23-03-2008
It really does not help matters that the Calgary Zoo did not design that exhibit for African wild dogs. Originally, that area was to be part of the outdoor gorilla habitat so that the gorilla exhibit would surround visitors. Later on close to the opening of Destination Africa the Calgary Zoo decided to make this area a sitatunga habitat. That plan was canned for whatever reason and they displayed cranes in there for a while.
The Calgary Zoo has supported African wild dog researchers for years now so when the opportunity came to fill a mostly empty exhibit with intriguing animals they jumped at it, even though it was it is not a very good exhibit for African wild dogs.
I really hope that they can figure out where to build a new better exhibit, but I somewhat doubt that will happen. If I ran the Zoo I would consider expanding the African lion exhibit and replacing them with African wild dogs, and letting the gorillas have all the space originally allocated to them. In a lot of respects this would not be the most popular move.
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