THE LIST IS OUT! Ten Worst Zoos for Elephants 1. Oklahoma City Zoo 2. Natural Bridge Zoo 3. Honolulu Zoo 4. Edmonton Valley Zoo 5. Oregon Zoo 6. Buffalo Zoo 7. Wildlife Safari, Oregon 8. Pittsburgh Zoo 9. Milwaukee County Zoo 10. Fort Worth Zoo Hall of Shame. Buttonwood Park Zoo Dishonorable Mention. Bronx Zoo
These lists are ******** and having Oklahoma City and Oregon on here is absurd. I doubt the people who wrote it have even been to these zoos. That said a few of them (Natural Bridge is awful) are deserving of criticism but the way these sites present and make up facts is shameful.
Okay might need to turn it down a little Grayson. Pg site, I repeat pg site. Oregon, Honalulu, Pittsburgh, and Oklahoma don't deserve to make this list AT ALL! They didn't even give a valid explanation for the former 2
What do you mean pg site? And Pittsburgh did have the thing with the dogs used to control the elephants a few years ago.
I simply mean to keep in mind that there are younger people on this site that don't need to here that. The dog thing was years ago and this is a annual list that chose them this year for what they did THIS year.
Buffalo Zoo has made the list a second year in a row. And they always have a news article about the zoo defending their exhibit and care for their elephants. And although I'm sure the staff does take excellent care of them, it's never mentioned getting a third cow to be compliant with AZA regulations. Does anyone know if they got excused from this new standard? It's always a mystery to me. I am not sure if they have enough room, but I wouldn't mind seeing them go to Rosamond Gifford Zoo.
My understanding is that there are exceptions made for the new regulations. For example, the lone female elephant at San Antonio is not being forced to move or be joined with other elephants for behavioral reasons, and I believe a similar situation explains the situation at Bronx where they have a group of two and group of one. If Buffalo is not sending their elephants away or receiving a third, it seems likely that a similar exception is being applied to them. Elephants are very behaviorally complex and many of them have had lives and upbringings that make socialization with new elephants very difficult.
I wasn't aware San Antonio had gotten more elephants, thanks. I know that in the past they had cited behavioral reasons in defense of her situation. If they just added the elephants in 2016, that is probably why they are not on the 2016 list. It's not actually intended to list the ten zoos where elephants are treated the most poorly; it's more about drawing attention to specific zoos for making decisions about elephants that the IDA disagrees with.
I actually didn't have a problem with the whole dog thing. The way I see it if the Elephants really didn't like the dogs the dogs would not have lived very long.
While this is an annual list, they do not hesitate to include things about past years. In the passage about the Oregon Zoo's elephant program, they talked about how Rose-Tu was beat up by some zookeepers, and also talk about Pachy breeding with his sisters. Something noteworthy about the video that the IDA provided about samudra, is when he was standing still, the end of his trunk was resting along the ground, which means he was sensing vibrations in the earth. Elephants do this in the wild, to communicate long distance. So he wasn't standing still because he was bored. And someone who really studies elephant behavior would have noticed that and known it was really good behavior to exhibit.
I see your point. It's funny really. They make up these bogus facts too make these zoos look bad. Sadly the uneducated media doesn't know any better and will have no choice but to side with them. Milwaukee, Fort Worth, Wildlife Safari, Edmonton, Buffalo, and especially Natural Bridge are all pretty bad. Luckily the former 2 are expanding the exhibits. Oklahoma should not have taken the Seattle elephants. They should have probably stayed at San Diego. Chai would have passed no matter what, but at least Malee would have lived. Pittsburgh, Honolulu, and More so Oregon shouldn't be anywhere near this list. And to answer a older question. No I don't think this list is valid in the slightest. Phew, ok then .
Maybe a good career for a ZooChatter in need of a life's calling could be reporting on Zoo's and other conservation and animal related topics from a knowledgeable perspective.
For those who think Oregon Zoo has great exhibit, what about 3 bulls getting human TB? As for OKCZoo, Chai, 35, died under suspicious circumstances. She had a blood infection, should have been picked up by vet.