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Prague Sitatungas Killed in South Africa

Discussion in 'General Zoo Discussion' started by kuba, 6 Aug 2014.

  1. kuba

    kuba Member

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  2. Kifaru Bwana

    Kifaru Bwana Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    We are appalled at how the South African authorities and NSPCA are facilitating a regular wildlife zoo-to-zoo transfer of an - endangered / threatened antelope species. When in port / cargo bay off the boat / plane there is an obligation of authorities to accomodate the animals in transit and allow them to be watered / fed prior to transfer to the Johannesburg Zoo.

    The unnecessary delay in handling at destination airport is IMO to blame for their compromised condition in the first place. To simply blame despatch from Frankfurt or the transport by Praha Zoo officials is too preposterous for words and lamentable / questionable when shifting the blame game away from the animal health authority responsible at the South African end. Well it is an SPCA anyway, which deals in cats and dogs and not .... wildlife. Still - whatever the outcome might have been - there was an obligation on the local animal health inspectorate to make sure the wildlife on transfer remained healthy or would have been recovered to a healthy state before any legal wrangling or sending back. The simple euthanasia of is a total disgrace!

    It is the sheer incompetence of the NSPCA and their hiding behind some bureacratic veterinary regulations or notions (why the paperwork was not in order) that the welfare of these animals was so compromised and the animals thus euthanised. This might be all well and good in case of domesticated stock / cattle, not so in wildlife (and certainly not in an endangered species which this particular subspecies of sitatunga are.


    I seem to recall a not too dissimilar incident with rhinos and giraffe on transfer from South Africa (by boat this time around) to Spain. When mumbo jumbo had it that foot-and-mouth ban was slapped ... The animals on this particular transport were completely healthy (and fully tested) and shipped to Spain. Upon arrival the Spanish authorities discarded all the vet tests and claimed that as South Africa was now a foot-and-mouth disease country the animals could not enter. The transport remained in limbo for some weeks and was eventually via a third transit country returned - by sea - to South Africa. Upon return - after a few weeks- a good number of the animals on the transport were euthanised on arrival ... for the deplorable state they were in.

    What bugs me most is that international vet authorities always seem to hide behind their regulations were exotic / endangered wildlife is concerned and never take full responsibility for the - in my view foremost - welfare of the animals under impoundment / ban. The end result usually is meager and most deplorable and quite frequently the animals in question - healthy or not - are then simply euthanised.
     
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  3. dean

    dean Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    This isn't just sad it is outrages a dreadful state of affairs from start to finish, Prague zoo was obviously duped, and the Jo burg zoo was allegedly complicit in the duping. Even worse was the jumping on the band wagon by the NSPCA spokes person trying to link a perfectly legal and acceptable international animal exchange agreement as far as Prague was concerned to the illegal trade in wildlife, if the vets refused to kill the antelope they can't have been quite as ill or distressed as the NSPCA spokes woman has insisted they were.

    I hope Prague zoo doesn't let it rest there and seeks an apoligy at the very least from all concerned
     
  4. Jana

    Jana Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    Really a sad event.

    We may ask who made the decisive mistake that led to this, even through there seems to be more then one party to be blamed.

    Prague zoo takes its part too in my opinion.

    - It shouldn´t rely on info provided by Joburg zoo vet only. Prague spent 3/4 of year on prepairing the documents for this export. They could have contacted the state authorities in SAR to get the info on all required disease-free certificates directly.
    - Prague also believed blindly in Joburg zoo´s profesionalism just because they are a WAZA member. Both WAZA and EAZA are admitting new members mainly to get more member fees it seems.
    - Prague zoo shouldn´t send the animals on Friday. Some complications may happen easily with intercontinent transports. And weekend means that all offices are closed and you just can´t get the stamps and reach resposible persons in charge to solve the complications (they were euthanised on Sunday).
    - The decision to use the animal transporteur Interzoo (Roy Smith) seem to be wrong if they wouldn´t even provide water to the animals during the 3 days they spent in the crates.

    I suppose this will lead to a much stricter way how Prague zoo will decide where to send its animals in the future. I hope this case will be investigated in detail internally and Prague zoo would identify its mistakes, neglects or weak points to prevent such thing to ever repeat.
     
  5. docend24

    docend24 Well-Known Member

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    This suggests they communicated with local authorities as well
    via rozhlas.cz (haven't found an english version of this yet to quote)

    While Prague Zoo may knew better, this seems to be fully South African issue and I would take any of their cover up claims with a grain of salt.
     
