A friend is in Iceland at the moment and has been telling me about the birds he's seen. It got me wondering, why are their no captive little auks? I've checked all the usual places and I can't find a record of anyone ever keeping them, let alone anyone with them at the moment. Zootierliste has a category for them but no former holders listed. It seems strange, auks are not very common in zoos, but there are still ten collections with other species of auks in western Europe. They seem like they would make a great exhibit, active, cute and space-efficient, they could have good exhibits in even very small zoos or aquariums. They are not hard to catch either, nor so endangered that captures would threaten their populations, so why doesn't anyone have them? Has anyone tried?
I agree, they would be charming. I believe even rehabilitating 'wrecked' individuals is problematic. On the other hand, at least one species of auklet has been kept successfully, so the possibilities are there.
Oh, I first checked current and then "All". I assumed "All" would list all collections. Apparently not. I assume Berlin and Rotterdam are the same sort of zoos as London, old zoos that have had pretty much everything under the sun at some point, often for not very long. Ranua seems like the most interesting place, they must have tried to keep them recently, but I can't find any information
