Painted Dog pups raised by Golden Retriever.

[persephone]

Interesting story.

https://people.com/endangered-baby-african-painted-dogs-raised-by-golden-retriever-8416915

[tdierikx]

I'm a little torn on the artificial rearing of exotic animals in zoos. On the one hand, we would like to see the global population of endangered species increase, but on the other, these animals are never going to be released back to the wild, and cute babies get humans through the gate of the zoo, so there are always some financial gain factors in play when decisions like this are made.

 

I might be a little less concerned if these pups were part of some breeding program for release back to the wild, but they are not.

 

The fact that the keeping of animals in zoos has evolved to be as "natural" as possible - read mostly hands off with regulated human interactions with the animals ostensibly to create the illusion that the animals are "wild" and exhibit their "natural" behaviours - should dictate that unsuccessful outcomes with regard to animals born in captivity are taken as part of the "natural" process. I'm not a huge fan of this evolution of captive animal keeping myself, as obviously captive animals do not have the same conditions and stressors on their existence that their wild counterparts do, and humans still dictate every aspect of their lives.

 

What will happen next time the adult wild dogs breed? Will their next attempt be any more successful? Will the adult animals have "learned anything" from this experience that might ensure a better success rate than this time? Will the early intervention that ensured survival of these pups mean that they are now imprinted on domestic dogs and humans rather than on their own species? The possible long term outcomes are myriad.

 

Sometimes nature is a complete biatch, but that doesn't mean that we humans should automatically consider that we know better than nature, regardless a negative outcome if we don't intervene. Just because we can, doesn't necessarily mean we should...

 

T.

[persephone]

Good thoughts, T . It is a conundrum .

[Mairead]

Humans interfere with nature every time they have medical treatment for themselves.

[tdierikx]

13 minutes ago, Mairead said:

Humans interfere with nature every time they have medical treatment for themselves.

 

Yep... and the irony isn't lost on one when a very active NSW politician that wants to ban all animal-based research is perfectly happy to undergo treatments for her own ailments that are only available due to that animal-based research.

 

Back to the original topic though... captive animals (and companion animals too) are nothing like their wild counterparts after generations of captive breeding programs. Their needs are completely different, yet this fact is also lost on those who advocate that all animals should be "wild and free", and that every captive animal should display behaviours indicative of their wild counterparts. When one considers that natural wild animal behaviours centre around traits necessary for their very survival, such as hunting prey and staying alive, one needs to think about what behaviours are desirable for animals where the need to ensure survival is not top of their list of things to deal with.

 

Personally, having worked with a wide range of species - both domestic/companion and exotic, I'm not happy with the fact that keepers/carers are not allowed more real interaction with the animals they care for on a daily basis. Human-animal bonds can and do happen, and can be extremely beneficial for both parties. Captivity is an artificial construct, and therefore should not be considered in any way a "natural" environment, nor have expectations placed that are not necessarily based on any scientific (or historical) fact.

 

When I go to my friend's monkey sanctuary for a visit, there are a few individual monkeys who instantly recognise me and start calling for me to come interact with them... mostly because I bring them yummy treats, but one or two will reach for my hand and hold my finger whether I have a treat for them or not, and/or try to groom me as one of their own species. When I brought them a boombox (digital speaker) loaded with cool do-wop tunes, we all had a great time dancing to the music... and this facilitated some new interactions with some of the more stand-offish monkeys - they enjoyed "aping" (excuse the pun) my dubious dance moves, I also copied some of theirs, and great fun was had by all. In a zoo environment, constrained by strict protocols and legislation, such fun activities and hands-on contact with the animals is usually frowned upon... which I think is sad when I know how much fun my friend's monkeys have had with novel interactions...

 

When I worked for a petting zoo, I knew EVERY animal as an individual... and we had a couple hundred of them. Of course this was a completely different scenario to a classic zoo environment, and my job was basically hand-raising them to be human-interactive, but knowing their individual likes and dislikes was crucial to ensuring they (and our customers) had the best experiences when out and about.

