Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium

[Snuggles]

I visited the Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium yesterday. I was a little disappointed to see the employees standing outside with tarantulas in their hands in the rain while children came up to pet them. The one female employee said, "It keeps trying to run away!" No kidding.

I was also surprised to see all the tarantulas set up on some type of wood chip substrate with no open water to drink from. They all had sponges custom fit to the exact size of the water bowls.

Sigh.

 

[Ariel]

isn't it terrible how wrong a zoo can be on something? they're suppose to know how to take care of the animals and all. I live in omaha and very often find myself at the henery doorly zoo, and everytime I hate seen animals in inccorrect enclosures. and I've been behind the scenes and its FILTHY. cockroaches running around, some getting in to enclosure, it was gross, a few hissers got out once too and they did nothing and they had like, 15 A. versi's in 15? 20? gallon that was heavily decorated. acctually a good 65% of all of there T enclosures are so heavily decorated i don't know HOW they find food.

I know if I ever get a job there I'm going to do my best to shape things up!!

also they have two golden tamerin monkeys running loose in the lied jungle, and they're mean! I don't know how many times I've almost seen someone get bit, one even tried to jump in my mom's friend's stroller and it doesn't matter how many times we complain, they're left running rampent.

 

[Stevo73]

Pittsburgh Zoo trip

My family and I went to the Pittsburgh Zoo again today. I'm always disappointed to see that they have sponges in the water dishes of the red knee and the emperor scorpion. I know the man who is in charge of the reptile dept. and he says he knows that isn't right but yet he doesn't change it. I guess those of us who no better are better off talking to a wall.

I believe that zoo has a lot of room for improvement especially in there reptile dept. I just don't think it will ever happen. In my opinion it's a nice zoo but it is very overrated. Just my thoughts.

 

[Jaymz Bedell]

Hello,
having worked in a zoo i can tell you from first hand experience that actual knowledge of animals and zoo policy do not always go hand in hand. a lot of zoos have written protocols that detail exactly how an animal has to be set up and cared for. even if those protocols are written by people who know little about the actual animals in question or those protocols were written 40 years ago. it is almost never as cut and dry as "well its a zoo so they should know better." zoos run the gamut from amazing to horrible. often times it has little to do with the keepers knowledge and more to do with written protocols. and those written protocols can be near impossible to change. and as a side note, even the best zoos have things get loose and run about...not just roaches. a prime example would be the many many spiders running around a large building at a very well known aza acredited zoo. i forget if theyre a native species or an exotic species. but in all truth its very often a case of keepers knowing better but not being able to do anything about it due to zoo protocols. and if you think thats bad you should see the way some zoos treat their employees...

Jaymz

 

[Suidakkra]

I was at the Pittsburgh Zoo in September of this year, and they still have their T's on that substrate, same sponge, same look. The funny thing is, the Pittsburgh Zoo personnel claim that the zoo researches all their species , and try to mimic their exact surroundings.

Yep, animals live on concrete out in the wilderness.

 

[Stevo73]

I think it's pathetic myself. Really no different than some of the pet stores in the area. Oh yeah I forgot that tarantulas drink from sponges. What was I thinking. LO!
LOL!

 

[FatMommaT]

I know this thread is old but I just came back from the zoo with my children. Aside from constant primate and wild bird escapes, oh and a few visitor deaths. Nothing has changed. Still horribly inaccurate in how they care for most of their animals there. And most of the enclosures were overgrown, filthy and not an employee in sight.