You might belong or be on zoochat if...

I completely agree. Despite complaints, I still see most kids doing what they're supposed to do when I visit a zoo. And for those people in their 20s and 30s who behave poorly, I have the perfect video example in the "Stuff You See Or People Do That Irritate You When You Go to the Zoo #3"

 

You find yourself obsessing over the Guess the...... whatever competitions, refreshing the page every five minutes to either look if your answer is right, you can answer or somebody's just posted a new competition.

And then you realise you've been doing it for the past 10 hours!!!

 

I think all you need to belong to Zoochat is to love animals and care about their well being. It really doesn't matter if you like lions, tigers, chimps or any other more known animal or if you like more the ones who tend to be forgotten. If you are on their side, if you think we should give up on things that make our life better and theirs worse, then you are a true animal lover.

 

Welcome to zoochat Osafi. That's true, and an interest in zoos/aquaria helps. Mind you, you don't have to be an animal lover to enjoy zoochat.

On another note, you might belong on zoochat if you pause TV to admire the zoo or animals in the background (http://www.zoochat.com/1382/istanbul-aquarium-europes-biggest-220957/ )

 

I don't think this is totally true, I think there are people on Zoochat who care more about ticking off numbers of species, enclosures, zoos and see zoos as a business and animals as a necessary commodity and don't care about actual animals or particularly care about "give up on things that make our life better and theirs worse"

 

I think that's a somewhat unfair statement. I know quite a few people who keep life lists and like seeing new species to add to that [I am one of those types ] - but it doesn't mean we don't care about the animals, quite the opposite infact. There is a reason we complain about inadequate zoos with bad conditions for the animals.

Keeping a life list is a harmless hobby that incorporates visiting some excellent zoos, some good zoos and some terrible places we don't particularly want to go to again.

I moan about 'another meerkat' or 'ugly chimps,' but if I let you in on a secret, I do actually care about the welfare of these species just as much as the others, it's just that they don't hold my interest as much as some other things. I, personally, don't see a problem with having species I'm not too bothered about seeing when I visit a zoo.

 

I'm not saying that 'all people with lists don't care about animals' however there are discussions on here where the animals appear to be just another feature of a zoo on a par with the buildings and enclosures, to be shed when they are no longer useful and actually caring about any particular animal/s is rather childish.

 

Ahh, fair point

I think it's fine to care about the animals, there are species and indeed individual animals I'm fond of. Caring about individuals is not childish in my opinion, so long as people are aware that an animal they have an attachment to could end up moving to another zoo for one reason or another, usually a fair reason such as breeding programmes, space or enclosure quality

 

I kinda agree with you. If someone wants to run a zoo just as a business, then it's doing it for the wrong purpose I guess... A zoo is a place for animal lovers. If you are a business lover then go work with things that don't need to be loved.

And I, too, am not saying that people who have a dream and make plans and lists for a zoo, or have a favorite animal, don't care and love animals. I don't see anithing wrong in doing lists of animals as long as you don't see them as objects you want to have on your "appartement".

 

Osafi, nothing wrong with loving individual animals. This is indeed encouraging, but i think you are bit harsh on the people on zoochat. You should realise that some people here focus on animals on a population level. And then the interest of an individual animal can be less important then that of the species in captivity or even the world population. If you look at tigers, all subspecies are doing quite bad in the wild. Some of them are well represented in captivty, but there are also a lot of hybrids in zoos. These hybrids prevent an increase of the pure subspecies basically because of lack of space. Therefore some of these hybrids will be moved to zoos with lesser facilities This is tough but needed to create space for the breeding of pure subspecies.

Another example are antilopes. In some species you can only keep one male in an enclosure, not even all male groups are impossible. They will basically kill eachother. Most of the times as many males as females are born. This leaves you with a lot of males that you don't have space for. You have the option of not breeding anymore, but this gives you the danger of the captive population to dissappear (and even if you breed in small number you will end up anyway with too many males). So you need to find a solution for this and this option can be euthenesia. It's a tough decission but one sometimes needed. (It will be interesting to see how this will develop with Asian elephants).

This doesn't mean people on zoochat don't care for individuals, but that they focus on animals as a population in stead of the individual. And this sometimes include actions that are difficult.

 

DDcorvus, you have valid points, however, I don´t believe that euthanasia will be an option in the future. It can be understandable to us, in some cases, but I guarantee you, that most people would be against it and zoos will have to find a way around it (off site enclosures, private collections.. I don´t know..) It´s gonna be expensive, but if they will continue euthanasia practice, then they are just handing out the best weapon to animal right activists.. This practice is highly questionable and really hard to defend..
Imagine a great modern accredited zoo where everything is perfect - the enclosures are a big and full of enrichment, animals have the best health care, important conservation programs are going on - the activists have a hard time to find some dirt on them... and then information about euthanasia leaks out.. 99% of people (voters and paying visitors!) won´t understand that and be absolutely against it..

 

Stefka, as an example Blijdorp in Rotterdam is very open about euthanesia on their website and in the zoo itself, so people are informed about it. Neither voters neither zoovisitors seem to find it an issue. This can of course change in the future but at the moment it is less of an issue also because till now it did not include any charismatic species. And as the euthanised animals are being done so according to a protocol plus the animals are afterwards fed to the carnivores, so it is easier to relate for people.

 

That´s a good example, thank you. Glad it works there this way, especially when the meat is not wasted.
But as for the future.. I don´t really see this to continue for long, especially in countries with ridiculously well-funded animal right groups..

 

When your best dreams consist of your local zoo having Maned Wolf pups, then waking up crushed to remember your zoo only has 2 female Maned Wolves.
Time for me to get a life...

 

You might belong on ZooChat when you take the design a zoo thread seriously and would love to actually design that perfect zoo in a city that doesn't have a zoo. You also think about which places could support a zoo that doesn't have one.

 

And you get annoyed when zoo tycoon doesn't have aspects such as planning permission,studbooks, in-situ conservation work and thye vast majority of odd species/subspecies that you want

 

I drove past a wooded hillside glade, small burn falling over rocks an open fielded area, interspersed with fallen trees and rocky outcrops and naturally i thought, wouldn't that make a great giant panda enclosure.
Been here too long......................

 

I often think of ways to make local green spaces in to zoos with the minimum amount of landscaping. It can get quite embarassing when people ask what I'm staring at or what I'm thinking!

 

I can tell I've been on here too long when I keep thinking that Cheyenne, WY or Casper, WY could use a drive-through zoo with cold weather animals like Bactrian camels, bison, Mongolian wild horses, caribou, or mountain animals like takins. Lots of open space around the towns, just not sure these places could support zoos.

 

You might belong on Zoochat if you have even seen a maned wolf and not the grass in its enclosure.