 

Some years ago, I had the privilege of being allowed in the tiger holding den area of a small local zoo. After many visits there, the tigers appeared to "know" me, and as soon as I spoke to them, they were "oh, it's you", and came up to the bars looking for more interaction, chuffing and purring like regular house cats... my heart nearly burst with love for them at that point, but I wasn't allowed to touch them no matter how much they were asking for it... *sigh*... I did get as close as was safe and experienced their breath on my face though...

 

T.

[cannibalgoldfish]

Don't some zoos bring up cheetah cubs with pups and they go on to do ok? 

 

But it's not all bad. Look at Kakapos?  Sirocco was hand reared, totally useless for breeding as he didn't see himself as a parrot. But by becoming an ambassador for the species he has raised awareness and funds to help his species. Something a more shy and wild Kakapo would never be able to do? 

Who is to know one of these pups will be just as important on day? 

[tdierikx]

6 hours ago, cannibalgoldfish said:

But by becoming an ambassador for the species he has raised awareness and funds to help his species.

 

And this is the crux of the matter... ostensibly this is what all zoo animals are touted as being... ambassadors for their species that help raise awareness about the plight of their wild counterparts. Keeper talks and signage clearly indicate that aim.

 

But as a zoo environment is an artificial construct, we see normally solitary animal species kept in groups - mostly for reasons of space and/or the cries of the uninformed that all animals need company (not exactly true, but it comes down to the aesthetic that solo animals may evoke feelings from humans that the animal is "lonely").

 

Hand raising can be beneficial if/when an animal is clearly going to be used in up close and personal customer experiences, school visits, and the like. Having an animal who is totally comfortable around humans is an amazing asset to aid the delivery of the message regarding their wild counterparts - but I'd like to see an addition of a caveat that the animal being used for such interactions is not exhibiting all natural wild behaviours due to the fact that they have been raised to be human interactive.

 

Hand raising can also add a level of complexity and danger when those young animals must be reintroduced to a group that has not been hand reared. The group may at best reject interacting with the hand reared animal(s) at best, or at worst, try to actively remove them from the group as they aren't displaying the correct social behaviours that can generally only be gotten from their mother animal. We keep puppies and kittens with their mothers for a set period specifically for this reason, so why should it be different for other captive animals?

 

Case in point, Kaius the baby gorilla hand raised by the curator of Mogo Zoo. Kaius has not successfully been integrated back to the main gorilla group to my knowledge, as they have rejected his behaviours. Fortunately, Mogo had another adult hand raised gorilla who never really fit in, but was tolerated by, the group, and they've taken her away from that group to pair her up with little Kaius to make their own group. This scenario has worked for Mogo, but there wouldn't be too many zoos that could offer this workaround for large and potentially dangerous animals. Lets not forget that while Kaius was still small and manageable enough, he was used for photo ops and customer interactions, and some politicians made good use of that opportunity to boot (where's the vomit emoji?). Now he's not as cute and easily manageable, he's now got to learn to be a "real" gorilla and "be with his own kind"... can anyone imagine how hard that is for an essentially still baby gorilla who has only ever known human care?

 

The painted dog pups at least have each other if they can't be successfully integrated back into their family group, and could be housed separately as their own group - but breeding would not be advised for siblings, so the genetics may stop there. As they reach maturity, they may need to move off to other groups in other zoos to take part in their breeding programs, but will they fit in with those groups if they haven't had the correct social upbringing as members of their original family group? Only time will tell...

 

We humans need to be mindful of the choices we make for captive exotic animals in our care. We either allow the animals to procreate and raise (or reject) young as naturally as possible, or we allow human intervention as par for the course, but have established and workable contingencies for what happens to those hand raised animals once they don't need intensive human involvement any more.

 

And don't get me started on human intervention for orphaned wildlife, and the critically poor outcomes suffered by most when they are eventually released back to the wild...

 

Like I said before, just because we can, doesn't necessarily mean that we should...

 

T.