Shanthi and Kandula
Viewing bridge.
Sunday, September 5, 2010
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A Blog designed for discussion of topics related to, but not limited to, Circus, Zoos, Animal Training, and Animal Welfare/Husbandry. Sometimes opening up the dialog is the best starting point of all. And if for nothing else when people who agree and don't agree, get together and start discussing it, it will open up a lot of peoples minds. Debate and discussion even amongst themselves opens a window where there wasn't one before.
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3 comments:
Thanks for posting these pictures...Don't know if I can wait till next year to visit....
I've heard good things about this new exhibit, so I'm anxious to get out there to see it for myself. It will hopefully be yet another great new elephant habitat at America's modern zoos.
Allen Nyhuis, Coauthor: America's Best Zoos
Allen,
I will look forward to your "critique" when you do get a chance to see it. Being's I am a died in the wool zoo fan, I find something looks different to me if I am looking at it alone unannounced, or looking at it with the Director or a member of the staff. The greater understanding you have of the real need's of an elephant(not fluff designed to get additional grant monies) also give you a greater understanding of the "completeness" of the exhibit. I would be interested in knowing what the tall tower like structures are with roof's over them. I suspect they are radiant heaters providing a warm place to stand on mildly chilly days. To nice to stay in, yet chilly enough outside to be uncomfortable. I have a hard time seeing them as providing shade and protection from the sun, given their height. I do agree with one point in Peter Stroud's cornball assessment of the exhibit, and that is the viewing bridge over the enclosure. I promise it won't matter beans to the elephants, but from a person viewing perspective it is the worst vantage point. Not just for elephants, but for any animal, captive or wild. Reminiscent of the Victorian bear pit's of old, it doesn't give you a full appreciation of an animals majesty like eye level, or even looking up. I suspect the elephants will make short work of the "golf course" like substrate in the enclosure that Peter Stroud found objectionable. They should have all the "dust baths and mud wallows" they could ever need in no time. My way of thinking, much more beneficial for them, then providing an already made up environment. Every day when I put my 10 elephants out, the first order of business was to kick up large clumps of dirt and throw them on their backs, long before they ate their hay. If it was raining a bit, they were like children at the beach, dirt and mud flying every direction, rolling and grinding and kicking and squealing and rumbling and bellowing. The folks in town could hear the pandemonium 2 miles away. They never touched their "toys" until later in the afternoon when their was nothing else to do, and they were waiting to be brought in for their grain, bread, vegetables, and fruit. I miss Nic and the girl's so much, and I want every captive elephant to be properly housed and respected. That we keep trying new and better idea's will only make it better for them. The thought that it can't happen in captivity, and "wild" is the only alternative is ridiculous, fueled by ego's and personality's, which only short changes the well being of the animals.
Regards,
Wade
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