Live animals being used as food in zoo's?

[Texas Blonde]

Over spring break I got a behind the scenes tour of the Memphis Zoo. I was told that occationally the Komodo dragon was fed large pieces of pigs, or an entire dead pig. Their insanely enormous retic also got f/t pics. There was never any mention of live food besides crickets and roaches.

 

[Pogi5]

my flash instructor used to work at the Vancouver Aquarium and he did assist in the feeding of the anacondas--they fed them large live rabbits.

 

[ta2edpop]

Sorry, but it's a very common practice in many places. Most zoos in the third world breed food animals for the predators which are fed to them live.

A pair of young white rats await their demise.

I love to see animals playing together. Reminds me of my children.

 

[Lasiodora]

Zoos do not feed live to mammalian predators (fish is the exception). Enrichment entails hiding food throughout exhibits, constructing "toys" to stimulate the animal's mind, encasing food in blocks of ice, placing different scents throughout the exhibit, and other things that do not require the use of live prey but will stimulate the mind. Reptiles are only fed live prey when animals refuse to eat (this involves young snakes for the most part). Some newly born or hatched species of snakes will not eat dead rodents or rodents at all. Force feeding is always a last measure because it is extremely stressful. First scented dead rodents are introduced. If this fails live lizards, quails, chicks, ducks, or rodents are introduced (what is used depends on the species of snake). Feeding live is not used as a form of enrichment. Some wild caught adult reptiles never switch over to rodents. Crocodilians will eat almost anything, dead or alive. For this reason live animals are never fed (except fish). I am only speaking of AZA accredited zoos. Don't know about all the rest.
-Mike

 

[Tleilaxu]

Neither are politicians but we don't feed the to animals, then again...

But what animal would eat them anyway.... they have no natural predators.;P

 

[iturnrocks]

All the fish in the aquarium at cabelas are fed live fish. Its really cool if youre there when they dump them in.

 

[bugmankeith]

Thanks for your help everyone in answering my question.

 

[sick4x4]

well

i love this topic which leads me to the zoo of all zoo's, the san deigo zoo..it is the prototype of any zoo..it houses the bigest amount of animals in a natural enviroment..they set the standard...and no they dont use live animals in feeding..except bugs and such...no live snakes for kings either sorry....one of the main reasons for this is the nutriutional value.live animals just dont have the proper nutruition for animals in captivity...wild animals eat the things they need, then pass what they eat to the animals that eat them...animals breed for animal food differs from animals breed for people food...zoo's dont go to fosters farm for the chicken they need, lol it would be to expensive...they go to frams where the quanity means more then the quality....thats why people powder crickets with vitamins,adding vitamins to our reptiles water...u ever try stuffing vitamins down a live aninmals mouth...and some of those pills are huge!!lol soo hope no one gets mad at me i just like the topic!!! IT ALL COMES DOWN TO WHAT I HAVE BEEN SAYING FROM THE BEGINING SAFETY!!!OF THE ANIMALS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING!!!

 

[Tleilaxu]

All the fish in the aquarium at cabelas are fed live fish. Its really cool if youre there when they dump them in.

I got to go back and do that since I gave the one in MN an albino chanel cat and a gar. I also got three perch out of the deal!

 

[Mushroom Spore]

ilive animals just dont have the proper nutruition for animals in captivity...wild animals eat the things they need, then pass what they eat to the animals that eat them.

Uhh...live animals have the same nutritional value as dead animals.

thats why people powder crickets with vitamins,adding vitamins to our reptiles water..

This has nothing to do with live or dead, but is because in the wild these lizards would be getting their calcium from the environment, eating prey more calcium-rich than crickets, or basking more, or something. In captivity, since they do not have access to that variety, they are given the nutrition with supplements.

