Mogo Zoo Bears Move Out » Mogo Zoo

03-03-2008

Oh, and the snow leopards would have only been around 10 years old (and since had 4 cubs), so not exactly old and decrepit.

03-03-2008

sorry, which snow leopards do you mean?

its my understanding they have had two pairs one more recently acquired "unbreedable" pair from taronga and another pair that they have bred before. which pair are you talking about? (and am i even correct?)

03-03-2008

I think they got the pair that Taronga had that never breed. once Taronga got it's new pair they have now, the old pair got moved to Mogo.

03-03-2008

one would make the assumption faraji was talking about that particular pair also, yet he/she says they "have since had four cubs".

it was my understanding taronga deemed the female infertile due to being placed on contraceptives too young (though i never understood why that meant they also needed to acquire a new male?)

hence why i'm confused.

03-03-2008

that's the pair i am referring to. I think that taronga got a new male for no reason other than the other male was getting a bit long in the tooth. The pair that bred at Mogo originally, i don't know where mogo got them from.

03-03-2008

Now I'm confused. All I know off the top of my head at the moment is that the male at Mogo (Manga) was born in Melbourne and was the only one born for 12 years until he fathered 2 cubs at Mogo with Lena (now deceaced) in 1999 (?). Those cubs are now at Canberra. Two more cubs were born to Manga and Lena in 2004(?), which are still at Mogo in a separate enclose to Manga.

03-03-2008

When did Lena die?

Also update on chimps plz!

03-03-2008

The Animals were hardly dumped on mogo, I'm sure they were more than happy to take them, ecstatic (sp?). That would be how most new private zoos start out. As for chimps, progress seems to be pretty slow. alot of donation boxes and stuff in place though.

03-03-2008

Mogo would have been happy to take them. melbourne and taronga would have been happy to get rid of them.

03-03-2008

Everyones happy . . those that have been to mogo, do you think that enclosure would be suitable for sun bears

03-03-2008

taronga recieved two snow leopards in february 1990. These cats were displayed in the current snow leopard exhibit until i think 2004 - 2005?,( can't be bothered to read through my old zoo news magazines to find the exact time of arrival, so just guessing. Maybe someone not as lazy as me could check the arrival date for the new ones) when taronga recieved a new pair. The old pair from taronga were then moved to Mogo. Since then the new young pair at Taronga have had cubs.

03-03-2008

Most of the time, it is not so easy as to simply place a new species in an old species' enclosure. Even though they are both bears, sun bears are very different have different enclosure requirements. It is also very difficult for someone who has simply looked at an enclosure whilst visiting a zoo to determine whether it would be suitable. Having said that, it would need modifying to be suitable for pretty much anything apart from the bears that were living there. This of course will have to be done in the future as I'm sure Mogo will not be receiving any more Syrian Brown Bears anytime soon.

03-03-2008

is it as much a case of 'dumping' unwanted animals or is this the role Mogo is opting to play as part of the regional zoo community? as much asTaronga and Melbourne are sledged, they are one of the few zoos with the money behind them to keep regional breeding program ticking along by way of importing new animals and new bloodlines. in the last couple of years, between them 3 new snow leopards have been imported, red pandas, several sumatran tigers and numerous primates, as well as elephants of course.
just as was discussed on the thread about displaying jaguars, every member of the ARAZPA community has their own role to play. in the case of Omaha and Prafula the ex-Taronga leopards, being sent to Mogo did result eventually in two new bloodlines for the region and two new cubs. had Mogo not been willing to participate, this species might have fizzled down to critically low numbers.
there are certain perks to helping big zoos. sure you do get their older animals, but you also get access to animals, a big and fundamental plus. you also get to play a more significant role in ex-situ breeding programs, establish professional dialogue and who knows, maybe in the future play an even bigger role in programs.

03-03-2008

Yes luckily it was the role Mogo was prepared to play otherwise melbourne and taronga would have been in a tough situation. By that i mean they could have found it hard to place these animals elsewhere. I think by using the word 'dump" i may have sounded that i was against the zoos from moving around their animals. I am a great fan of Mogo. I think that without their willingness to accept aging animals and surplus breeders they have helped out the larger zoos a great deal.
What word would you use for placing unwanted animals elsewhere?

03-03-2008

This is true, but it is a misconceived fact that Mogo always receives old, unwanted stock. Also, there have been quite a few animals sent to other zoos (including Taronga) from Mogo.

I say all this at the risk of sounding like a Mogo cheerleader, but it is just very difficult for everyone to comment on so many of these issues when I gather most of us on this forum (mainly those in Australia) don't actually work at a zoo or dare I say it, are management at any of these zoos. I know that I could be wrong, but this is just from what I have read so far from the self-confessed zoo "groupies" (not that there is anything wrong with that ).