OKC Zoo

[David]

I know I posted this before but can't figure out why it's not on this thread.

That is going to be such an improvement, the current entrance and parking arrangement leaves a lot to be desired.

That secondary entrance is interesting, I assume it is intended to facilitate people visiting both the zoo and the museum?

[Pete]

I believe the second entrance is for groups.

[Plutonic Panda]

I know I posted this before but can't figure out why it's not on this thread.

Pete, there are two threads on this for some reasons. I started this thread in development mainly to talk about strictly development related things going on at the zoo, but there is also one in the Arts forum.

[TheTravellers]

OKC Zoo Designated Worst For Elephants (by the In Defense Of Animals organization)

[foodiefan]

OKC Zoo's response is on their FB page;

https://www.facebook.com/okczoobg/po...54049551292385

[TheTravellers]

OKC Zoo's response is on their FB page;

https://www.facebook.com/okczoobg/po...54049551292385

Just read that and I'd believe what Okiefunk has reported more than their ambiguous, whitewashed, not-very-detailed explanation/rebuttal.

http://www.okiefunk.com/content/okc-...acks-isolation (I believe some of OKC Zoo's own documents are part of this post)

http://www.idausa.org/campaign/eleph...rst-zoos-2016/

[mugofbeer]

Just read that and I'd believe what Okiefunk has reported more than their ambiguous, whitewashed, not-very-detailed explanation/rebuttal.

http://okiefunk.com/content/%E2%80%9...ation%E2%80%9D (I believe some of OKC Zoo's own documents are part of this post)

http://okiefunk.com/content/%E2%80%9...2016/%E2%80%9C

You're entitled to your opinion. You state some of the zoo's own documents are part of the report. Proof? Your links either dont work or take the user back to the original blog.

My observations of the elephants is that they are healthy and enjoy their area. The remaining Seattle elephant was having a good time with another on when I last visited. Unfortunately, the photo used on the blog appears to be totally misleading and the description of the cages is simply laughable. I guess the author wants them all outside to ride out the hail storms and the snow ...... which we all know is native to elephant environments. Bet they would have loved the near zero weather last week.

[TheTravellers]

You're entitled to your opinion. You state some of the zoo's own documents are part of the report. Proof? Your links either dont work or take the user back to the original blog.

My observations of the elephants is that they are healthy and enjoy their area. The remaining Seattle elephant was having a good time with another on when I last visited. Unfortunately, the photo used on the blog appears to be totally misleading and the description of the cages is simply laughable. I guess the author wants them all outside to ride out the hail storms and the snow ...... which we all know is native to elephant environments. Bet they would have loved the near zero weather last week.

Go to okiefunk.com and do a search, maybe? I just copied the links from Okiefunk's own blogs, so they're defective, sorry, but get some initiative and find them for yourself if you truly want to read them. Here's an excerpt, just so you don't have to do any work...

Bamboo, the sole surviving elephant obtained by the Oklahoma City Zoo from a Seattle zoo, has suffered attacks from at least one or more elephants in her exhibit and is apparently kept frequently in isolation, according to zoo records.

The zoo documents were obtained through open-records requests by the Friends of the Woodland Park Zoo Elephants organization in Seattle. I personally retrieved the most recent set of documents at the Oklahoma City Zoo offices for the Seattle organization on Aug. 17.

From the obtained documents:

(1) Zoo reports show Bamboo’s tail was injured on December 31, 2015 and February 5, 2016. Bamboo suffered a bite wound on March 7, 2016, according to the records. A medical report dated April 14, 2016, which I obtained, noted the injuries lingered: “The tail tip injury is almost resolved.”

Here is some of the language from Bamboo’s medical reports about the bites:

December 31, 2015: “Keeper (BF) reported this animal to have sustained a tail wound. Examination of animal in stall. It was alert and moving well. There is a 9x3cm wound on the left ventral distal tail approximately 6cm from the tip. It is fresh and bleeding had just stopped. Keepers did not see injury by suspect a bite wound by a conspecific [another elephant].The wound was cleaned and dried.”

February 5, 2016: “Keepers report this animal sustained a bite on its tail by a conspecific. There was fresh clotted blood and the wound was superficial.”

March 7, 2016: “Keepers did not see what happened but it is most likely a bite wound from one of the other animals in the group.

March 8, 2016: “Supervisor (NN) reports this animal to be bleeding from its tail amputation site with a steady stream of blood. Instructed them to apply pressure to wound to stop bleeding. By the time I arrived the bleeding had stopped and only a bruise was seen. Animal was released and it walked around for 5 minutes, then the tail was rechecked and no reopening of the wound was seen. Likely this animal broke open a blood vessel on the wound site through normal swinging of the tail. Instructed keepers to monitor and if bleeding occurs again, to apply pressure again and contact veterinarian. Keepers estimate this animal lost between 50-150ml of blood. This is insignificant volume for this size animal.”

