A month ago i was in Vietnam and as usual wanted to have a look at any zoo`s so stopped in at the beautiful gardens of the HCMC zoo and wandered around taking a few pics. The kudu bull was a shock to my eyes as is evident in the pic.

The deer species in the yard further down were in less than ideal conditions also.

Poor poor bastard! If I saw him here, I would put one into him just to relieve him from his suffering. This zoo is run by the arseholes who believe that rhino horn cures cancer. Pricks!

Not good to see.

What were the Zebra's like ?


It's not like they are short of
vegetation in Vietnam.

Is it the poor nutrition or the high humidity that affects them?

So sad to see this.

A damn shame

While that bull is in incredibly bad shape, with zoos many times it is not a lack of food for the animals, but a lack of proper food and poor or no routine veterinary care for the stock.

Just from what I can see in that picture, the zebras are probably in good shape. My guess is, and that is all it is, a guess, this is a mixed species exhibit with both grazers and browsers in it and the majority of what food is being offered is grass of some kind and browsers simply do not do real good for very long on a straight grass diet.

quote:

Just from what I can see in that picture, the zebras are probably in good shape. My guess is, and that is all it is, a guess, this is a mixed species exhibit with both grazers and browsers in it and the majority of what food is being offered is grass of some kind and browsers simply do not do real good for very long on a straight grass diet.

Crazyhorse:

I reckon you are dead right. The vegetation seen in the photo is of the cane family, typical of swampy grasslands, a setting you will unlikely find Kudu inhabiting and therefore not part of their natural diet; Zebra on the other hand thrive on that sort of stuff.

I don't think humidity has anything to do with its physical condition though a visit from the vet would do it no harm either.

Agree.

I think Crazy has it spot on.

Supposed to be like...

... this

Gentlemen,

We have a number of animals, which are looked after very well.

They get proper food, salt and medical treatment.

But, sometimes we find that one or two just refuse to put on weight.

Admittedly, none has ever gone as bad as this kudu though.

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
Gentlemen,

We have a number of animals, which are looked after very well.

They get proper food, salt and medical treatment.

But, sometimes we find that one or two just refuse to put on weight.

Admittedly, none has ever gone as bad as this kudu though.

Saeed,

Are they for pets, amusement, food, or a combination?

quote:

Originally posted by Frostbit:

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
Gentlemen,

We have a number of animals, which are looked after very well.

They get proper food, salt and medical treatment.

But, sometimes we find that one or two just refuse to put on weight.

Admittedly, none has ever gone as bad as this kudu though.

Saeed,

Are they for pets, amusement, food, or a combination?

Basically for conservation.

We have quite a number of private reservations here that have many of the relatively rare animals.

WE move them around from one place to another for breeding purposes.

Sometimes we give some away which are put in public places like zoos and parks.

And we do shoot the odd one every now and then to eat too.

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:

quote:

Originally posted by Frostbit:

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
Gentlemen,

We have a number of animals, which are looked after very well.

They get proper food, salt and medical treatment.

But, sometimes we find that one or two just refuse to put on weight.

Admittedly, none has ever gone as bad as this kudu though.

Saeed,

Are they for pets, amusement, food, or a combination?

Basically for conservation.

We have quite a number of private reservations here that have many of the relatively rare animals.

WE move them around from one place to another for breeding purposes.

Sometimes we give some away which are put in public places like zoos and parks.

And we do shoot the odd one every now and then to eat too.

Good for you!! Nice work! At least you don't have USF&W giving you marching orders.

Thanks for the answer

Cheers
Jim

WE also have study groups from schools and universities who do study course on the animals.

quote:

Originally posted by Scriptus:
Poor poor bastard! If I saw him here, I would put one into him just to relieve him from his suffering. This zoo is run by the arseholes who believe that rhino horn cures cancer. Pricks!

Really Scriptus? admittedly the folks who run this zoo lack a lot of knowledge in caring for ungulates. You are the REAL prick for generalizing and condemning an entire country for the belief of a few. Not all Vietnamese practice this type of "medicine". You must have been the dickhead that pilfered my camera at O.R. Tambo if i were to use your lack of logic. What an asinine statement.

TX the Viet people I encountered over several weeks were on par with the Kiwis as a race of "the friendliest" I`m going back!

Before this gets too much farther out of hand, any time you have an animal in a captive situation, there will be individual animals that thrive and there will be those that don't.

