Ukraine zoo bear mentor’s hackles rise
The slow pace of change at the East London Zoo is ruffling feathers and has seen Lionel de Lange, CEO of the Lawrence Anthony Earth Organisation Ukraine, calling it “pathetic”.
Speaking on the proposed building of a new bear enclosure or renovation of the old one, De Lange, who has offered to foot the bill, said: “I asked for quotes on the enclosures we agreed upon 3-4 months ago.
“I think it’s just delay tactics, saying they were waiting for new financial year etc.
“None of that was mentioned earlier. As far as I’m concerned BCM does not like the outside interference because they will lose their 100% control.”
Siani Tinley, acting senior manager of marine and zoological services in the metro, said the zoo management and a structural engineer had identiDe fied five possible sites for a new bear enclosure but after discussions and talks with De Lange, two options were shortlisted.
“One is a totally new enclosure and the other is to revamp the existing enclosure.
“We also took into consideration whether the zoo would still be housing bears in the future when our present bears reached the end of their lives.
“Out of the two options we sent Lionel, we then requested further guidance on the enclosure sizes (for brown bears in general and the bears that he has in captivity that he is not able to release or send to a sanctuary),” said Tinley, who claimed De Lange had never given the zoo this information.
However, he insisted he had, saying: “I responded with what is the legal requirement here and what we actually build, which is around 10 times larger than legal requirements of 30m² per bear in Ukraine.”
Lange said that the minimum size required for two happy bears was about 350m², and they were currently relocating a single bear to an enclosure of 225m².
Tinley said the new enclosure they had proposed would cost R3m, while renovations to the current enclosure would cost R800,000.
“We are leaning towards the smaller project as it costs all organisations less and, at the end of the day, will free funding for other bears besides our own.
“It is also a project that will be completed in a shorter time period,” she said.
De Lange called the proposed R3m a “crazy number”, saying, “I’d love to see the quote explaining the price tag. I built a 320m² [enclosure] with a [brick and plaster or concrete] night shelter, a pool and loads of enrichment for just over $5,000 [about R65,500]”. Electric fencing three metres high was used around the perimeter.
He said that when considering what path to take, the age of the bears had to be kept in mind.
Tinley said: “This figure [R3m] was based on the enclosure built for our National Zoological Gardens in Pretoria. A bear enclosure needs to consider a number of issues that are relevant to the bears, the public and the facility.
“Bears are diggers and climbers. The public need to have the opportunity to view and experience bears, and the facility needs to build an enclosure that is structurally sound and safe and forms part of the entire zoo plan.”
The renovated enclosure would include a ramp to make it easier for the bears, which are elderly, to make full use of their current enclosure.
In a heated interview on Algoa FM last week it was revealed by radio DJ Daron Mann that it was promised to him that by July the zoo’s jaguar would have been moved to a new enclosure. This has not yet happened.
Said Tinley: “The jaguar was to be relocated to an upgraded enclosure. To do this there was a need to relocate our hamadryas baboons from this exhibit to a newly upgraded enclosure as well. We could not affect this chain of upgrades as there was no successful bidder for the tender process.
“What can be confirmed is that the jaguar is being monitored and cared for and there are no welfare issues through the NSPCA as we meet with them fortnightly or monthly on all zoo animals,” said Tinley.
She said if the zoo were to move ahead “without necessary input from Lionel” it was possible the bears could be moved to a new enclosure or have a renovated one by the end of this year.
I responded with what is the legal requirement here and what we actually build, which is around 10 times larger than legal requirements of 30m² per bear in Ukraine