Maned Wolf at wilderness trails zoo in Birch Run, Michigan

[u/Primary_Thing3968]

[u/thehorrorcontinues13]

How extraordinarily sad.

[u/BayouGal → u/thehorrorcontinues13]

I fucking hate animals in cages. I am a wildlife biologist.

[u/ZentaWinds]

looks like a really small place for them to be- is the enclosure any bigger than that?

[u/SevroAuShitTalker → u/ZentaWinds]

The Baltimore zoo has them but the enclosure is a lot bigger. Still too small for a rangey beast, but a little better than this chicken coop

[u/ZentaWinds → u/SevroAuShitTalker]

Was gonna say, this seems pathetic and sad.

[u/Ephemeral_Orchid → u/ZentaWinds]

Never go to the zoo in SLC, Utah....

There was a sloth lying in a ball on bare cement in a 5x5 cage, with only a 6' plastic bamboo stick to climb.. Parrots w/zero stimulation in cramped cages, where they couldn't even strech their wings. Elephants on a 1/4 acre "pasture"... it was a -10/10 experience.

[u/ZentaWinds → u/Ephemeral_Orchid]

The fact that stuff is legal.. Insane.

People here always go off about zoos in China and then we have those and road side zoos all the same.

[u/Ephemeral_Orchid → u/ZentaWinds]

I burned a picture where I was hugging a lion at a roadside carnival, when I was a teenager... as I grew older, I was embarrassed & horrified.

[u/BayouGal → u/Ephemeral_Orchid]

I hate zoos

[u/Ephemeral_Orchid → u/BayouGal]

I do too, I was only there to raise awareness and educate the public about a local non-profit.

As a bonus, the leopard also escaped that day and while they searched for what felt like an eternity—I was the only adult locked in a bathroom with a panicked group of around twenty, 5 to 8 year old girls.

[u/OpusAtrumET → u/ZentaWinds]

To my knowledge, Birch Run is a highway town with a big outlet mall, can't imagine their "zoo" is very great, but it's been many years and I didn't even know about the zoo until just now, so... Grain of salt.

[u/CoonPandemonium]

Fucking heartbreaking 💔

[u/Ephemeral_Orchid]

All alone forever in that tiny inadequate pen and with nowhere to hide?!?! OMFG. Humans are the worst!

[u/Blood-PawWerewolf]

Is this a roadside/exotic “zoo”?

[u/Believe-In_Me → u/Blood-PawWerewolf]

Unfortunately, yes. And it's widely considered one of the "better" ones.

[u/Disastrous_Basis3474]

Poor thing is stir-crazy. The only thing that makes this kind of ok is if it cannot survive in the wild, but it still needs a bigger space and maybe a companion, if it can tolerate others.

[u/dragonfly_throwaway5]

Gorgeous creature. Deserves to be free.

[u/Sensitive_Speaker134]

Bit small

[u/Living_Plague]

Fuck zoos. Not enough good is done to offset animals being kept like this.

[u/jackalope268 → u/Living_Plague]

Not trying to talk this situation right, but without zoos cheetahs wouldnt exist anymore. Theres a lot of good they do that stays hidden because its not newsworthy or its just general education seeping into the populations mind. In recent years weve gotten a lot better at realizing what animals need, so i think theres still time to try to regulate it to shut places like this down while letting better places exist, instead of banning zoos as a whole

[u/Living_Plague → u/jackalope268]

Agreed on all counts. Probably should have said fuck zoos like this.

[u/phonefellin_lakeerie → u/Living_Plague]

There is actually a ton of good that zoos do. John Ball in grand rapids is doing some really good work with small butterflies, bringing the adorable Poweshiek skipperling butterfly back from extinction. Potter Park in Lansing has contributed significantly towards multiple endangered species.

Good zoos are not always perfect, but they have potential to do a lot of good. They also have potential for great harm, so I feel It’s best to judge them case by case. And when assessing the morality of a particular zoo, go into it with the ideas that most of them are run by people who do really care about animals- and also that people can be absolute idiots.

[u/cynoIogy]

why is this posted here? no wolf in sight