SunBear at Canberra » National Zoo and Aquarium

SunBear at Canberra
04-04-2007

Hey guys,
Sorry if this has been brought up before but does anyone know anything about Canberra's new Sunbear?

Thanks,
Jarkari

04-04-2007

is there anything about that on their website?

04-04-2007

all i can see on thee website is meet our new Sunbear Otay... couldn't find any pictures or info on it... her i'm guessing...???

04-04-2007

Sorry. take that back Otay, 3 year old female Sunbear rescued from Cambodia

04-04-2007

check out this website
http://www.freethebears.org.au/newsletter

05-04-2007

Looking at the zoos website they seem to have a male bear there alreadly so i guess with the new female they could have a pair, lets hope they do breed.

05-04-2007

the male bear was born at wellington and transferred quite a few years ago to the national zoo. they have been waiting for this female to pair him with for a long time..

05-04-2007

Yeah from what I remember Arataki was the only surviving cub of a very large litter. The keepers at canberra told me the mother had a few problems with the cubs. Canberra has been waiting a very long time for this.

06-04-2007

the story about Arataki is that he was from a litter of two they both were going to go to the National zoo but his brother died in NZ before they could be moved. ther was no problem with the mother but with the high turn over of staff at the national zoo I guess they don't all know the story. the same female has now got another cub on the ground and on display

Sunbear at National Zoo
18-04-2007

I was fortunate enough to meet Otay last week and she is just gorgeous!
I hand fed her (even individual grapes!) and she was so delicate and gentle.

Otay and Arataki are in adjacent pens and have been introduced through the mesh of their night dens...soon they will be properly introduced with the aim of breeding.

Rayles

PS The National Zoo website is quite slow and not up to date (did you know they now have a male serval from Auckland Zoo?), but the zookeeper who took me around the zoo last week tells me that it is in the process of being updated.

18-04-2007

wonder who will do the introductions there's no one there with bear experience. Sure they may have looked after them (fed and cleaned) but other than that no one there has ever done a introduction. This is what happens all to often in these kind of zoo's that have a large staff turn over and only hire those that will not up set the family.

19-04-2007

Hi There,

What do you mean "they only hire keepers who won't upset the family?"

Rayles

19-04-2007

It's well known in ARAZPA that they have a large staff turn over, and most that have left tell the same story. " that they couldn't work for a family that won't listen or that they were asked to go because they stood up to one of the family.
I know that one Curator that put together the collection was asked to go when he had words to one of the family about the way she was talking down to the keeping staff and that she herself had very little runs on the board when it came to working with animals. and that she was only records keeper because daddy owned the zoo.
many staff that have left came from afar (New Zealand, Perth) being told that they would be looked after only to find out that this wasn't true.