April 2015 - Response from Zoos SA

We received an email from Zoos SA last year. You can read it below... "Our number one priority, and central to our existence, is to provide the best possible care to the animals entrusted to our care. Adelaide Zoo has a proven track record of providing excellent husbandry and veterinary care, and houses many species that have well outlived their normal life expectancy due to the stellar care that is provided by our dedicated and skilled team. Ady and Tasko have resided happily at Adelaide Zoo since 2009. Their carers work very hard to ensure they have a regular schedule of stimulating environmental enrichment that helps maintain their physical and mental wellbeing. Environmental enrichment is used to create variety in work and play, ensuring an environment that allows physical and mental choices and challenges. The enrichment schedule for our sea lions includes three daily training sessions, permanent features in the exhibit like large brushes affixed to posts for scratching and rocky areas and a beach for sunbathing, a variety of food (squid, crabs and fish ) that allows for some natural feeding behaviours and an extensive collection of toys including Aussie Dog products. We know the area where the sea lions currently reside needs improvement, and that’s why this area is due for re-development under our recently release Master Plan. You can find out more about our Master Plan here: http://www.zoossa.com.au/master-plan/ Under our new Master Plan, sea lions and other large marine mammals are not on the long-term plan for Adelaide Zoo. The space required to house these types of species and the necessary water required to service a new exhibit prevents this from continuing to be feasible within the physical footprint of a zoo the size of Adelaide Zoo, with our zoo being one of the smallest Australian city zoos. In saying this, we can’t simply move the sea lions to another facility at the drop of a hat. It is a much more complicated process than you may realise. Since we made the decision to move away from housing large marine mammals under our Master Plan, we have been investigating options to move our sea lions to another facility. This could take some time as we confirm which facility has room for them, prepare paperwork and/or permits and arrange for their departure. Once this has been confirmed we plan to communicate this to our members and supporters. It is important to also note that these animals would not be able to be released to the wild as they were both born in captivity. I assure you that our sea lions are cared for at the highest standard and they’re physical and mental wellbeing is of the utmost importance to our staff." While we appreciate all that Zoos SA is doing a lot regarding welfare of animals in captivity (Monarto Zoo is a great example of how to operate an open plan Zoo with more freedom for animals) we still feel Ady and Tasko are being left behind. We received this response in April 2015. Since then Adelaide Zoo have made no announcements or developments in moving Ady and Tasko to a bigger enclosure. Lets keep the pressure on so Ady and Tasko are not forgotten!