  6. docend24

    docend24 Well-Known Member

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    Updated -> Pra?ská zoo kritizuje JAR za utracení antilop. Ú?ady se brání, ?e zví?ata kolabovala | P?íroda

    So what I quoted above looks like a not precisily trancsripted (audio of the) interview, from the audio it is clear Bobek (the director) complained about lax approach of Johannesburg zoo regarding the papers not the authoritiešs. On the other hand later in the interview he says the south African side wasn't able to state what paper they need while Prague Zoo kept blood samples just in case to do any extra tests. Meanwhile sitatungas were culled.

    looks to me like either astonishing incomptenece on SA side from the start or missing baksheesh-like bribe produced missing papers and then incompetence of (N)SPCA (possibly coupled with obstruction of the authorities- not opening crates) kicked in.

    Last note - the supposed missing test was on [ame=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schmallenberg_virus]Schmallenberg virus - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame] of which no cases in Czech republic occured so far. Just to quantify the alleged danger. Sad that the soft-headed people on NSPCA facebook page praise them how they dealt with it :confused:
     
  7. docend24

    docend24 Well-Known Member

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    Wow. They have no shame.
     
  8. Jana

    Jana Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    I´m still surprised by the alledged bad state those antelopes were in.

    Prague zoo put them in crates on Friday morning. Here is a pic. On Friday afternood they reached Joburg airport and were refused an entry to South Africa. On that moment they should have a "gruelling journey" behind them, be dehydrated and covered by blood? How comes after less then 24 hours? Prague organizes antelope transports regularly and even when you travel just within Europe, it may take 48 hours to reach the destination. Prague zoo produced over 400 young sitatungas in last 50 years, many traveled abroad, so there must be sufficient knowledge I guess... Are sitatungas more fragile compared to other antelopes or zebras/wild horses?

    [​IMG]
     
  9. docend24

    docend24 Well-Known Member

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    Here is a link to (zoos and animal trade are bad POV written) article with few pictures supposedly after crates were open. Illegally imported sitatunga euthanised | Africa Geographic Blog

    I guess the key is who were in charge of taking care of them while there wre in the crates, if no zoo/Smith's staff had access to them would it make a difference? I spotted a claim one male couldn't reach his bowl because of its placements due to his horns... On the other ahnd Bobek said antelopes were transported the was to be able to manage 4-5 days for case of delays. Haven't said anything about in what regime though.

    I don't want to go into the area of speculating how much would be poor state of animals desired to play into justification of their culling, I hope it is just incompetence on one side or another not deliberate neglect.
     
  10. vogelcommando

    vogelcommando Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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  11. docend24

    docend24 Well-Known Member

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  12. Chlidonias

    Chlidonias Moderator Staff Member 15+ year member

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    vogelcommando started a new thread with that post, unaware of this thread. I merged the two threads.
     
  13. docend24

    docend24 Well-Known Member

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    Well I have only wondered how to interprete the
    .
     
  14. temp

    temp Well-Known Member

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    Regardless of this whole situation, calling the sitatunga threatened or endangered is wrong. It isn't, which is why the IUCN have given it the lowest possible rating, least concern. Same rating given to all widespread species where large and healthy wild populations remain in at least a part of the range
     
  15. Nanook

    Nanook Well-Known Member

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    In the UK, I have had experience of using Roy Smith (Interzoo) and I have always found him to be both very experienced and knowledgeable, I find it hard to believe these animals were not provided with what they require for the journey.
    Another aspect to the transfer is that these animals were actually meant to go on to a private facility, not the zoo, however the zoo failed to make that clear and claimed they were for them. This is nothing against the private facility involved BUT the problem is the zoo lied about their real destination and that was the problem, both zoos involved should adhere to the regulations laid down by the authorities and they simply did not do that.
    The whole situation was a disaster from start to finish, it is only tragic that the poor animals caught up in it suffered as a result of bad planning and lies.
     
  16. docend24

    docend24 Well-Known Member

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    What regulations Prague Zoo did not adhere to?
    :eek:
     
  17. docend24

    docend24 Well-Known Member

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  18. Kifaru Bwana

    Kifaru Bwana Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    Here the Jo'burg Zoo was definitely at fault ... for not disclosing the final destination of 3/4 of the sitatunga import to the Czech authorities or Praha Zoo and neither did they disclose to them a swap deal with the private ranch!!!

    That Interzoo / Roy Smith than (may have) failed to provide adequate care for the extended period that the sitatunga import was in their hands was also highly questionable.

    It is also not done to single out Praha Zoo management, transport and husbandry staff (which had consigned the sitatungas on the South African side's assurances that their management in South Africa would be zoo standard+ - to which Interzoo also is party - that fell through too.
     
  19. vogelcommando

    vogelcommando Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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  20. Nix

    Nix Well-Known Member

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    They actually didn't, Joburg Zoo is still part of the WAZA