The staff at Roosevelt Park Zoo has begun the difficult task of figuring out which animals might return and which won't.
Dave Merritt, zoo director, and his staff have come up with a preliminary list of each species at the zoo and whether they would like to keep them or deaccession them, which means they are recommending that species not be brought back to Roosevelt Park Zoo.
Merritt said it's important to note this list is just for the near future, around two years out.
He said just because a species is deaccessioned now doesn't mean it can't be brought back at a future time.
"This is planning for getting ourselves back in the zoo, not necessarily long-term," Merritt said.
The list is still in the preliminary stages and based on several factors. Merritt said it could very well change between now and when they start bringing some of the animals back to the zoo, which he hopes will be sometime this summer.
"It's based on a series of things. It's based on our current perception of which buildings will we get back, will we be able to house these animals correctly, in some instances it's based on did this species display well at our zoo in the past?" Merrritt said. "If the answer to that's a resounding no, between five professional zookeepers, the general curator and myself, then why bring them back if they didn't do well?"
Merritt said not doing well can be defined in many different ways. Along with not exhibiting well, other reasons include the exhibit space not being as good as the staff would like, and the species not being particularly well suited to North Dakota's climate.
He gave the example of the American alligator, which is on the deaccession list and more than likely won't be coming back. Merritt said the alligator didn't exhibit well because she was under water much of the time so visitors couldn't see her very well, and her winter holding space wasn't optimal.
Other species on the deaccession list that probably won't be coming back include the Madagascar cockroach, several different species of frogs and geckos, giant dewlap, giant plated lizard, mudskipper, ne-ne, northern pintail and ball python.
Also on the deaccession list are the geese and ducks. Merritt said most of those were wild birds who spent summers in the zoo's pond and then migrated during the winter. The zoo never actually owned them, and Merritt said it's possible they will come back of their own free will in the future. They are on the list simply because there is no guarantee they will return.
Many other species are currently on the deaccession list but those specific animals will probably return to the zoo to live out their lives. Merritt said these species have been recommended to not return to the zoo, but the animals will be kept until they can be sold, donated or they die.
He stressed the zoo won't be abandoning any animals. If suitable homes can be found for them somewhere else, they will be sent there. If not, Roosevelt Park Zoo will continue to care for them, for the rest of the animals' lives if need be. The species that animal belongs to, however, will probably not be replaced at the zoo.
"There are some species that in the (zoo) field, we call it managing to extinction, that we probably don't want to pursue long-term into the future. But we don't think they'll have a better housing option than what we can provide," Merritt said. "Unfortunately, there are some animals that nobody wants, and if we have committed to some of those, we will continue our commitment and continue to provide professional, top-quality care to those animals until such time as they pass on."
Species on this portion of the list include the alpaca, orange-winged Amazon parrot, corn snake, fallow deer, Sika deer, degu, llama, American pelican, red piranha, green tree python, blue tongue skink and Argentine tegu.
Three species the zoo staff remains undecided on are the red tail boa snake, bull snake and poison dart frog.
There are a couple other species on the deaccession list that fall under some special circumstances.
One is the Bengal tiger. The zoo will be obsoleting this species in favor of the Amur tiger. Merritt noted their particular Bengal will probably be back at Roosevelt Park Zoo to live out the remainder of her life unless a more suitable home can be found.
"We want to remain in the tiger business, but we want to commit to the Amur. It used to be called Siberian tiger and now it's called an Amur tiger," Merritt said. "Right now we have two tigers of two different species, and we would eventually like to have a male and a female Amur tiger and breed."
The zoo is obsoleting the Bengal tiger species because that is the direction the Association of Zoos and Aquariums is moving in. Merritt said zoos can't save every species on the planet, and have to pick and choose which to concentrate on to give them the best shot of surviving into the future.
The other species is the cotton topped tamarin. Merritt said their two cotton topped tamarins are doing quite well in their current facility and might not be brought back, but he's not sure at this point. The zoo would like to replace that species with the golden lion tamarin. Merritt said it is very striking and considered a flagship species because of its overwhelming attractiveness.
"They are a species that has been used along the Atlantic coast of South America to help save a large rain forest area. And the reason they call a species like that a flagship species is it's almost like Smokey the Bear - it is a species that's picked to be somewhat a representative of the area, because of their charisma, perhaps," Merritt said. "And then that species is used in promoting, say a conservation effort that indeed saves dozens if not hundreds of those species of animals by saving the land and the jungles that golden lion tamarins inhabit."
Merritt said he doesn't know if they will be able to get any golden lion tamarins, and they are still looking into it.
While there are many species on the deaccession list, there are even more on the list the zoo will be keeping. Merritt noted animals not going anywhere include the popular bears, other big cats, penguins, primates and giraffes.
In the next two weeks Merritt said the zoo staff will look at the status of individual animals, deciding whether to bring them back or not. Even if a species is on the list to be kept, the zoo's animals from that species might not be good candidates to return. Merritt said some animals that are older and doing well in their alternate facilities might just be best served by remaining there. In that case, the zoo would look at acquiring different animals from that species to bring to Minot.
As with any list, Merritt said the list of which animals to keep or not is very fluid and will probably change in the future. As winter turns to spring and then summer, a number of different variables could change for certain animals. Maybe an exhibit space isn't ready in time or was lost to flood mitigation plans, a more suitable home than Roosevelt Park Zoo is found for a particular animal, or any other number of factors could change which animals come back and which don't.
"In the next three months, we will change our minds on some of these things. We'll be forced to based on information we get back," Merritt said. "But we need to start somewhere."
