Animal Advocates Watchdog

Why would Macquisten put wolves and grizzlies together when any sensible person could have predicted this outcome?

"Macquisten had placed the wolves and bears in the same enclosure 10 days ago hoping they would provide continuous stimulation for each other. Prior to that they had occupied separate but adjacent enclosures. "One of the biggest challenges of caring for captive bears and wolves is boredom," Macquisten said. "In the woods, they need their wits to survive. So what provides interest is the presence of another species they can't quite figure out, but are constantly trying to." He said wolves and European brown bears have been kept successfully in German and Swedish zoos for years, and he hoped to duplicate that success on Grouse Mountain. But Paul Paquet, a wolf behaviour specialist with the University of Calgary, said while he applauds Macquisten's attempt to provide the animals with enrichment, "the outcome was predictable." "Wolves and bears do get along in the proper environment, but they also are competitive, and that competition is usually around a particular resource, like food," Paquet said. "There is an antipathy there, and it's a natural antipathy because they're competitors." He also suspects that because the wolves were captive-born, they may not be as savvy as fully wild wolves, and therefore may not have realized the danger they were in."

Why would Grouse Mountain Company veterinarian and scientist, Dr Ken Macquisten, put wolves and grizzlies together when any sensible person could have predicted this outcome? Food and sex (territory is about food and sex) are the two things that animals fight over. Tossing a bone into the middle of two recently mixed packs was either a deliberate test to see what would happen, or it was incomprehensibly ignorant and should not ever be referred to as science.

Putting aside the question of ignorance (which is not out of the question: our experience with most animal "experts" is that they are astonishingly ignorant), what reason could there be for doing this deliberately?

We believe that all use of animals is all about money. Land costs money, so squeezing zoo exhibits together takes less land and makes the exhibits more attractive to the Grouse Mountain Company customers. The Grouse Mountain Company is about money. One of its attractions appeared to the gullible to be about science, but after this display of ignorance of animal behaviour, it is clear that it is a badly-run zoo.

All agencies that fund this zoo, and especially those using tax-payers' money, ought to clean their hands of this in a hurry before they are discredited by this zoo.

Messages In This Thread

Grinder the Grizzly kills wolf at Grouse Mountain Refuge for Endangered Wildlife
Press release: Grouse Mountain Refuge for Endangered Wildlife is proud to announce the arrival of 4 adult male grey wolves at Grouse Mountain
It's a business and the way the zoo business is marketed now is as "cutting edge science"
Spotted Owl dies after release from Grouse Mountain Refuge for Endangered Wildlife
PACIFIC RIM ENDANGERED SPECIES CENTRE
Kicking Horse Grizzly Bear Refuge
The development of the world's largest, enclosed grizzly bear refuge was announced today
Ski, eat, stare at bears, ski, drink, buy things...
Almost everyone loves captive animals. Look at this marketing *LINK*
Here it is, the Business Association for the hot "endangered species" market *LINK*
And the most telling of all: The man who ran the Greater Vancouver Zoo in Aldergrove has moved on
I am so relieved that I have come across the right man I have been looking and dreaming for
Wildlife Rescue in Burnaby: Sad conclusion to Wolverine's journey
It's just go, go, go in the Endangered Species Saving business *LINK*
See what we mean? Busy, busy, busy... making those bears make money
Dr Ken Macquisten and the BC SPCA
Behind the scenes a different attitude is seen at work
Set them free
Why would Macquisten put wolves and grizzlies together when any sensible person could have predicted this outcome?
Whoever the knothead was that thought it was a good idea to place two different predatory animals in the same "pen" should be locked in that pen with
ERNIE CRIST: DISTRICT OF NORTH VANCOUVER COUNCILLOR: Notice of Motion re Grouse Mountain Zoo
More letters....

Share