I went to Chester zoo on the 15th and noticed that they had one girl and five boys. I went to the zoo today and have found that they only have the one girl and four boys? Does anyone know where the boy has gone? Did it get moved or was it sick?
I know when I went at the end of the summer they were not getting on well. One of the dogs was taking a hell of a beating from the others. It ended up with a huge open gash above it's rear right leg. I informed the nearest keeper I could who was by Monkey Islands. I have about 30 minutes of it on video. Later that day I went back to check on them myself and another one had a lot of damage to side of their face. Returning at Christmas I only noticed three in the den with no others to be seen. Apart from the violence I've found them to be great value for money and in other collections they seem far more docile.
Thank you for contacting Chester Zoo, the UK's Number One Charity Zoo. To give you a little background, our painted dogs naturally live in a pack which is made up of a specific hierarchy or pecking order and sometimes the dogs go through changes in their hierarchy. During this time the dogs will push each other around and can be very vocal and these events can sometimes develop into scuffles. It is very common for packs of wild dogs to fight in this way. Unfortunately, on this occasion, the dog in question received an injury to his leg and, despite the best efforts of keeping and veterinary staff, we very sadly had to take the difficult decision to put him to sleep. We fully understand that this is distressing but we can assure you that we did everything we could to help him. The group remain together and are very calm currently. We are sorry we could not give you better news and would thank you for taking the time to contact us. Yours Sincerely, Joshua Guest Experience Team"
Yes, refreshingly so! I've always found Chester to be very open and accommodating. Maybe other collections could learn from their example.