It is a simple fact of life, and I worked at a major American Zoo for almost 25 years. There could be many things wrong with this particular animal. Nutritional and parasite problems jump to mind first. The animals age can also play a role.

Anyone that has any knowledge of farming/ranching knows that some individual animals, even though they are domestic and were born and being raised in a domestic environment, simply suffer from a condition called "Failure To Thrive".

When people visit zoos, they bring with them prejudices and a lack of understanding. Most wild animals rarely look as good or as natural as those still in the wild.

Admittedly that particular Kudu is in bad shape and most zoos would have not had the animal on exhibit.

Gryphon,
You are absolutely correct. The Vietnamese are very friendly even after enduring thousands of years of being invaded and occupied. The country is divided into three different "cultures" the North, Central and South. They are very different and it is hard to understand spoken language between the three. The Hill tribes that straddle Laos, Cambodia, China and Vietnam are different entirely. A Ha Long Bay cruise is a must do in Vietnam. I know that zoo in Saigon, it was established by the French next to the old Cerque Sportif Club. I don't think the zoo is given the necessary funding for an optimal facility.

quote:

Originally posted by txlonghorn:

quote:

Originally posted by Scriptus:
Poor poor bastard! If I saw him here, I would put one into him just to relieve him from his suffering. This zoo is run by the arseholes who believe that rhino horn cures cancer. Pricks!

Really Scriptus? admittedly the folks who run this zoo lack a lot of knowledge in caring for ungulates. You are the REAL prick for generalizing and condemning an entire country for the belief of a few. Not all Vietnamese practice this type of "medicine". You must have been the dickhead that pilfered my camera at O.R. Tambo if i were to use your lack of logic. What an asinine statement.

Oh yeah! Tell our white rhino population that, or their owners.

BTW "You can judge a nation by the way it treats its animals" Mahatma Gandhi

quote:

Originally posted by txlonghorn:
Gryphon,
You are absolutely correct. The Vietnamese are very friendly even after enduring thousands of years of being invaded and occupied. The country is divided into three different "cultures" the North, Central and South. They are very different and it is hard to understand spoken language between the three. The Hill tribes that straddle Laos, Cambodia, China and Vietnam are different entirely. A Ha Long Bay cruise is a must do in Vietnam. I know that zoo in Saigon, it was established by the French next to the old Cerque Sportif Club. I don't think the zoo is given the necessary funding for an optimal facility.

Agreed on that,I have done the Ha Long Bay cruise also,spectacular place and great and friendly people.

quote:

Originally posted by Scriptus:

quote:

Originally posted by txlonghorn:

quote:

Originally posted by Scriptus:
Poor poor bastard! If I saw him here, I would put one into him just to relieve him from his suffering. This zoo is run by the arseholes who believe that rhino horn cures cancer. Pricks!

Really Scriptus? admittedly the folks who run this zoo lack a lot of knowledge in caring for ungulates. You are the REAL prick for generalizing and condemning an entire country for the belief of a few. Not all Vietnamese practice this type of "medicine". You must have been the dickhead that pilfered my camera at O.R. Tambo if i were to use your lack of logic. What an asinine statement.

Oh yeah! Tell our white rhino population that, or their owners.

BTW "You can judge a nation by the way it treats its animals" Mahatma Gandhi

C'mon Scriptus you're smarter than that. To condemn a whole country because of a few is just stupid and racist. Are Americans pricks because they killed off the last Passenger Pigeon? How about all Americans are Cokeheads because of a few drug addicts? Think before you type.

Are those onion stalks being fed to them? Kudu are browsers and would do better with a legume based hay: alfalfa, etc rather than grass species.

Ann I believe it is young bamboo or some other "cane" type grass. Definitely not good as a steady diet for browsers.

sIKA BEING FED THE SAME.

One of the differences, and it has been researched here in Texas. Sika/Fallow/Axis/Rocky Mountain Elk, do browse, but they also graze when browse is in short supply, but their bodies are able to make the switch nutritionally, white tail deer on the other hand do not do well on grass. That is why those animals can out compete the white tail.

Kudu may be the same way as long as the browse supply is adequate they do well, but when forced to eat grass, their body simply cannot adjust. Just an opinion.

Pretty fundamental stuff. Nothing can live on the wrong food.