i am NOT an anteater!: Less and Less Space For The Orangutans

Not only is there less and less space, I have still not seen one thing that is FOR the Orangutans.

As with my previous post titled, Disgust At The Triple Grotto Renovation - Our Poor Orangutans, I was not going to do another Orangutan/Triple Grotto update until this joke of an enclosure opened, but I missed something in that post that really needs to be pointed out.

The situation is getting worse, and I'm not exaggerating when I say this makes me physically sick. It's hard to even go by there, just looking at (or thinking about) it makes me want to cry. Tears are welling as I type this, with visions of this sick plan and the life Ollie and Amoi will be stuck with in this disturbing offering of a home.

So, the only new thing for this week, is the prison wiring went up, to keep the Orangutans from accessing the roof of the night quarters building. ... Hard to see in this photo, but it looked like a few rows of probably hot wire, around the roof of the building.

Additionally, what is worse is something I never even considered was permanent, when I saw it last week. The huge box that holds and I assume acts as a stopper for the skyscraper bridge, is there to stay. It's obvious that it is permanent, but like I said, never crossed my mind last week, as I'm pretty sure I was distracted by the whole bridge and platform monstrosity.

The box, which is in both grottos, looks to be about 3.5 ft square cube. Not only are they an additional ugly-ass eyesore, that is alot of space being taken up when you think about how small the topical part of the island is to begin with.

To get an idea of how these boxes, even further shrink the topical area. ... The islands are outlined. They are approximately the same size as one quarter of the Chimp yard, as shown. The red boxes on the islands show actual size, as the one that has two includes the twigging mound that is similar in size.

It's hard to believe that this falls into any current aka modern guideline the AZA (Association of Zoos and Aquariums) has for housing Orangutans, or any other Animal. But it's also hard to believe that the AZA and their SSP (Species Survival Plan) breeding program would send the Orangutans here without a dedicated enclosure. But, they did.

Two years later and I would still like to know what transpired between the AZA/SSP and our Zoo Director to make that happen. It's truly shameful, yet neither party seems to think so.

That all said, I personally don't have any faith in the AZA doing the right thing in many circumstances, so I'm not entirely surprised. I started a post in early December 2019 titled, Is The AZA a Questionable Leader In Zoo Animal Welfare? It was born out of a specific situation, but that was just a culmination of too many questionable instances put forth by the AZA/SSP that I've either known about at our SFZoo or read about in other Zoos.

My draft list had gotten too lengthy for me to ever have the energy or the time to get to, so I narrowed it down to what I felt most needed to be documented, and that AZA post didn't make the cut. That said, there are some very relevant points that come to mind that I'm going to include in this post.

The first time I approached the AZA with a concern, I was told to send it to the Accreditation department. Note that anytime you contact them, they usually do not respond. You put forth your concern and it either gets attention or doesn't, and you never know what, if any action was taken.

After years of ignoring my shares via Twitter to them about the breachable barriers that put Animals lives at risk, they contacted me and asked for more information. Yet, of course when I sent it, there was no response. There was also no action, as those breachable barriers are exactly the same years later.

Barrier issues is just one issue point. Other's include, transferring and/or housing of Animals, when in my opinion it's not been in their best interest. This includes, like with the Orangutans, acquiring Animals that have no place to live or have been hoarded away to inferior housing.

One example that was disgusting, is the Zoo housed Squirrel Monkeys in a concrete room, with no outdoor access for more than four years. Either the AZA didn't know about it, or didn't care, but what is curious is that the Santa Ana Zoo got it's accreditation yanked for the way they housed small Monkey species, that actually had an outdoor area. There just seems to be something not quite right with the things that are allowed to happen at SFZoo.

An article about the Santa Ana Zoo accreditation issue. Noted in the article is the reasoning. Here's a screencap.

https://www.ocregister.com/2017/06/09/outdated-monkey-exhibits-lead-to-loss-of-accreditation-for-santa-ana-zoo-but-officials-have-appealed/

Yet, the AZA has no issue with sending Orangutans, to live at a Zoo that has no dedicated enclosure for them. It will be interesting to see what they think when they see Triple Grotto! Still outdated, and now surrounded in concrete. It surely is NOT modern!

So, I don't know what they consider good or bad. It seems to be fluid, depending on what Zoo you are. We certainly seem to get passes in situations that seem disgraceful and in the current (yet, not only), case of the Orangutans, cruel.

San Francisco Zoo accreditation is this year. Will the AZA think this shit-show at Triple Grotto is an acceptable housing situation for Great Apes in the the year 2021?

i am NOT an anteater!

Sunday, March 21, 2021

Less and Less Space For The Orangutans - Another Triple Grotto Update

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