A "conspecific" means an animal from the same species or, in this case, another elephant or elephants. Note the use of the word “amputation” in the report.

Here’s some information about tail biting among elephants and how hard it is to treat in a medical sense:

Besides the fact that biting the tail, which is an extension of the backbone, is certainly extremely painful, the wound is also difficult to treat. A very great degree of familiarity between the handler and the elephant is required for the injured elephant to show its tail and allow it to be treated.
Zoo officials have yet to respond to my questions I submitted Friday evening about the tail-biting attacks faced by Bamboo and the fact she was later attacked again. I will obviously publish their responses, of course, especially those of OKC Zoo Executive Director Dwight Lawson, if they submit them to me, and I will gladly correct any factual errors in this post, as usual, but the records really speak for themselves.

(2) Bamboo was attacked by another elephant, Chandra, on April 25, 2016, according to an Animal Area Daily report, which states, “Chandra chased and pushed Bamboo. Bamboo has a superficial 6 inch long, two inch wide scrape on the anterior of her trunk.”

(3) Many daily reports state Bamboo is regularly isolated from the other elephants. For example, one report dated April 14, 2016 states: “Overnight Housing. Elephants: Bamboo inside sand area, all others access.” A report dated April 23, 2016 states: “Overnight Housing. Elephants: Access. Bamboo in the sand stall.” A report dated May 10, 2016 states: “Overnight Housing. Elephants: access, Bamboo inside sand area.” A report dated June 13, 2016 states: “Overnight Housing. Elephants: Bamboo inside sand area, all others accessed.”

If this isolation is for Bamboo’s protection it indicates there’s a problem with her gaining acceptance in the herd. Her age and health problems—she’s certainly not the star of the elephant “OKC Zoo Show”—don’t bode well for her in the herd or, really, it seems for other members of the overall zoo herd itself.

It’s not a good match. From my perspective, zoo officials need to quickly address this issue as a major medical emergency for Bamboo.

(4) A medical history report dated July 6, 2016, stated, “On exam the tail is still covered with dense scab material that is tightly adhered to the underlying tissue.” This is more than three months after the tail amputation report on March 8. Clearly, this was a major injury or maybe part of another injury. (Note the information above about healing tail bites on elephants.)

[mugofbeer]

Whoa Cowboy! Chill out and try being civil. I simply pointed out your links were not working, not asserting that your wife looks like a moose! My doubts are aimed at the blogger, not you. Anyway, I am sure you know this but for others, animals have to establish a pecking order. Elephants are one of the most sociable matrilineal animals out there. New animals someimes can be hurt badly while figuring their place in the herd. I don't doubt this happened but its nothing abnormal for many animal species....my dogs have bitten each other sorting things out but the injuries were minor. If I recall, the Seattle animals weren't the most sociable animals to begin with. Since the unfortunate death of the other Seattle elephant, B amboo may be having a harder-than-exlected time of it. As I said, on my last visit Bamboo seemed perfectly happy with other elephants right there. With all the observers, dkcents, volunteers, emoyees and Government agencies monitoring the situation, I believe the zoo before an animal rights blogger who misrepresented what was going on in the photo. If there was abuse going on, the lower-level zoo staff would talk. You may be proven right, who knows, but I doubt it.

[TheTravellers]

It's entirely possible that Bamboo is doing well, but that doesn't address the whole point that elephants should not be in zoos. OKC's zoo has had what seems to be a disproportionate problem with elephant injuries and deaths (along with some other deaths that didn't seem to be normal, but I can't remember what those were), and I do like the zoo, but if it's not being run properly, it needs to be fixed. Fixed the links, BTW.

[mugofbeer]

Elephants will soon be virtually extinct in the wild. Many of the sanctuaries for them are riddled with elephant herpes virus and other afflictions . Zoos only help to broaden the # of animals surviving, are educational and until an elephant talks and says "I'm not happy here" , I'll take the observations of happy animals by highly trained and educated handlers than from an English Professor who has a passion. Perhaps energy should be spent lobbying for additional expansion of the OKC Zoo facility so they have even more room.

