I know this have been discused partly before. But what is your opinion on keeping animals like polar bears and reindeer in places with much warmer climates than they live in the wild. Zoos in tropical and subtropical climates like San Diego, Singapore and Dreamworld all have polar bears. Is it any justification of this. Do these animals have to live in an indoor habitat in warmer climates or can they live outside as well. And also what do you think about zoos in temperate climates, like Berlin and Copenhagen keeping polar bears were it can be very hot in summertime. Discuss please !
The one that stands out in my memory is seeing a picture of a polar bear in a poor condition at giza zoo, as well as hearing about polar bear doing very badly in places such as mexico and South america. Also this can be justified, but just if it lives in good conditions.
I don't have a problem with polar bears as long as the bears have access to chilled water. Since they spend so much time swimming anyway it probably isn't such a big deal. The same goes for seals, sea lions, and walruses. Reindeer can tolerate more heat than one might think as they were originally found in humid places like northern Minnesota, northern Michigan, and northern Wisconsin. Keeping them in places like California, Arizona, or Florida, on the other hand, would probably border on cruelty as these places are much hotter than the Upper Midwest states mentioned in the summer. I would disagree with keeping animals like mountain goats, musk oxen, or snow leopards in hot climates unless it were in a large air-conditioned enclosure, which probably wouldn't be too practical for something like a musk ox.
No Polar Bears at Dreamworld, they are at the nearby Sea World (I presume you are talking about Gold Coast, Australia). I think that exhibit is pretty good, and they have had their first cub recently. Generally I think animals can cope outside their typical climatic zone, although some are more sensitive, and something like a Musk Ox or Walrus probably wouldn't cope particularly well in warmer climes. I'm not a fan of all-indoor enclosures for large animals (e.g. Singapore Zoos new Polar Bear/Wolverine/Arctic Fox house) but chilled water and even some air conditioning may help. Temperate locations (Europe, North America) do also get hot, as you mention, but also remember that the Arctic can get warm too. Snow Leopards were mentioned here also, but these are kept in a number of Australian zoos, and don't seem to do badly.
Yes it was Sea World I meant, not Dreamworld. Doesnt San Diego Zoo hold some reindeer, do they have any problem with that ? Also I am interested in hearing more about animals like moose and lynx kept in warmer climates.
I don't know much about success in keeping animals in zoos outside of Australasia. The most common colder climate animals are Red Panda I suppose, and these do very well, as do Snow Leopards. The few Polar Bears do well too, but I don't think there are any other comparable northern species here. No reindeer, moose, musk ox, lynx, arctic fox, wolverine etc. Antarctic species are represented by penguins - all kept in chilled indoor enclosures, and the Leopard Seal at Taronga.
I am fairly certain they plan on getting rid of their reindeer and replacing them with a better exhibit for a animal currently elsewhere in the zoo but idk if I am allowed to specify.
The polar bears are at SeaWorld not dreamworld and if an animal is born in captivity in a hot place they would be used to the weather and animals from colder climates that aren't use to hot climates the zoo would slowly have to adjust them to the new tempreture
Have you ever tried to shear a Musk Ox ? Good Luck. To answer your question: Musk Ox ar do not doing well in hot climate-they defenitely suffer from heat even in germany where we have, sometimes, a winter. You can't protect animals from cold climate without keeping them in cooled chambers, and the Musk Ox at San Diego had to live year round in a too hot climate-I guess, they do not made it very long, so the husbandry of them wasn't sucessful. Also in germany Musk Ox do not very well, most of them do not get old, and most of the calfs die within a few weeks. Just of few can be rasied,so the population of Musk Ox in europe isn't growing. By the way-you can't shear a Musk Ox-they are extreme dangerous animals and would kill you before you could even touch them... By the way 2: Also Polar bears and Snow leopards shouldn't be kept in San Diego, but who cares ?
That would be the same as if you would anesthetized, to cut ir hair. An anesthesia is always avery high Riskio for an animal, and you only does when it is really necessary. Apart from the fact would a shorn muskox would look a little silly, isn't it? The solution is simple-you hold this species simply not in a climate which is unsuitable for them ... and that's the reason why San Diego renounces the husbandry of musk oxen , what welfare regardless of the climate is very difficult -especially in to warm climates they are extremely susceptible to diseases-as I said, muskoxen get in zoos not very old, and that's why most of them give up their husbandry-including San Diego. But of cousre you can keep them year round indoors in climated rooms-why not ? Us-Zoos do keep Tapirs ,Hippos and Apes indoors- why not doing the same with Musk ox in a wonderful Alakska landscape at San Diego Zoo ?
And what would the indoor enclosure be made of. I assume it would be a bit like a dome or something, but it must be able to keep the cold in.
For the purposes of this thread, San Diego Zoo may be a poor example of a "warm weather zoo" - while it is a very pleasant climate that never gets too cold, San Diego also has far fewer extremes of temperatures and fewer of the extreme hot spells that can often occur in summers in what people would think of as far more temperate climates. I find summers in Columbus, Ohio, are far more un"bear"ably hot than those in San Diego, but people who seem to have a problem with polar bears in San Diego never seem as concerned with out bears here in Columbus. True, the bears in San Diego don't see any real snow (outside of some manufactured for special occasions), but in Columbus, our females aren't seeing any snow this season either as they've been denning with their cubs since temperatures started dropping... Better examples of warm-climate zoos for the purposes of this thread are zoos in subtropical Florida or many zoos in Texas and Arizona.
