the best things buy the elephnats, of course there ultimate would have been dubbo