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+--- Thread: Battle over Bengals at Panaewa Rainforest Zoo & Ga (/showthread.php?tid=16504)
RE: Battle over Bengals at Panaewa Rainforest Zoo & Ga - MarkP - 10-16-2015
We all objectify animals. One of the defining characteristics of mankind is that we manipulate our environment. Any solution to any problem that requires fundamentally overriding human nature is doomed to failure. Talk of outlawing zoos and not keeping pets is the language of fantasy and failure because it simply is not going to happen. Furthermore, while it is certainly possible for zoos to be inadequate, they don't have to be and not all are. As for domesticated animals, I have seen people who clearly have no idea what their pets' emotional needs are and who clearly are causing their pets to feel stress. Anyone who dresses their pets up is a good example. On the other hand, it does not take much imagination to see that our dogs and cats would much prefer to sleep inside and eat the food we give them than to return to the wild.
RE: Battle over Bengals at Panaewa Rainforest Zoo & Ga - Punatic007 - 10-17-2015
Do a search guys on zoos becoming illegal, it's happening worldwide, but USA is still lagging.
This is one issue where it's best to listen to the professionals, we've been programmed from birth to objectify animals and it's hard to get around that without education from the academics in the field.
RE: Battle over Bengals at Panaewa Rainforest Zoo & Ga - VancouverIslander - 10-17-2015
quote:
Originally posted by Punatic007
Do a search guys on zoos becoming illegal, it's happening worldwide, but USA is still lagging.
This is one issue where it's best to listen to the professionals, we've been programmed from birth to objectify animals and it's hard to get around that without education from the academics in the field.
What professionals are you referring to?
Just call me Mike
RE: Battle over Bengals at Panaewa Rainforest Zoo & Ga - dmbwest - 10-17-2015
007,
Again, do you Truly live by this ?
I would opine that most rational people do not have same mindset.
STILL waiting on your reply as per dogs on leashes ...
RE: Battle over Bengals at Panaewa Rainforest Zoo & Ga - David M - 10-18-2015
Humane Society of the U.S
As I recall, they are very very good at video taping the most horrific situations and turning those exploitative videos into fund raising campaigns.
David
Ninole Resident
Please visit vacation.ninolehawaii.com
RE: Battle over Bengals at Panaewa Rainforest Zoo & Ga - viviansuet - 10-19-2015
** ? at least for now ? **
http://www.westhawaiitoday.com/news/local-news/zoo-s-request-tiger-permit-no-now
By JOHN BURNETT Hawaii Tribune-Herald
The will be no permit for the Panaewa Rainforest Zoo and Gardens to import tiger cubs from an Oregon big cat breeder, at least for now.
In a meeting Wednesday in Honolulu, the state Department of Agriculture’s Advisory Committee on Plants and Animals decided not to forward the county zoo’s request to bring in two Bengal tiger cubs to the Board of Agriculture for its consideration.
“The issue was deferred until the next meeting,” HDOA spokeswoman Janelle Saneishi said Thursday. “There were issues brought up about the adequacy of containment and public safety issues, so they’ve got to come back and provide more information. That will probably be in mid-November.”
Pam Mizuno, the zoo’s director, said Neil Reimer, an ex-officio voting member of the committee and the department’s Plant Industry Division administrator, had questions about the tiger enclosure at the zoo, which has been vacant since Namaste, a male white Bengal tiger and the zoo’s main attraction, was euthanized on Jan. 16, 2014, at age 15.
“It sounded like what he was asking me, he had concerns, not of the tigers getting out, because, basically USDA has approved that part of it,” Mizuno said. “He had concerns the barriers separating the public from the tigers allowed people to climb over and get to the fence. So Ken Redman, who’s a former director of the Honolulu Zoo, explained the barrier is there, but unfortunately, you have some idiot people climb the fence. It happens all the time. So why should we be penalized when it happens at Honolulu Zoo, it happens at all (Association of Zoos &Aquariums accredited) zoos?”
Inga Gibson, state director of the Humane Society of the U.S., which opposes the zoo’s request, said she’s “sure it will come up again.”
“There was a discussion about a number of cases around the world as of late with people falling into tiger enclosures or tigers escaping,” she said. “I had mentioned not only the concern about the tigers getting out or people falling in, but people throwing trash or other items in there, because it’s a relatively open exhibit, and the tigers could ingest items or who knows what people might throw in there.”
Mizuno said the Panaewa facility has never had a tiger escape, although “it happens at AZA facilities; it happened at the Honolulu Zoo.”
