Upgraded lion exhibit

I heard zoo Guarulhos would renovate the lion enclosure, but honestly, It finished way better than I thought it would be. Glass panels are a nice viewing platform, and if I'm not wrong, this new space seems way bigger than the previous one, right?

Anyway, I haven't seen many pictures of this zoo's old lion enclosure... Do you have any? I think this way we could make a better comparisson.

There's this photo taken by @devilfish that provides a good view: Lion enclosure, April 2016
The enclosure ended with a wall where the iron bars end, being rectangular in shape.

The area given by the news websites is 500 square meters, so I guess they've summed around 200 - 300 of outdoor space? Still not the largest exhibit ever compared to north american and european standards, but a substantial improvement nevertheless, especially for a kitten!

If I'm honest I would rather that the lion would be moved to some other zoo and for this enclosure to be purposed for bush dogs.

The fact that the zoo doesn't make money from entrance fee makes it more likely for them to potentially give up on the only ABC crowdfunder (which I also would agree with), but if they obtained bushdogs, wouldn't they probably end up keeping them in an enclosure similar to the peccary/maned wolf's (if not one of the small ones)? My shot in the dark guess for what they would choose to replace the lion with would be something bigger (around 20 kg or more) and that requires such structure not to escape, spectacled bear maybe?

@FelipeDBKO Yes I agree. In terms of the bush dogs the zoo could well do this but I think that the enclosure in the picture would be far better for this species and quite a sizeable group of these animals could easily be accomodated within it, dont you think ?

I think that is a very good guess and it would probably happen as there isn't exactly a shortage of spectacled bears in Brazilian zoos and they being transferred between these institutions relatively frequently. I think that between an African lion and a spectacled bear I would much rather the bear considering that it is South American and therefore arguably of a greater educational value for educating Brazilian visitors about the fauna of neighbouring countries.

Ultimately, I'll have to try to find this out more about this enclosure soon as I have some contacts in Guarulhos Zoo and need to pay a visit over there anyway. In spite of the addition of a new lion I think the zoo is moving forward in an awesome direction and I love this place.

I think some small zoos like Guarulhos have quite a need to have a highlight animal such as a lion, because it makes visitors continue going to the place, but once FelipeDBKO said the zoo doesn't charge for the tickets, I bet there's no need to keep a non native animal in there, specially if there's no conservation purpose... Anyway, I think this exhibit has average quality, and now that it's already built and already hosts a lion, I think it would be a good idea to bring a lioness for reproduction. Definitely gonna try to visit Guarulhos zoo in my next trip to São Paulo next month, so I can take better personal conclusions of this enclosure

@David Matos Mendes I know what you mean about the need for small zoos to have large charismatic exotic fauna to bring in more visitors. However, I dont think that this is really the case with Guarulhos and I think it is more a case of having these animals given to them by larger institutions and accomodating this.

I just think that as the species kept by Guarulhos are almost entirely native / endemic animals it would be brilliant if they could find new homes for the last exotics and make the focus to be entirely on natives. Thanks to their director the brilliant Dr Claudia Igayara they are already achieving some truly awesome success with breeding the buffy tufted marmoset and I think they could also achieve success with other species too.

@Onychorhynchus coronatus
I have actually seen considerable changes in Guarulhos zoo (mostly in social media and internet articles, once I've never been there). I can realize the institution is making such a good work. Definitely gonna search more about this woman. I have alreeady heard about her.

And even if the enclosure is not as roomy as other zoos like BH or São Paulo, we can see there are intense tries to make the zoo better in general. From the comparison I made between the pictures of the old enclosure, it's a huge change that happened. Now I'm looking forward to see Guarulho's zoo next month. definitely included in my trip plans

@David Matos Mendes It is definitely a lovely little zoo, not the best in the world and by no means perfect but they really do their best over there and with a limited budget to do effective conservation and education.

I definitely think you will enjoy your visit there and you check out the buffy tufted marmosets as they are really the jewel of the collection.

@Onychorhynchus coronatus
Oh, yes, definitely, the buffy tufted marmosets are probably the zoo's biggest highlights, I bet. Can't let to see them!