Cats & Other Domestic Animals in Zoos

Oh yeah the Mexican hairless dogs I remember seeing them at the play thing they did at Xcaret in the Aztec temple arena thing. I think they actually walked with Mictlantecuhtli, the Aztec god of death.

 

Yes, they are a very strange and primitive breed of dog.

I haven't encountered a breed of dog that has such a different temperament as the xolo does.

 

Another good example of animals roaming the property would be, the peacock at the Abilene Zoo. Although the species isn’t domesticated some keep them as exotic pets. It also has its own area where they feed it, and where it sleeps. I think he died though, because I haven’t seen him the last few times I went.

 

Peacocks are commonly kept as free roaming animals in zoos all over the world.

 

Most Japanese zoos let kids pet guinea pigs and domestic rabbits, although many stock them way too densely and it’s not good for their health. Also, long-tailed chinchillas are very common in zoos, as are African pygmy hedgehogs and sugar gliders, and Mongolian gerbils I’ve seen a few times.

Although one could argue that hedgehogs and sugar gliders are more “exotic” pets than domesticated.

 

here you go

 

Yeah they have chinchillas at the Fort Worth Zoo in their event building. I’ve been there once or twice for a overnight, and another time for a birthday party.

 

Hmm that’s very interesting.

 

Relatively many Czech zoos run their own domestic cat and dog shelter and/or wildlife rescue station. Such shelters must be fully separated from the main zoo ground, to prevent infection transmision, so you can´t see their inhabitants during your zoo visit. But they are there and if you ask staff, the will direct you to the shelter and you can adopt a new family member. They get advertised on zoo internet sites and I think (but am not 100% sure) I have even seen printed portraits of adoptable dogs and cats at entrance of Hodonin zoo few years back.

 

That’s pretty cool, I think I’d like to see that in other zoos.

 

This a reason why all domestic cats that live free in Prague zoo are adopted adult ex-street cats.

We have a population of stray/feral cats and basically all of them have toxoplasmosis, they get infected when they are kittens the moment they start to consume solid food. But while they stay infected their whole life, they stop being infectious after few months after the initial infection. By adopting only adult street cats and placing them within the zoo areal (almost each stable or house has its own cat that keepers feed and vets provide care), zoo animals are protected from toxoplasmosis. Adopted adult cats protect their territory and don´t allow unknow stray cats from outside to enter it.

 

We have a huge problem with feral (mostly cats) and stray animals (both dogs and cats) in Brazil. Their owners usually abandon them in places like parks and zoos, sometimes because the animals are pregnant. I'd like to cite some examples of places that are currently passing thorugh the situation: the Campo de Santana, the Quinta da Boa Vista (where the Rio de Janeiro zoo is located) and the Belo Horizonte zoo. Both the Campo de Santana and the Quinta da Boa Vista are public parks located in Rio de Janeiro. The former has lots of wild and introduced animals, like opossums, agoutis (wild), waterfowl (wild and introduced), marmosets and peafowl (introduced) living along with cats and the latter has smaller problems with those felines but there are still some living there. When I visited the Belo Horizonte zoo, I noticed the presence of some cats, like a group of kittens behind the gorilla exhibit and an adult individual (probably their mother) collecting food from a trash can. Also, what zoo are you talking about?

 

I'd also like to add that some zoos, like the one located in São Paulo, the largest in the country, has signs spread all over the institution telling people to not abandon their pets/animals, because they can cause serious harm to wild animals.

 

I was specifically talking about Sorocaba zoo which has had this problem with feral cats for a long time and has tried very hard to deal with the issue.

For example, almost a whole breeding group of bearded saki monkey died from toxoplasmosis infection and now the zoo is only left with a single survivor.

Indeed as you say there are also introduced marmosets which cause just as many problems to wild native marmoset species in Rio, São Paulo and Minas Gerais states. This particular problem is often result of historic introductions (during the 70's, 80's, 90's and 2000's) and escapes too.

As I've written elsewhere in the forum this was sometimes also complicated by inadequate training of the environmental police who seized non-native marmoset species from the illegal trade and simply released them in nearby forest fragments.

 

Yes and that is very good and better than nothing but it doesn't often work as unfortunately people who are ignorant are very unlikely to read signs or care about what is written on them.

 

Many years ago someone released an unwanted green iguana in the Bronx Zoo and all the keepers had to frantically search the whole park for it. After many hours of searching it was found in the butterfly garden. Another time someone left an unwanted red-tailed boa or some other snake (I can’t remember) in the parking lot.

 

When I was in the summer camp there that had a ferret that was dumped to the zoo in a box.

 

Funny, I once thought of an idea of zoos featuring modern dogs and cats. Then realized that these animals are used to used to human companionship and not being wild like their non-domestic counterparts.

Nice to hear some such exibits exists, but with the rarer breeds. Great topic

 

Likewise cats are not tolerated in Australian zoos as toxoplasmosis is fatal for marsupials.

 

I guess people in my area are pretty wise in terms of neutering and spaying dogs and cats. I didn’t see an intact dog, stray or being walked, until I traveled out of the northeastern US.