The incident she referred to occurred on Feb. 21, 2008, when an 8-year-old Sumatran tiger, Berani, wandered outside the exhibit after an employee left a gate open. He was rounded up quickly without incident or injury. In addition, a 15-year-old male chimpanzee at the Honolulu Zoo escaped his exhibit on June 25, 2014. He was spotted by a visitor, the zoo was evacuated and the chimp was subdued without incident or injury by a tranquilizer dart about an hour later.
Gibson said there was also discussion about citations of the zoo by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act.
“Ms. Mizuno maintained that they do correct them, but I pointed out that their violations were repeat violations,” she said. “One was a violation (indoor facilities) that occurred in 2012 and they were cited again for that in 2015.” Gibson also noted a warning issued in May for failing to build barriers to prevent physical contact by the sloth and brown lemur to the public, as was cited in a routine inspection in January.
Mizuno said HSUS “keeps harping on our USDA citations.”
“In fact, Ken Redman clarified that every facility gets USDA citations,” she said. “We’re in good standing with USDA. We were just issued our permit in September; our permit’s good until next September. If we were not in good standing, we would not have been issued that permit. We have had to ask for one extension but that was the whole (primate area) had to be repainted. But we have never not complied within their time limit. We have always made the corrections.”
Mizuno compared USDA inspections to a financial audit and said, “They help us get better.”
Gibson said HSUS will continue to oppose the Panaewa facility acquiring tigers unless it obtains AZA accreditation. She said accreditation by the Zoological Association of America, which Mizuno said the zoo is pursuing, is “unacceptable, substandard accreditation for backyard breeders and roadside attractions.”
The USDA, said Mizuno, has already approved the zoo “to have tigers and house tigers” and HDOA will decide “whether issuing the permit is going to affect the environment of Hawaii.”
“It’s not their purview to have oversight of the Animal Welfare Act, although that’s what (HSUS) is harping on,” she said.
Added Saneishi, “As far as animal welfare concerns, that’s (up to) USDA.”
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
RE: Battle over Bengals at Panaewa Rainforest Zoo & Ga - Kapoho Joe - 10-19-2015
Zoos are just prisons for animals and one day we will realize that. We are amused and entertained yes, but at what cost? Ever really stop to look at a large mammal in a zoo? These are critters used to roaming for miles, now confined to someones backyard. They have a dead haunted stare often seen from shell shocked soldiers or prisoners fresh from solitary confinement.
As far as the conservation angle, many have pointed out on this thread, that if they are in a zoo we can just breed them later. Which leads us to ignore the poaching and loss of habitat that is happening. Also, pleas understand that this breeding stock is a vastly inferior one, with many inbred defects, not to mention no knowledge of their true habitat or proper life skills.
RE: Battle over Bengals at Panaewa Rainforest Zoo & Ga - Andy - 10-19-2015
I worked in conservation aviculture for many years both privately and for a very large and well respected zoological institution. There would be no Nene if it wasn't for zoos and backyard breeders (trying to keep it Hawaii) many other species only survive today in zoos and private aviculture due to basically too many humans. We are the bottom line reason these species are going extinct. Being a former zoo employee, I find myself conflicted about captivity (which any good zookeeper would be) I worked with species at my home that were functionally extinct in the wild. What kind of future would these birds have? I formed small groups of other aviculturists and we worked together to make sure they persist in pure form until that magical day comes when we return them to their homelands. If you care about animals, stop having kids. Bottom line. And keep Jesus out of birth control distribution in third world countries.
The Hilo Zoo needs to get accredited or shut down. The only reason they could have for the Tigers is wanting more attendance in my cynical, former zoo person pov.
RE: Battle over Bengals at Panaewa Rainforest Zoo & Ga - shockwave rider - 10-19-2015
One aspect of this no one has brought up is the fact that because we are so isolated, and so many families here are too poor to take their families to Honolulu, much less the mainland, the only chance to see animals from almost anywhere else in the world is that zoo. I know many kids, and even adults, here, whose only LIVE exposure to animals not commonly found in Hawaii was the Hilo zoo. Namaste was the only terrestrial top predator many of them had ever seen. That is why I think it goes beyond just getting the attendance numbers up, especially since there is no admission fee.
RE: Battle over Bengals at Panaewa Rainforest Zoo & Ga - macuu222 - 10-19-2015
The zoo needs a draw so people will come. And the zoo needs to start charging for admission so they can hire "experienced" people to care for the animals.