 

[Ganoderma]

many animals also die very early in the wild. the wild *can* have more variety and better conditions, but if there is a shift in the environment then thousands can die from starvation or associated illness within days.

i think that many zoos dont usually care so much about the fact that live prey is live as the fact that live prey can fight. if rats couldnt hurt the snake i would bet many more people would be doing it, despite some parasites that can possibly be transmitted.

the Vancouver Aquarium was mentioned. i dont know who is running it anymore, but they have not had the best track record in my opinion. i dont know too much about them but i know of a few incidences that were not exactly handled well with proper husbandry. It’s a cool place, but I would not follow all of their practices.

we would sometimes feed WC hognose snakes frogs as well. like said above we do it as a last resort. if we cant get them to eat, we try either medication or force feeding depending on what/why etc.

live/dead both have their pros/cons. i prefer dead for moral and safety reasons, but live must be considered in certain circumstances.

 

[Arietans]

As far as all zoos go, I don't know who does what.


I am from Southern Africa, and spent most of my life in the bush, so animals killing each other for food etc. is not offensive to me in the least. But a 4 year old watching Bambi get its neck broken by a lion will be seen in a very different view.


Slightly off topic, but I was fortunate enough to find a python swallowing an Impala while taking tourists on a game drive. One tourist almost demanded I kill the python.

While there are proponents to "it kills it in the wild, so why not in a zoo" I feel that the the need to feed live prey to a lion in a zoo is very unecessary, simply because not all people can accept the fact that animals actually kill and eat other animals.

 

[Mushroom Spore]

Slightly off topic, but I was fortunate enough to find a python swallowing an Impala while taking tourists on a game drive. One tourist almost demanded I kill the python.

This is the single dumbest thing I've ever heard. You should have offered the tourist to the python as dessert.

 

[Hedorah99]

This is the single dumbest thing I've ever heard. You should have offered the tourist to the python as dessert.

I read an artivle recently about teh number of bear attacks in national parks. Not bears attacking people but people attacking bears. There was an incident a few years ago where a black bear was running down a fawn into an area where a lot of tourists were. I'm pretty sure the bear wound up dying from being assaulted by the dozen or so people who were outraged a bear would do such a thing.

 

[Thoth]

Funny thing I cam e across an article the latest issue of "The Scientist" dealing with similiar issues as in this thread. Basically its was stating that this "spiritual left" notion of nature; i.e. basically al creatures in nature live in harmony together and that mother earth nutures all creatures and only does good (basically nature as a giant hippie commune); is just as bad as the "religious right" ideals (creationism et c) for science. That basically it leads to people to forget the fact that violent death at the jaws of other creatures is the norm rather than the exception in the wild.

link to the article
http://www.leemsilver.net/SilverArticles/06TheScientistFinal.pdf?updateID=58
and the authors website
www.leemsilver.com

 

[Ganoderma]

i think from a government standpoint it hinges on animal cruelty because in fact not all animals need live prey to live. surely co2 is faster than a pythons grip, so i assume that is mainly where the "hippies" are coming from. and to a certain extent i will agree with that, in captivity. why sufer? but if my snake needs a live frog or lizard because it wont eat, i will not think twice about it.

 

[Arietans]

Originally Posted by Arietans
Slightly off topic, but I was fortunate enough to find a python swallowing an Impala while taking tourists on a game drive. One tourist almost demanded I kill the python.


This is the single dumbest thing I've ever heard. You should have offered the tourist to the python as dessert.

Dumbest? Oh yes, most definitely!!!!!

Its a good plan to offer the tourist as a meal, but I don't want the python to regurgitate.

 

[Mushroom Spore]

Its a good plan to offer the tourist as a meal, but I don't want the python to regurgitate.

You know what this thread needs? Even more python!

Come on, how can people hate a face like that? Granted, he's just a wee ball python and will never be gigantic. But still. RAR, HE'S A KILLER.

 

[Arietans]

What a widdle cutie pie


Very very nice python.

 

[TiberiusAlaric]

But rats are kinda pointless though, they are not higher animals.

Rats are one of the most intelligent animals in the world, so I'd consider them to be very high on my 'scale of animals.'

As for the topic: I think zoos should start adopting predator/prey policies where they house certain animals together to give both a form of enrichment.