Mountain View Conservation + Breeding Centre » Mountain View Conservation Centre

23-05-2008

Mountain View - Wildlife Conservation of Endangered Species

Mountain View Conservation & Breeding Centre:

My wife and I have booked a tour for this Sunday, May 25th. It is expensive ($60 for both of us) but hopefully the two hour guided tour is worth it. Booking a tour is actually the only way to see this conservation centre, as the establishment is not open to the public. I visited a few years ago, but it was to pick someone up and so I could only look around for about 45 minutes. This weekend will be the first time that I'll have the full tour, and there are certainly a number of rare and exotic animals to see.

Complete List of Animal Species:

Carnivores:

Amur Leopard Cat
Brazilian Ocelot
Fishing Cat
Geoffrey’s Cat
Indian Desert Cat
Leopard Cat
Pallas’ Cat
Rusty Spotted Cat
Sand Cat
Serval
Temminck’s Golden Cat
Aardwolf
Bat-Eared Fox
African Wild Dog
Fossa

Hoofstock:

Addax
Cape Buffalo
Wood Bison
Malayan Tapir
Mountain Tapir
Masai Giraffe
Grevy's Zebra
Indian Rhino
Kulan
Sitatunga
Mountain Bongo
Vicuna
Takin
Black Duiker
Scimitar-horned Oryx
Cuvier's Gazelle
Thompson's Gazelle
Slender-horned Gazelle
Mhorr Gazelle


Primates:

Ring-Tailed Lemur
Red Fronted Lemur
Red Ruffed Lemur
Black Lemur
Fat-Tailed Dwarf Lemur
White-Faced Saki Monkey

Birds:

Ostrich
Andean Condor
African Crowned Crane
Abyssinian Ground Hornbill
Blue/Stanley’s Crane
Sarus Crane
Major Mitchell’s Cockatoo

Others (possibly off-exhibit):

Oregon Spotted Frog
Vancouver Island Marmot
Northern Spotted Owl

23-05-2008

Awesome, a review at some point I assume..?

26-05-2008

A review of Mountain View Conservation Centre:

There are certainly some extremely rare species at this small centre, and on the posting a couple ahead of this one I gave a detailed list of the animals currently at Mountain View. The only additions were a pair of emus in a large paddock, and a solitary blue wildebeest that just arrived last week. Other than that the list above is correct.

The tour was just over 2 hours in length, but by arriving early and hanging around chatting afterwards my wife and I were at the centre for a full 3 hours. There were some pleasing aspects of the establishment, but also some negatives. Overall the experience was definitely worthwhile, and the volunteer staff were brilliant in terms of animal knowledge and friendliness.

Notes:

- no mountain tapirs on exhibit was mildly devastating, as I had been desperately looking forward to seeing the pair. Their paddock and barn were empty, which meant that they were somewhere hidden away in the large forested ravine that borders their enclosure. The owners open the back gates of the paddock and allow them to wander in a territory of around 10 acres (according to the guide) and there is no access for visitors to look for them. At least they had an amazingly large amount of space to roam around in! But since there are only about a dozen or less of these marvellous mammals in captivity worldwide it was tough not to be able to view them. Perhaps I'll add the Los Angeles Zoo to my summer road trip itinerary...

- several other animals were off-exhibit as well. The northern spotted owls and Vancouver Island marmots are never allowed to be seen by the public, but today the fossas were also off limits. They are apparently breeding at the moment, and so visitors are deterred from walking past their exhibit. That meant several of the rare cat species were also unable to be seen because they were in adjoining enclosures, but at this centre the animals come first and the humans a distinct second. In reality that is the way it should be, but it's hard not to be disappointed at missing out on some remarkable species.

- the true highlight of the entire tour was seeing Ivan the Indian rhino in his 7 acre paddock. It's hard to imagine that Chester Zoo and Oregon Zoo cram all of their elephants onto 2 acres, while this solitary rhino has 7 acres to himself. He came from San Diego and is awaiting a mate in the near future, and in the meantime has an absolutely enormous landscape to wander around in. The small group of 10 visitors were taken by the 2 guides to the back of the enclosure, where we came within 8 feet or so of the magnificent rhino. He was rolling back and forth in a large watery mudpit, and even walked along the fence while us visitors headed back to the main pathway after admiring him for a good 20 minutes.

