Habitat 50 Fall 2017

H ABITAT Celebrating and Saving Wildlife T h e M a g a z i n e o f t h e D e t r o i t Z o o l o g i c a l S o c i e t y Habitat is produced quarterly for Members of the Detroit Zoological Society. EDITED BY Graphinity, Inc. CONTRIBUTING WRITER Jennifer Thomas PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT ArborOakland Group GRAPHIC DESIGN Graphinity, Inc. Copyright © 2017 Detroit Zoological Society All rights reserved. PLEASE CONTACT: Detroit Zoological Society 8450 W. 10 Mile Road Royal Oak, MI 48067 Phone: (248) 541-5717 Fax: (248) 541-2489 www.detroitzoo.org For questions about membership, please contact: info@dzs.org. facebook.com/detroitzoo youtube.com/detroitzoo twitter.com/detroitzoo instagram.com/detroitzoo The Detroit Zoological Society – a renowned leader in education, conservation, animal welfare and sustainability – operates the Detroit Zoo and Belle Isle Nature Center. Printed in the USA. 2 | September/October/November 2017 From the Director Ron Kagan Executive Director Detroit Zoological Society The Detroit Zoo is an accredited member of the Association of Zoos & Aquariums. People sometimes ask if we think it’s okay to keep animals in zoos – and our answer is, only if they can thrive. Your Detroit Zoo is known internationally for our animal welfare program – we work continuously to understand how the animals that live here experience their worlds and what we can do to provide them with the best possible care, welfare and … life! Comprehending this enables us to offer them the care and conditions that allow them to thrive, not just survive. As you’ll read on page 4, when we design and construct a new animal habitat or renovate an existing one, the focus is on being expansive and naturalistic and on meeting the animals’ physical and social needs. Our habitats provide the animals with opportunities to do the things that are important to them – be it climbing trees, digging, swimming, wallowing in the mud, interacting with social partners (or avoiding social partners, if that’s what they want at the time). But what happens when we realize we might not be able to provide ideal conditions? Occasionally, we recognize that – despite our best efforts – certain individual animals cannot thrive here due to climate, space or other factors. We must then make the difficult decision to move them to another home and/ or, in some cases, no longer include a species. Case in point: Asian elephants Winky and Wanda were moved to a sanctuary in California in 2005 after it was determined that we could not provide the social herd, space or climate to keep them healthy … and happy. We have a physical and conservation master plan that logically identifies which species – and, to some extent, which individuals – should be here, based on conservation status, animal care, suitability to myriad factors and welfare criteria. To help us develop this plan, we consulted with many of our own leaders as well as outside experts from, for example, the International Union for Conservation of Nature – the global authority on the status of the natural world. We also consulted with other conservation organizations and animal protection leaders. Ensuring that we provide optimal quality of life from cradle to grave sometimes means finding a new home for an animal when doing so would improve the welfare of the individual. We recently moved some of our large birds when we determined that they can, and should be able to, fly. Our willingness to challenge our thinking about whether animals we care about are thriving and to improve their welfare – even if it means moving them toward a different accredited facility with similar commitments to optimal welfare – is at the core of why the Detroit Zoological Society has emerged as a leader in animal welfare. It’s also why others have sent us polar bears and numerous other species knowing we have the best conditions anywhere. We will never stop examining the physical and social environments we provide for the animals at your Detroit Zoo. As we continue to learn and improve, it is our responsibility to be self-critical and to make decisions that are in the best interests of the animals.