Tampa's Zoo Advocates

• Tampa's Lowry Park Zoo recently annoucned the birth of 3 new animals, a titi monkey,red-tailed guenon and warthog. While Tampa's Zoo Advocates share in the celebration of life so too do we recoginze and reflect upon the loss of those animals who end their life journey within the captivity of our community's zoo.  Sources which request to remain anonoymous have reported that Lowry Park Zoo's baby chimp as well as mother and child tapir have recently passed away.

"Zoos are becoming facsimiles - or perhaps caricatures - of how animals once were in their natural habitat.  If the right policies toward nature were pursued, we would need no zoos at all".  ~Michael Fox, Sierra, November-December 1990

• Tampa's Lowry Park Zoo recently announced the opening of a new water flume ride called "Gator Falls". As part of this amusement park ride area the zoo had unveiled a small animal habitat containing two white alligators.
  The alligators are a 5 to 6 year old male weighing 70 to 80 pounds and a 3 to 4 year old female weighing 50 to 60 pounds. These alligators lack melanin, or pigment, making them white with cloudy eyes that appear pink. They cannot tolerate sun, so the zoo has installed canopies in their exhibit area.

  John Than, assistant curator for herpetology and aquatics, said the tricky part will be keeping them warm but out of the sun.  Than said the alligators came from an alligator farm and are two of fewer than 45 in zoos.
  
  Animal Welfare Notes:
  Previous news reports indicated that these white alligators were originally taken from the wild in Louisiana and sold to a gator farm in Florida.  Lowry Park Zoo officials claim that these animals wouldn't survive in the wild because when small they would have become prey for other gators or large birds such as herons.
  
  Scientists call this process "Natural Selection".   
  
  The better choice, "Exploitation in an Amusement Park" or "Natural Selection:?  You Decide
  
  Lowry Park Zoo officials also reported that the "Gator Falls" ride and white alligators habitat replace what was formerly the bison animal exhibit.  It is to be noted that these majestic bison that had spent the majority of their lives at Lowry Park zoo and have now fallen victim to the world of  "surplus zoo animals".
  Recent news reports have documented the fact that bison have been seen on Lex Salisbury's "Safari Wild" exotic animal park.
  
  "Zoos Wrestle With Fate of Surplus Animals": Published in the Journal of the American Vetinary Medical Association".
  
  In 1994 Michael Winikoff published and investigative article titled "Blowing the Lid off Canned Hunts".
  Based on an investigation by The Humane Society of the United States, Lowry Park Zoo was included in a list of 15 zoos that had sold animals either directly to canned hunts or to dealers who have done business with auctions or hunts.
  
  What is a "Canned Hunt?"
  
  Tampa's Zoo Advocates is embarking upon the process of obtaining the transcripts to this HSUS investigation and will be presenting it via this sections of our website.
  
  Tax Dollars and Sense:
  Lowry Park Zoo's "Gator Falls", White Alligator Exhibit and Safari Africa Lodge Cost Hillsborugh Taxpayers  $1,823,000: Details
  
  

• Former Employee Files a Civil Lawsuit.Against Tampa's Lowry Park Zoo: Animal Keeper Reported the Unsafe Handling of Animals and was Terminated.  Reported in the St. Petersburg Times Newspaper.
  
  
• Tampa's Lowry Park Zoo recently reported that an unknown intruder(s) broke into the zoo and stole reptiles and computer equipment from the Discovery Center, located in the Key West area of the zoo.  "Details"
  
  This is not the first time that someone has vandalized the Discovery Center or stolen reptiles from within the zoo:
  
  "Theft of copperhead puzzles Lowry Park Zoo"
  
  
• Reducing the incidence of "Code 1" occurrences, an event in which an animal escapes from it's exhibit, thereby preventing tragedies such as the killing of Enshalla the Sumatran tiger.
  
  
• Documented Code 1 Animal Escapes Within Tampa's Lowry Park Zoo
  
  
• Improving the animals quality of lives by addressing "Night Houses" that haven't been updated in decades.
• Ensuring that the animal exhibits not only meet the minimum guidelines of the USDA and AZA but also address public and employee safety as well.
• Creating a safe environment for the animals, staff and visitors of the Zoo by ensuring that an experienced as well as adequate number of animal care staff becomes the "standard" .
  

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Other Animal Welfare Issues of Concern:


USDA Inspection Violations:

The United States Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA-APHIS) is the governing body most directly responsible for the standards to which Zoo's are held accountable.

Tampa's Zoo Advocates has obtained several official USDA Inspection Reports that found serious infractions at Tampa's Lowry Park Zoo in 2005 and 2006.

These reported infractions involve such serious issues as "Handling of Animals", "Employee Training", "Primary Animal Enclosures" and "Facilities, General".

Infractions such as the ones detailed in the following USDA Inspection Reports directly affect the welfare of the animals, staff and visitors of Tampa's Lowry Park Zoo.

Tampa's Zoo Advocates will be presenting additional USDA Inspection Reports as they become available. 

• USDA Inspection Report, March 2005
  
• USDA Inspection Report, December 2005
• USDA Inspection Report, August 2006
  
  

Widely regarded as one of the world's foremost Tiger experts, Dr. Ron Tilson is without a doubt the leading expert with regard to exposing the plight and myth of the white tiger.

Below, we've included Dr. Tilson's biography as well as numerous articles detailing the exploitation of white tigers for monetary reasons instead of species survival.

Articles of Interest:

• "Dr. Tilson's Biography"

• The AZA Tiger Species Survival Plan

• "An Unnatural Fate", Published in the St.Petersburg Times. 

• "The White Tiger Fraud", Presented by one of the worlds most respected big cat sanctuaries.