Am I the only person on here that, regardless of legislation, would prefer not to have dogs in zoos, and I have owned dogs all my life. That and kids on scooters causing havoc in crowded zoos
Our insurance company will not cover us for anything child-powered. If it has pedals it also has to have a handle and an adult has to be in charge of it. We are fine with that! Thank you, TLD
No pet goats or cattle. This is private pet dromedary within Dvur Kralove zoo Pet otter (found orphaned cub that grew with her home) at Ohrada zoo with a keeper One keeper at Olomouc zoo has a pet sloth, he goes every day to the zoo with her and returns back home in the evening, driving tram.
This is bizarre - quite contrary to the BALAI, and should lead to an automatic suspension of Approved status. Thank you for the evidence - I will copy this entire thread to DEFRA UK tomorrow, and ask them to investigate.
It all depends on the dogs. And the owners!! I wouldn't object if the dogs were quiet and well behaved but it would definitely detract from my enjoyment to have someone's prize canine leaping around, barking, squaring up to other people's dogs, toileting everywhere etc We've taken our dog bird-watching with us in France. He curled up under the seats in the hide and went to sleep - people only realised he was there when we got up to go. I suggested allowing dogs in hides to someone at an RSPB Reserve in UK and thought they were going to call security!
It does depend on individuals; I do see their point though. Even the best behaved dog could cause chaos by running along the hide sending people and optics flying, could suddenly make a huge amount of noise, and could suddenly go chasing after wildlife between hides (and even if not, could still cause predator stress). Of course, a lot of this also applies to children, but they're harder to ban I suppose! As a non-dog owner, it's very hard to tell at a glance which dogs are genuinely well-behaved, and which ones their owners only think are well-behaved, or which are really well-behaved right until another dog starts being aggressive to them. Or are potentially perfectly harmless but very loud and intimidating and just not pleasant to have around on your day out, particularly if you were hoping to look at animals that will probably be even more intimidated. Or are just really inquisitive dogs, which is not really what you want in a nature reserve! And of course they all need to do their business eventually. I can see why a blanket-ban of non-assistance dogs would be easier and more effective.
Yes it does and the big problem is not everyone takes the time to train their dogs and one badly behaved dog reflects of every dog, try owning a GSD That and there are people that are genuinely scared of dogs, they have a right to enjoy and day out they have paid a lot of money fortoo . As for dogs in bird hides, I don't only go into them to watch the birds I enjoy listening to them too, it's bad enough when you get some of the noisy people in their chatting away in loud voices without have the added problem of dogs not like yours
It's infuriating isn't it? I was in a hide at our local reserve once when a lady came in with 2 very young children. I wouldn't have minded if any of them had shown any interest in the bird life but she was obviously using it as somewhere she could bring the children to after nursery to eat their sandwiches and throw temper tantrums. I agree with yours and Maguari's comments - a blanket ban of non-assistance dogs is probably the fairest and easiest method to administer.
Seeing this thread again is pertinent in our household as we were only saying as a family on Sunday that one of the reasons why we love Paignton Zoo & Blackpool Sands in Dartmouth is they are dog free. It had never occurred to us before, why in both places, our girls felt free to wander without fear of treading in dog poo or getting too close to one. However, as a family we recognise the importance of dogs to so many people in the UK.
Interesting article from the BBC website, particularly the comment from Guide Dogs at the end. Banham and Africa Alive are finalising a policy to allow assistance dogs entry. Banham Zoo apologises for turning guide dog away