[TheTravellers]

I didn't find much evidence of herpes in sanctuaries (apparently it's more common in zoos and circuses than sanctuaries), found a bit of evidence of TB in sanctuaries (and zoos and circuses), but apparently TB in elephants is rarely life-threatening. Interesting reading about that (one story has lots of info on Chai):

http://old.seattletimes.com/html/nat...phants02m.html

http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-...-tuberculosis/

http://www.navs.org/what-we-do/keep-.../#.WHe5BrIrLIU

[jerrywall]

I certainly don't have blinders on and don't believe the OKC zoo is the best, or even near the top, in quality of zoos. That being said, the moment someone says they're "the worst" I tune them out. That type of hyperbole is unproductive. In regards to elephant health (and others) the OKC zoo does often take animals in from poor environments. The Elephant herpes, for example, was brought in from Seattle, IIRC.

[HangryHippo]

I certainly don't have blinders on and don't believe the OKC zoo is the best, or even near the top, in quality of zoos. That being said, the moment someone says they're "the worst" I tune them out. That type of hyperbole is unproductive. In regards to elephant health (and others) the OKC zoo does often take animals in from poor environments. The Elephant herpes, for example, was brought in from Seattle, IIRC.

Just out of curiosity, what zoos do you think constitute the top ones in regards to quality? I seem to remember a ranking that actually had the OKC Zoo ranked quite high, but I freely admit, I've not been to a lot of other American zoos.

[jerrywall]

Just out of curiosity, what zoos do you think constitute the top ones in regards to quality? I seem to remember a ranking that actually had the OKC Zoo ranked quite high, but I freely admit, I've not been to a lot of other American zoos.

Memphis, St. Louis, Houston, San Diego, Miami, Bronx, etc. I don't think I'd put OKC even in the top 10. It's decent, but there are much larger zoos with better facilities and larger array of animals.

[cinnamonjock]

When I worked at the zoo, I went past the elephant yard multiple times daily. They usually looked bored, but not unhealthy. Many of the other animal areas would gripe about how much attention, money, and staffing the elephant exhibit would receive. Hopefully, the zoo follows through with the plans that they have to improve the area. When I was leaving, a large "browse garden" - a place where trees, shrubs, and other plants would be grown to feed the larger animals - was being planned. Additionally, I know that "Asia" is supposed to be expanded and will likely double the amount of space that the elephants will receive. Right now, they put the two, single male elephants in their own small, separate pens, and the females are placed in the large lot, for space considerations.

[foodiefan]

. . .realize this was 2014, but USA Today singled out OKC for just missing the Top 10 by a few votes.

http://www.10best.com/awards/travel/best-us-zoo/

Also believe that a few years back they were named in the top 5 for the Children's Zoo.

[Thomas Vu]

I thought people always considered OKC as best bang for buck.

[BBatesokc]

Personally, I think that beyond actual 'incidents' people often perceive a zoo based on their biases. Not saying many animals don't experience different emotions, I just think humans often project human traits onto animals with little or no real knowledge of fact.

I think zoo's are necessary 'evils' and I really like our zoo. We've got no kids in the house and yet we still buy the family+ membership every year.

You're not going to cage up any animals for public display and not have detractors.

[Roger S]

Not saying many animals don't experience different emotions, I just think humans often project human traits onto animals with little or no real knowledge of fact.

I call this the Disney Effect.... I've always thought that had Bambi been a carrot, instead of a deer, and his mother was eaten in a salad by an evil vegetarian. There would be groups of people protesting people eating vegetables.

[PhiAlpha]

I've always thought that our newish elephant habitat was way nicer and as big or bigger than most of them that I've seen at zoos around the country (I think there have been news articles from various sources stating the same). It could always be larger and maybe it should be, but to say it's the worst or even in the bottom 3/4 of elephant exhibits around the country is completely laughable. It just comes off as "butthurt" for lack of a better term, among animal rights activists over the Seattle elephant deal.

[traxx]

Both of those sites clearly have an agenda. Not sure I'd trust a site called Okie funk. I perused several pages of the site and it seemed to be pretty much all negative articles about Oklahoma. The guy obviously has an agenda against Oklahoma for whatever reason.

[foodiefan]

Both of those sites clearly have an agenda. Not sure I'd trust a site called Okie funk. I perused several pages of the site and it seemed to be pretty much all negative articles about Oklahoma. The guy obviously has an agenda against Oklahoma for whatever reason.

+1

[mugofbeer]

+2. I've seen too many p*****g matches on here and didn't feel like one about such an absurd assertion. To be that bad, many, many people would have to be quiet and not speak about problems. Animal people just don't work that way. They love their animals like their own children. If there were major problems that were being squelched or hidden, the employees would talk.

[d-usa]

http://newsok.com/multimedia/video/5...4001#gsc.tab=0

Mold-a-Matics are returning.