Emperor Valley Zoo Review » Emperor Valley Zoo

Emperor Valley Zoo Review
06-10-2008

Emperor Valley Zoo Review - 1.5 hours

This tiny zoo is found in Trinidad & Tobago, and is one of only a handful of small zoos scattered throughout the Caribbean. T&T is a pair of islands only a few kilometers from the tip of South America, and I'm currently spending time at the University of the West Indies campus.

The zoo is as expected rather ghastly, and the only thing going for it is that there are a number of species that I'd either never seen before or had only come across on a couple of occasions. Crab-eating raccoons, jaguarundi, tayra, paca (called lappe here), red brocket deer, kinkajou and giant river otters were some of the rare species that are found here and at not many other zoos that I've been to in North America.

The primate collection is impressive, but the cages have to be seen to be believed. There was a male mandrill banging away on the side of his bars, and the 5 mandrills are scattered throughout 3 horrible little cages. I'll upload photos eventually, but all of the primate "exhibits" have concrete floors, are puny, all have bars on them, and there are barely any climbing opportunities other than the actual bars. The two chimpanzees were in the smallest cage I've ever seen for great apes, and the tufted capuchins, brown spider monkeys, squirrel monkeys, white-faced capuchins, green monkeys and red howler monkeys all had diabolical, outdated cages. One zookeeper told me that it's tough to change people's opinions in regards to zoo husbandry simply because there are still Trinis that illegally catch and eat monkeys. Why spend money on lavish exhibits when what is being contained is basically moving food?

The 4 ocelot exhibits ranged from two decent ones, one terrible one, and a cage that was perhaps 6 feet by 6 feet and all concrete and metal. Tigers and lions don't fare much better here, and their exhibits make open-air grottoes actually look good. The tayra, kinkajou, raccoons and jaguarundi all had concrete floors and either steel bars or thick wire mesh over their prison cells.

There are aviaries scattered across the grounds in a haphazard fashion, with many species of macaw, parrot, toucan, quail and egret. All of these aviaries are wire mesh and too small for the occupants, and in some cases there were 5 large birds in a 10 foot by 10 foot wire/concrete cage. Brutal stuff, and the photos will illustrate my point. The 2 caiman pools both didn't contain enough water for the spectacled and black caimans to completely submerge their bodies, and I scratched the back of the neck of the brazilian tapir as the guard rail was far too small.

The good exhibits were the ones for the red brocket deer, red deer, collared peccaries (called quenks here) and horses. Yes, domesticated horses and budgies can be found at this pitiful little zoo.

Overall the Emperor Valley Zoo is easily the worst zoological institution that I've ever been to, as the vast majority of the 66 collections that I've visited have been world-famous or big-name establishments. It was not exactly shocking but rather despairing to spend some time in one of perhaps the top 10 worst places for animals in the Americas. The good news is that on my flight home to Canada in December I hope to spend a couple of days in Miami and with luck will be able to visit the Miami Metrozoo.

Here's a link to this awful zoo:

http://www.geocities.com/emperorvalley_zoozone/

06-10-2008

funnily enough, their website gives a glowing account of their facilities!
Unfortunately none of the pics on it would work for me except for the initial one of African elephants (in the wild).

06-10-2008

A North American Zoo should spend a bit of money on fixing the place up a bit and in return would get great charity publicity and maybe a pair of jaguarundi and a few Giant otters to make it worthwhile.

Thanks for the great review. You could make a review of a dairy farm seem interesting snowleopard.

08-10-2008

i think with work the smaller (maybe mandrill) primate exhibits could be improved, more perching opurtunities, boxes, ropes, pipes and a deep litter system.

09-10-2008

the photos you've posted are pretty scary. But the cages are a strange mix of really atrocious ones, mediocre ones and some quite good ones. Are the better ones the newer ones, and the zoo is trying to upgrade the animals' facilities? Or is it just more of a random mix?

The photos actually put me in mind of Alma Park Zoo in Brisbane (but worse) -- some really bad cages, many mediocre, and a few goodish ones.

10-10-2008

@Chlidonias: I have no idea when each exhibit was constructed at the zoo, and without even a zoo map or guide available there wasn't much for me to draw from in terms of information during my visit. The exhibits seemed to be haphazardly grouped together, and I agree with your assessment that the photos are pretty scary. All of the primate cages are simply diabolical, as every single one of them has a cement floor and iron bars that form a rudimentary prison. The space is puny, and there is usually one or two logs or ropes for the animals to swing from. Overall they are deplorable, but then so is the majority of the zoo's "habitats".

I feel that the peccary and red brocket exhibits were quite well done simply because they are fenced off portions of a forest, while the other 95% of the zoo could definitely be improved on. All of the aviaries and primate cages are far too small, and the small mammal prisons for tayra, jaguarundi, crab-eating raccoons, kinkajou, ocelot, etc are equally hideous. There was a very tiny aquarium building (I didn't post any photos as it was too dark in there) that had about 30 tanks that were dirty and in many cases without signage. I honestly feel that just about the entire zoo is mediocre at best, but in Trinidad there simply isn't the awareness and respect for exotic wildlife. As I said before, there is still the belief amongst some members of the population that the monkey cages are perfectly adequate for what is essentially dinner with a tail...