You really think planck has to close because some birds escaped? Lmao You are over exaggerating so much
English article about the "Big escape": ZOO Planckendael asks public to help find escaped exotic birds
This whole episode is very similar to what happened at the Bronx Zoo in 1995. Below I have attached an article about it, but it also involved Inca terns. Sadly for the Bronx Zoo it resulted in the loss of extremely rare birds in captivity such as Peruvian gray gull & the only band-tail gull in North America. My main point being: glad the species that escaped are common & also that this happens to the best of zoos in the world. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.newsweek.com/great-escape-birds-flee-bronx-coop-185132?amp=1
At the very least I hope this incident will result in heightened attention towards and increased monitoring of aviary and bird safety during extreme weather events, and to keeping these things in mind when constructing large aviaries. Not just at Planckendael, but at all zoos, big and small. Updates from February 28th: - 4 Inca tern have now been recovered. Two additional individuals were caught today. One in Brecht, one all the way in an industrial building in Maasmechelen (in Limburg near the Dutch border). The Nature Aid Centre (wildlife and exotic animal rescue and rehab) in Opglabbeek (Oudsbergen) caught the bird in Maasmechelen and it is in care with them. - Two additional terns have been spotted but not yet caught in Lier and Gooik. - The locations where the terns have been spotted or caught are at substantial distances from Planckendael. At this point the terns could be pretty much anywhere in Belgium. - The terns don't seem to be scared of people and in fact seem to be seeking contact with people. That might be somewhat hopeful with regards to their safe return. - The Nature Aid Centre apparently has also since come to the aid of Planckendael to catch birds that were still in the damaged aviary. I could however only read a part of the article in the Limburg regional newspaper (linked below) so I don't know any further details. - Three scarlet ibises have returned. Ten are still our and have left the park, but are not very far away. I saw a photo on Facebook indicating they are on the domain of Sport Vlaanderen in Hofstade (Zemst), a couple of miles from Planckendael. Privacy settings Ontsnapte incastern uit zoo Planckendael duikt op in Maasmechelse bedrijfshal In searching for news about the bird escape I have unfortunately found a little more worrying information about Planckendael. No less than 100 objections where filed by neighbors of Planckendael to the park's permit for the construction of a new complex of animal service, logistic, technical and industrial buildings in the area next to the canal and near the houses of the Vennecourtlaan (beyond the Visayan warty pig exhibit). It seems the neighbors mostly have issues with impacts on their rest and peace, noise disturbance (already an issue now apparently), visual and aesthetic effects of the new buildings and their size and trucks in their streets. Planckendael apparently is willing to construct vegetation buffer zones to accommodate them. This could definitely slow down or potentially even stop the building of the new service buildings, which would be a major setback for the modernization and the future of Planckendael. Also if Planckendael is starting to lose the support of its neighbors and starting to be perceived as a nuisance by them, that is bad news. That could definitely impact future permit applications or even the very future of the zoo. Permitting authorities are generally quite sensitive to impacts on neighbors and lack of support from them. I can't imagine incidents like this will help Planckendael get in a better standing with its neighbors. Omwonenden vrezen meer overlast Planckendael Finally I am actually starting to think somewhat about the future of the damaged aviary. I really hope that there is no major structural damage and that it can still be repaired, so that hopefully Planckendael can at least try to somewhat rebuild their South American bird collection. It would be such a shame if they had to give up on everything there but the penguins.
I mean no zoo-critic ever nor even PETA ever made a big fuss about birds...Prague even managed to make their Waldrapp escape a positive PR, when pretty much whole city was looking for them. Why wouldn't they?
So far I haven't heard or read of anyone raising a stink about the bird escape at Planckendael or giving the park any crap. Maybe birds just don't muster up the same kind of emotion or gain as much as attention as large charismatic mammals, not even from people who claim to be against "species discrimination". Or maybe it is because the Covid-19 outbreak has pretty much taken over the media and social media... Update one week after the big bird escape: Ten Inca terns and ten scarlet ibis are still missing. People are continuing to report seeing the birds. Some birds have been localized but catching them is difficult. People are trying to gain their trust and lure them with extra food to then try and catch them. This could take a few more weeks. The aviary remains closed to the public for the time being as birds could still return. Yesterday one bird did. https://www.hln.be/in-de-buurt/mechelen ... ~ac19039b/ The scarlet ibis are reported to still be in the area of Zemst, a town a few miles from Planckendael, where they have been spotted in a Flemish government domain surrounding a few large lakes and near an old castle. Rode Ibis - Eudocimus ruber It seems things aren't as bad as I feared them to be. It appears at least a (large?) percentage of the birds are managing to stay alive. However catching them is an whole other matters. While it is only normal that the aviary will remain closed for some time to come, I really hope they will be able to fix it and re-open it as soon as possible. I don't think they want to (or should) give up on the aviary, even after this very unfortunate event. I do find it a little regrettable that Planckendael so far hasn't posted any further updates or communications on their social media or website about the bird escape. Another little tidbit of news from Planckendael, regarding the bonobos: The female bonobo baby born from mother Djanoa at Zoo Planckendael at the tail-end of 2019 has been named Unabii ('The prediction') after a public vote. Zoo Planckendael Facebook page
I cant comment on the Terns, but would have thought the situation with the Ibis is hopeful. They are sedentary and very likely to stay locally, and even try to return. The pictures included in the link show them feeding and settled. Belgium is as wet and mild as England, I think, and the weather will hopefully improve soon, too - it has to. This is all on their side. Losses now are likely to be accidental. Catching them will be interesting, but ought to be possible with large baited cage traps. The main problem will be if traps are likely to be vandalised in Belgium, as they would be in England.
Her calf is expected around end of this year. BTW: a group of Mhorr gazelle is planned to replace the impala on the African savannah! So, happy about that ...!
That is very nice and something I look forward to seeing once the park reopens, but with regards to gazelles, unfortunately the slender-horned gazelles were taken off the public route and made no longer visible to the public in 2019. The slender-horned gazelles at Planckendael are the only group in Europe and I'm not sure whether they have any future (there hasn't been breeding for a while if I'm not mistaken), but I would like to be able to see them while they last. In other news: a second baby Bactrian camel was born last weekend. The first was born in March. Both foals are female. https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1067287973644396
True re slender-horned. The entire current population is 2-4 individuals ex Tunisia. PD stock is also US origins.
So basically there is no future for slender-horned gazelles in zoos and we must hope we'll be able to see them again before they all die out?
I would not say that. The population in SSP is more sizeable. There are other groups in Tunisia and Algeria.
Not so sure about that - when I saw them in July 2019 there were 7 individuals and I don't think there has been a subsequent die-off to the scale you imply....
A Zoo Magazine I received last month said that one died recently. I also believe I read about there being a death somewhere earlier this year or last year, so I think they are at least down to five. I saw a message on Facebook implying there might be no male slender-horned gazelles left at Planckendael. If that is true (I have seen no official message on this anywhere) any continuation of the species is a moot point anyway, unless any new imports are possible. Gazelles for reasons unclear to me seem to generally not be of great interest to zoos and not seen very often in collections.
Could they import a male (or more individuals in general) from the US or is that impossible because of import/export restrictions?
