[snowleopard]

I've been following many of the discussions on this zoo forum for about 3-4 months, and have finally taken the plunge and joined. Snow leopards have always been my favourite animals ever since I was a young child ( I'm now 32years old ) and I've been enamoured with zoos for as long as I can remember. I find myself becoming highly critical as I age, and whenever I visit any type of zoological garden I specifically analyze the animal exhibits and attempt to gain a sense of the welfare of the captives. Zoos have definitely improved considerably over the past 30 years, and it is truly a joy whenever a fantastic new enclosure is built.

I live in southern British Columbia, Canada, and my "home zoo" is Seattle's Woodland Park Zoo. It's a two hour drive away, but has won more AZA exhibit awards than any other (besides the Bronx Zoo ) of the 216 or so accredited zoos in North America.

I'll probably be posting like crazy in order to gauge the reception of this site. Thanks for reading...

[Toddy]

Welcome to the forum snowleopard! Nice to have some members from America on the site

[snowleopard]

One of the initial reasons why I didn't join was because of the large number of English and Australian zoo fans...and I didn't wish to feel out of the loop. But after studying the site daily for a few months I realized that there is a ton of enlightening information, and I've become addicted to it!!

With me living in Canada it will diversify the membership a little.

[Toddy]

Yeah, it would be nice to have some input from that part of the world also. Could you perpahs write a few words about Woodland Park Zoo, since it is your "home zoo"? And it is not all English and Australian, since we are a few other Europeans hanging on

Yay! 100th post

[MARK]

Welcome Scott, hope you enjoy your stay here, any zoo news from your part of the world would be welcome

[CZJimmy]

Welcome!

As others have said, some information from North America would be welcomed, as I usually try to keep myself up to date with the big American zoos.

Some pics would also be appreciated

[snowleopard]

Seattle's Woodland Park Zoo isn't tremendously large, with about 1,100 animals in its collection. But as I've pointed out here on another post, it has won 5 or 6 AZA (American Zoo and Aquarium Association ) exhibit awards. Only the Bronx Zoo has won more awards for "best new exhibit".

There is a fabulous section of the zoo called "Northern Trail", with grizzly bears in a spacious enclosure that is over an acre in size. They are enticed to swim in their fish-packed pool and den by both food and heat...and many occasions I've been within 3 inches of the pair of brothers. Each grizzly is almost 900 pounds, and so they are quite impressive up close. There are also wolves, elk, mountain goats, river otters, arctic fox, snowy owl, etc in this area of the zoo.

The nocturnal house is also top-notch, with several species of bat, along with sloths, tamanduas, douroucolli monkeys, porcupines, slow loris, armadillos, etc. It is connected to the "day exhibit" building, with many amphibians and reptiles present.

Two years ago they spent $4 million on a fancy new pathway, a giant yet fake kapok tree, and a jaguar enclosure. The jaguar has an exhibit with around 1,500 different plant species inside of it, as well as a small pool.

The orang-utan forest is massive and is looked down upon from a high boardwalk, the 12or 13 gorillas have two separate exhibits that are seamlessly joined together (built in 1979 and apparently the first or second naturalistic gorilla enclosure in the world), the elephant forest is award-winning and 1.5 acres (but a little dated now) and they have a $3 million penguin pool opening in May 2009.

It was one of the first zoos to be divided up into geographic climes (African Savannah, Tropical Asian Rainforest, African Rainforest, Northern Trail, etc ) and is still highly rated.

Seattle is my home zoo, even though it is 2 hours away, because the other two that are closer aren't nearly as good. The Vancouver Aquarium is enjoyable, and is the fifth largest of North America's 45-55 aquariums, and is undergoing an $80 million expansion that will help it to almost double in size by 2009. The Greater Vancouver Zoo has about 700 animals and is a waste of time. That is the zoo that had numerous lawsuits filed against it for its cruel treatment of an 18 month old hippo.

[snowleopard]

I am a firm believer in the theory that a zoo doesn't have to necessarily have a massive number of animals to be called a great zoo. Denver Zoo in Colorado has over 4,000 animals, but that number is inflated due to the large number of fish, amphibians, etc that has in its collection. I went to the Denver Zoo last summer and was appalled at some of the older enclosures...and nothing annoys me more than to see a bear species pacing back and forth in an old-style grotto "pit".

However, they are now spending $40 million on an Asian Trails exhibit, with a long list of species on offer. Elephants, rhinos and tapirs will be the largest on offer, and the zoo's website has a great summary of the buildings that are being constructed for the enclosures.

[Toddy]

Originally Posted by snowleopard I am a firm believer in the theory that a zoo doesn't have to necessarily have a massive number of animals to be called a great zoo.

I'm with you there! The Scandinavian Wild Animal Park in Denmark only have 18 species, most of the mammals, but are a great place to spend the day. Their polar bear and wolf enclosures are the best i have ever seen, at least from the animals view.

[snowleopard]

Polar bears are notorious for developing stereotypical behaviours in captivity, so that's good to hear that there is some success in a Danish wildlife park.

[Sand Cat]

Glad that you did decide to take the plunge and join the fun - I lurked a bit myself but it was too much to resist joining!

I absolutely love Snow Leopards too, they're my favourite large cat and I always think they look so beautiful and intelligant. I never tire of seeing them, and there are quite a few in the UK, which is good news!

Out of interest, have you ever visited any zoos in the UK, or do you have any plans to come here in the future?

[Writhedhornbill]

Hello, Welcome aboard.

[snowleopard]

Sand Cat: I've never visited the U.K., but naturally the desire to do so is extremely tempting.