#carcass feed

[why-animals-do-the-thing]

I have finally figured out the camera lens and the setting I need to catch clear photos of wolverines! Ugh, I just love them and their incredibly dense fur so much.

These two are Rainier and Ahma at Northwest Trek. They're full siblings, but were born in different litters, in 2009 and 2007 respectively. The easiest way to tell them apart is by their eyes - or, really, their lack thereof. They've both got some congenital eye issues that have resulted in the surgical removal of one/both eyes as they've aged into elderhood. Ahma is now eyeless, and Rainier still has one eye left (although a keeper did mention it may be getting close to that time, again).

As you'll see, though, they still get around spectacularly. When it comes to finding snacks, they do it by smell. I rented a lens specifically to take photos of this special enrichment day: an elk carcass feed. They got an elk spine and pelvis, both sourced from a safely-euthanized member of the herd at the same facility.

Photos containing the carcasses will be below the cut. The carcass chunks are not bloody or gory - they look kind of like something you'd find on a grocery store shelves - so I'd really suggest checking the photos out. Wolverines are super strong, super tough little guys and it was so cool to see these two really get into tearing apart huge hunks of meat.

Beyond here lies MEAT.

[why-animals-do-the-thing]

How can we make it easier for zoos to get cheetahs whole animal carcasses? I hear it’s pretty expensive but not doing so is terrible for them.

Carcass feeds are great for carnivores, especially cats, but they’re not something any zoo will provide for every meal. There’s a couple reasons for that: it’s much harder to control the specific nutrition animals get when multiple individuals share a carcass, especially if power dynamics exist so that one animal limits another’s access; whole carcasses often contain multiple days worth of food and so either the feeding routine has to be adjusted or extra meat is pulled at the end of the day and becomes waste; whole animals are expensive to buy and impractical to store in bulk; some zoo visitors get seriously upset by seeing dead animals fed out even though that’s the “natural” thing for predators. 

So you’re never going to be able to get a zoo to always feed out only whole animals, because it actually is detrimental to ensuring all animals get enough food and correct nutrition. Zoo diets are carefully structured by nutritionists and carcass feeds are added as appropriate.

Where you might be able to help, though, is with the cost! Most zoos that do large carcass feeds partner with local ranches or farms to source them, and it’s definitely a noticeable expense. You could call your zoo to ask them if there’s a way you can donate towards an existing program, or if they don’t have one, maybe work with a local farm to create one. The best option, though, is to contact the facility you’re thinking about, explain your interest, and ask them what will be most useful for them - working within their operations, rather than trying to start something from scratch, is going to be the most successful option.