- close up views of cape buffalo, malayan tapirs, temminick's golden cat, mountain bongo, geoffrey's cat, etc were also major highlights of the visit.

- massive exhibits for the hoofstock allows for a lot of breeding successes, and the large herd of addax was at one point practically close enough to touch as they surrounded the tiny, open-air tram.

- the african wild dog pair of exhibits are wonderful, with sloping hills, large pools and deep dens for pups. The centre has a staggering 32 of these beautiful dogs.

- one major drawback for me were the exhibits for animals that are not hoofstock. The 5 species of lemur, white-faced saki monkeys, aardwolf, cranes, hornbill, and all of the rare cat species are in "chicken-wire" cages that are completely enclosed with wire. Photo opportunities are zero as the wire is in the way at all times, and these cages were disappointingly tiny for roaming animals. While the hoofstock enclosures were gargantuan in comparison to urban zoos, the lemur and cat cages were lacking any kind of pools and space. These wire cages definitely had a lot of foliage in them, but I still found them far too small.

26-05-2008

It sounds like you saw some fabulous species and at a place that puts animals and conservation first..! The anthesis of Guzoo..?

Great review Snowleopard, I'm looking forward to following your travels very much..!

29-05-2008

Thanks for the detailed review snowleopard!
Was most of the tour conducted on a tram and/or how much walking was there? A shame about the cat/primate enclosures being small, but hopefully the quality of space offset the quantity? Were there any graphics at the enclosures, or were you solely reliant on the guide to provide the information?

Thanks!

29-05-2008

The 2 hour tour is on a tram (where there is no edge so one can hop on and off comfortably at each stop) and the visitors are at the mercy of the tour guides. My wife and I were joined by only 9 other people, and our tour guides were senior citizens who were extremely knowledgeable. They had been conducting tours for over 4 years, and had memorized many important animal facts. There are only two tours per day (10 a.m. and 1 p.m.) and apparently there were 25 people booked for the afternoon tour. We were actually originally booked for that tour as well, but I switched it the day before to the less-crowded morning one instead.

There is not very much walking, with about half the tour on foot and half sitting on the tram and stopping fairly frequently. There is absolutely zero signage, and I actually typed up a list at home from their website which gave details on the 50 or so species kept at the centre. If you print off my list from earlier on this thread then that will save you the trouble, as the only additions were a pair of emus and the single blue wildebeest.

The enclosures for the small cats and lemurs were heavily laden with tree branches and wooden ramps...but they were still far too small for my liking. It was surprisingly tricky locating some of the cats due to the foliage and their night-dens, but larger exhibits would have been much nicer for them. The wire surrounding 100% of the exhibits also makes excellent photos impossible.

31-05-2008

Do their animals have 24 hour access to dens/corrals/barns and pens?

31-05-2008

@okapikpr: I'm not sure whether the animals have 24 hour access to their night quarters, but my guess would be yes. Unlike the vast majority of standard zoos who often enclose animals into barns in the evening, Mountain View is definitely there to cater to their wildlife and I'd be shocked if they locked their ungulates into the barns at night. I can almost give you a 100% guarantee that all of the small cat and lemur species, along with the 32 african wild dogs, have full rein to come and go as they please. Even the mountain tapirs were allowed to roam around in a dense forest of possibly 10 acres, and so it's no wonder that I never came close to seeing them!

31-05-2008

In that case night dens wouldnt need to be at all big. Small Animals tend to prefer small dark places to feel safe and comfortable. The places sounds like a good set-up. I'm glad they give some oppurtunity to allow public members to tour around the place.

31-05-2008

Another thing that I didn't mention: here they actually feed all of their 11 different small cat species LIVE prey. This shocked a few people on the tour, as everyone who visits receives a free 10 minute DVD on the history and progress of the centre. On the DVD there are scenes of some type of small bird being chased around several different exhibits by small cats and fossas. Since the centre has been responsible for releasing hoofstock back into the wild, they also have ambitious plans of doing the same with their small cats. By allowing the felines to continue to hunt it allows for a lack of domesticity in these predators, even though it shocks some visitors.

