Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium Pittsburgh Zoo News 2015

Woah, that was a fast new project announcement!

 

He is still off-exhibit.

 

Aww man

 

Sign next to siamang exhibit:
http://www.zoochat.com/597/jungle-trails-coming-2016-a-420156/

 

Ill be silently chanting for jaguars to be added to this exhibit. All the new species are great but I'm still waiting for a larger species to be added. The last large/larger animals to be added were the cheetahs after the removal of the painted dogs. But I guess I'm a little bias cuz I'm a large predator lover, but jaguars would fit into the theming. Btw are Jungle Trails and The Islands going to be considered parts of the Top of The World project or is that going to be a separate area completely? If anyone knows...

 

Yes. The Islands and Jungle Trails are the first two phases of a four year plan for the land that was referred as Top of the World. One area has mentioned to be mountain. I am expecting when the exhibit is formally announced, the anchor(s) will be announced. Only three species have been announced and the zoo said it would be an array of animals from several continents.

 

Orangutan will also be part of The Jungle phase. Okapi are another strong candidate.

 

Thank goodness! It's about time they get an outside exhibit.

 

Along with the Orangs getting better digs, I would love to see Chaney, the snow leopard, find a nicer home in the future mountain area of TOTW. Her current enclosure is so bleak and small. Its size and setup reminds me off the arctic fox enclosure at Cinci, which works out fine for animals that size but not for a large cat even if she is the only one they have currently.

 

When the Felid TAG was in town last month, they had a brainstorming session on how to improve/renovate her current exhibit.

 

Jungle Trails is still in design phase, so giant anteater, tree kangaroo, and ocelot are the only confirmed/very likely species.

 

New snow leopard exhibit will come with the Mountain phase

 

Where exactly are you getting this information?

 

Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium parts ways with Association of... | www.wpxi.com

 

Well.... that's gonna make things hard to complete the news exhibits in this thread

 

More about the Zoo leaving the AZA. Here it states there were disagreements regarding elephant care.

Pittsburgh zoo splits with national group over elephant care standards | TribLIVE Mobile

 

Not really. AZA isn't end all; be all. They can still build new exhibits and keep their animals and acquire new ones.

 

But this will limit them as much as it will liberate them

 

Absolutely correct. Having visited almost 300 zoos just in the United States I've often chatted with keepers and owners at small establishments and the long-term goal (daydream in many cases!) is AZA accreditation. Of the 700 "zoos" in the nation there are now 214 that are accredited, which is 30% of the total. Pittsburgh Zoo's decision to no longer be accredited is in my honest opinion a very poor one and there will likely be an impact in terms of obtaining animals and the transfer of individual specimens. For the most part AZA zoos are in a class above the rest of the facilities scattered across the country and with Pittsburgh already having had a keeper killed by an elephant this decision seems to be the height of foolishness.

P.S. I was surprised to learn that a modern zoo was using dogs to herd its elephants...another black mark against Pittsburgh.

 

If the Pittsburgh Zoo is currently holding specimens on loan from other AZA accredited facilities, would they be required to return those animals or send them on to other AZA member zoos?