Red Crowned Crane

[tonini3059]

Well I will take that as good and bad news. Like I said they are beautiful birds and would love to get some eventually, and who knows what will change by then. I am just curious as to why the AZA will not allow these birds in the hands of private citizens, I am sure they have their reason, whether I agree with them is another matter. Thanks for all the help and info.

 

[Dr. Todd]

The zoos have been burnt in the past by shady representatives from the private sector who neglected their animals, sold them at exotic auctions, and did not keep up their end of breeder loans. These bad apples have made many of the zoos leery of dealing with private folks, especially with species that are part of a species survival plan. There are several zoos and legitimate private facilities that are turning the tide on the 'bad blood' but it's slow going. Maybe when you're ready for Japanese cranes things will be dramatically different!

Dr. Todd

 

[tonini3059]

Hopefully the zoo's will take advantage of the private sector, I am sure it could be a huge resource in the keeping and breeding of endangered animals. By letting people acquire these animals the breeding pool could be increased and more animals raised. However, as with anything there will be 'bad apples' but hopefully they can work out the logistics to hopefully take care of that problem, mostly.

 

[spectrumranch]

Dr. Todd :

The zoos have been burnt in the past by shady representatives from the private sector who neglected their animals, sold them at exotic auctions, and did not keep up their end of breeder loans. These bad apples have made many of the zoos leery of dealing with private folks, especially with species that are part of a species survival plan. There are several zoos and legitimate private facilities that are turning the tide on the 'bad blood' but it's slow going. Maybe when you're ready for Japanese cranes things will be dramatically different!

Dr. Todd

I would have to disagree, it's all about who is going to get your admission $

SSP is to raise enough animals to keep only AZA zoo's stocked.​

 

[Dr. Todd]

I respect your opinion Randy but it's not cranes or birds in general (maybe flamingo or penguin) that draws the average visitor to a zoo. A zoos biggest nightmare is to loan or donate a pair of cranes/ducks/lemurs/whatever to a private person only to find they wound up at Lolli Bros. or on Craigslist a year later. Can you blame them?

Dr. Todd

 

[destinduck]

My zoos around here could care less about propagating the species. Its basicly ok We (aza zoos) have plenty of( fill in blank) . OK everybody quit tryin to breed the birds. THAT is definitely not how it is in the private sector!

 

[Sumatra503]

Many zoos just don't have a breeding program and when they do it is a very strictly regulated program. The care these animals recieve is often far superior to most of the private operations can provide. The animals they raise are very expensive and often rare or endangered, so I'm not so sure i'd let the private sector in either if I were a curator. I'd probably just tell them to buy a more readily available animal instead of my endangered species cranes.

It's all about protecting their assets. I'm sure none of you would just lease out your animals willy nilly to anyone who asked.

You should get a job or volunteer at your local zoos so that they get to know you better. You also may need to upgrade your facilities to meet a few standards. Have you seen the enclosures at some of the zoos?

 

[Boggy Bottom Bantams]

Quote:
Have to agree with you and Randy, outside the Bronx and San Diego, most here could care less about reproduction, just what brings in the cash flow

 

[destinduck]

Dont get me wrong .I LOVE ZOOS. Yes dr todd is right about they dont come for just the birds. People come for the variety and rarer species.Zoos like anything else have to make money or boom theyre gone. I know it almost happened to our closest zoo.but to add to my first post I have tried my darndest to work with this zoo on me donating birds they dont have for at least getting eggs from species that they dont give a crap about breeding anyway.And from the publics point of view they get to see new species.I get a chance to maybe get species I dont have and they get extra babies. And it isnt that way just here. sumatra personally I have a friend worked and volunteered for what I think is the largest waterfowl conservatory in the U.S. ( wont name names ) exactly same things I have previous stated. Its not about protecting their assets. Dont you get it? Of course no one would lease out their animals willy nilly to anyone and of course we would upgrade our facilites if needed.

 

[Sumatra503]

That's the thing, though. The animals at a zoo are their assets. These animals are under their care and supervision and they had to pay to get these animals just the same as anyone else. They maintain the animals and care for them just the same as well.

Frankly the birds are often last on the list for a breeding program unless it is a rare or endangered species. Much of the captive breeding takes place ammong the larger and more exotic animals. There are many tigers born each year in zoos. They don't have time to worry themselves over breeding the wild waterfowl and other more common birds. Many of the birds are just there as fillers for more variety, but most zoos don't pride themselves on their collections of wild waterfowl.

The private sector and the zoos make their money in different ways. The private sector makes the money from their animals by breeding them and selling the offspring to others of the private sector. The Zoos make there money by charging others to come and look at the animals they have. They don't have to breed the animals they have in order to make the money they need to stay afloat.

Much of the breeding in zoos is for species conservation and even then they don't normally sell the animals, unlike those in the private sector. If you had a rare species which was under a conservation program, then perhaps they would work with you and establish a breeding program.

They don't have to breed the waterfowl they have and so they don't. It's as simple as that.

If you want to help them out go and volunteer your time. Get to know them better and offer the occasional helpful nudge. That's how you get started with things like that. You can't just walk up to them and ask out of nowhere if you can help with their breeding program.

If they don't have a breeding program they won't incubate the eggs or allow others to incubate those eggs, regardless of any offers they get. They do value volunteers and staff members to help and maybe that way you can persuade some eggs from them after you help them to establish a breeding program.

If you want some extra eggs you may have to just trade with other breeders in the private sector to get the new species and make those same offers with them. Getting extra babies and a new species isn't what matters to them as far waterfowl goes, they just think differently about their animals than the private sector and breeders do.