Zoo Cemetery

[MrRING]

Does anybody here have any interesting stories about zoo cemetaries?

I was riing with my Dad recently and we went by what used to be a prison honor farm (non-violent offenders in the "olden days" were sent to labor in a farm setting, providing food for other prisoners and something more interesting that watching the four walls of a cell). Now it's just abandoned fields with a small area still utilized for the police training academy.

Just out of curiousity, my Dad pointed out the remains of the "zoo cemetary" that the Atlanta Zoo used to bury dead animals. It was overgreown with kudzu, but you could still see the outer fence and barb wire placed to keep the public out. It's not something I'd ever given much thought to, but since pet cemetaries became well known due to the Stephen King best-seller, I thought it was interesting that there would be such a thing as a zoo cemetary.

Do other cities have public zoo cemetaries? Or are they mostly just abondoned fields with no headstones?

 

[stonedog3]

Don't know about cemeteries but I do know that some dead zoo beasts get prepared for typological collections and so on. Have minimal experience of doing this with birds and other roadkill/found corpses.

So a zoo cemetery might be a good hunting ground for already defleshed specimins!

Kath

 

[Yithian]

So a zoo cemetery might be a good hunting ground for already defleshed specimins!

Where's the fun in that?

 

[stonedog3]

I found there's only so much joy to be had in watching maggots work

Couldn't fancy the soup from boiling either!

Who would they belong to? the landowner? the zoo?

Kath

 

[EnolaGaia]

This 2006 Slate article describes how the National Zoo in Washington (DC) disposes of animal remains and offers some general comments about how zoo animals' remains are handled.

Where Do Zoo Animals Go When They Die?
To the lab, the museum, and the education department.

Veterinarians at the National Zoo put down two animals this week: an arthritic, 40-year-old elephant named Toni and a 13-year-old cheetah with kidney problems named Wandu. What happens to zoo animals when they die?

First, a necropsy is performed, and then the remains are cremated. The carcasses of all animals that die at the National Zoo—including those that wander into the park from outside—are brought to an on-site pathology lab for thorough examination. Zoo staffers identify the cause of death (if it isn't already known) and preserve tissue samples that might be important for research or education. (The zoo maintains an archive of formalin-soaked specimens from every animal that's died there since the 1970s; the Bronx Zoo has tissue samples dating back to 1920.) After the necropsy, Toni's carcass—which weighs thousands of pounds—was shipped to a lab in College Park, Md., where it will be incinerated starting Friday. The process should take about 24 hours. ...

Toni, like other elephants, is part of a national conservation program that has its own protocol for necropsies, as well as an updated list of which body parts should be saved. Instructions for elephant necropsies, for example, suggest a "chain saw, axe, or reciprocating saw to cut through the cranium" and "carts on rollers to move heavy parts." (Click here for a document that describes the procedure.) The elephant parts now in demand for research purposes include intact brains, eyes, and "two whole large thoracic ribs."

Not all species are part of a national program, and not all zoos keep tissue samples from every single animal. Most of the time, parts are donated as needed. Scientists who study exotic species can ask a zoo ahead of time to save a certain body part or blood sample. The zoo's education department might also receive some excised parts. Docents could use a tortoiseshell or a patch of cheetah skin, for example, as a part of educational presentations. Natural-history museums often have a need for skulls and other bones; the Smithsonian (which runs the National Zoo) sometimes requests carcasses for their displays of taxidermic critters.

Laws on the final disposal of a dead animal vary from place to place, but incineration seems to be the most popular method. The first elephant at the Baltimore Zoo, Mary Ann, received an official burial in a Maryland graveyard when she died in 1941.

SOURCE: http://www.slate.com/articles/news_...01/where_do_zoo_animals_go_when_they_die.html

 

[EnolaGaia]

This 2017 article from the Rochester NY Democrat & Chronicle describes disposal (etc.) procedures for the local Seneca Park Zoo. The full article includes an overview of accreditation and criteria for storing or transferring remains (e.g., organs) for research.

What happens to Seneca Park Zoo animals after they die?
It seems like a simple enough question. What happens to animals that die at the Seneca Park Zoo?

Turns out that answer depends on the answer to another question: Can the animal continue contributing to science?

Larry Sorel, zoo director, said the animals are honored, then assessed to see if they can contribute to the continued survival of their species.

After death, a necropsy, or animal autopsy, is performed on all animals. Experts determine the cause of death and look for any abnormalities to help determine if other animals in the same habitat could experience a similar death. The evaluation also looks to see if the program of care provided was accurate.

"Sometimes the only way you learn about an animal is in human care, and that contributes to their survival in nature," Sorel said. ...

Animal-specific, species survival plans (SSP), managed by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA), guide zoos in the next process.

AZA spokesman Rob Vernon said there are more than 500 survival plans and "each is managed independent of each other."

Special recommendations can work to preserve entire systems down to cells. Reproductive tissues, organs and cells can be archived for research or saved for future needs.

Typically in the United States researchers will work with the AZA to be granted accreditation to obtain materials.

Less than 10 percent of zoos and aquariums "are able to meet our (AZA) standards," Vernon said. "Our standards are much higher," than governmental requirements.

To meet AZA standards, the process is "all encompassing," from guest experience to a "strong commitment to conservation," he said. ...

FULL STORY: https://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/news/2017/10/19/seneca-park-zoo-animals-death/701082001/