31-05-2008

I'm pretty sure thats illegal in NZ and possibly Australia and the UK... I think here only invertebrates are allowed to be 'live' fed...

31-05-2008

Hi Guys, I just thought I'd add my two cents here. I posted a few months ago and have been busy with school since. Several summers ago I volunteered at Mountain View and worked with every animal there except for the Vancouver Island Marmots. I thought I might be able to clairify some of the points and questions made by other people so here goes!
@ snowleopard: I'm glad you enjoyed your visit and that many of the more interesting animals were co-operative while you were there. Firstly regarding the cat and lemur cages....each cat is kept in its own cattery and they are only introduced when they are trying to breed them (which is not that often these days as most of their animals are already well represented) so although they may appear small, in fact they are quite large when you consider the size of many of the cats. As for the pools etc, If you had been allowed down to the catteries where the Fossa, Ocelot, Pallas Cat etc are than you would have seen that each cattery has a very large pool (when I worked with the fishing cats we put live fish in them to provide some behavioural enrichment) in which the water is changed every few days to avoid any stagnant water or any chance of disease etc. Finally, regarding the live feeds....the cats are each given a live quail (from a nearby poultry farm) I believe it is every Friday (I witnessed this several times and it is absolutely fascanating seeing the various behaviours that each cat exhibits)..otherwise the cats are fed chicken chicks or chicken necks or a combination of the two.
@okapikpr: The animals have access to their indoor areas at all times and are never locked in/out unless there is incredibly horrible weather outside (even then its rare). During the summer months the malayan tapirs and bongo are usually let out into a 10+ acre ravine area where they are essentially left to their own devices...the keepers keep track of them every few days and rely on how much food has disappeared to know how they are doing...I believe they did the same thing with the Pygmy Hippo when those were there too. The only animal that was extremely closely monitored when I was there was a male Sable Antelope who is kept on a smaller off-property area along with a herd of Addax. During the winter all of the birds are brought into the upstairs area of the main barn.
I hope this provides some answers, If you have any more questions dont hesitate to ask and I can try and answer them for you. By the way, I have lots of excellent photos which I can post if you want including every species of cat there (except for Clouded Leopard and Indian Desert Cat) and several of the Mountain Tapirs out in there yard!

31-05-2008

@choloepus: thanks for responding, and your reply was extremely informative. Having not seen any water at all in the cat exhibits it's good to know that the enclosures that I wasn't allowed to go near (fossa breeding time!) did actually have pools. The live feeds are something that I actually support, and the 10 minute complimentary DVD shows some brief footage of cats and fossas attacking the quail in their exhibits.

The idea of allowing specific animals to roam around in a densely forested, 10-acre ravine is revelatory for any establishment keeping captive wildlife. There are certainly some marvellous aspects of Mountain View that other centres would do well to copy. One last thing: you mentioned a clouded leopard but there is nothing recorded on the website. Did the cat leave at the same time as the pygmy hippo pair?

01-06-2008

Glad I could help , It is a truly remarkable place and I think that more zoos need to follow their lead. As for the Clouded Leopard I'm not completely sure what happened to her. When I was working there she was housed in the cattery that was close to the aviary but since she was afraid of men she would disappear whenever I would go nearby - in my entire 4 weeks there I only saw her twice and it was only for about 5 seconds each time! I know she was different subspecies than the usual clouded leopards and I believe the only other members of her subspecies in captivity were/are at San Diego...maybe she went back there?

02-03-2009

I am seriously considering visiting this establishment when I visit British Columbia, possibly this September. I think it'll definately be worth the $30. I am especially very interested especially in the Aardwolves, Black Duiker, Kulan, Fossa, Takin, Cape Buffalo, Mountain Bongo, Golden Cat, and the huge African Wild Dog pack. I've seen about three of these beautiful dogs in North Carolina Zoo so it'll be something to see a pack of them, if they show themselves in their huge exhibit