Dudley Zoo- Please Read!

[vicki]

I recently visited dudley zoo and the way the snails are made to live is disgusting...... ive written a letter of complaint to the manager at the zoo directly so will copy and paste it below as it has the details of the conditions!

Has anyone else visited dudley Zoo and seen their snails?

The letter reads......

I recently visited Dudley Zoo and i was absolutely DISGUSTED with the condition the Giant African Land Snails were kept in!!! The walls of the tank was THICK with slime, some of which was green and the tank was too over crowded! There should really be a maximum of about 4-5 maybe 6 snails in that sized tank!
The tank was completely waterlogged (about 2 inches) with mouldy food which had gone fury, sunken into it along with cuttlefish which is supposed to be kept away from the snails water supply to they can scrap at it, it should not be soggy! ............. I counted roughly about 25-30 plus snails in this tiny tank, all sat in the water. This amount of snails greatly increases the risk of illness within the tank! These poor snails will eventually get shell rot and will die a miserable death! In a tank for the Giant African Land Snail there should be a few inches of special substrate which is damp so that the snail can bury itself which is a natural instinct for them to lay their eggs and to keep warm or get comfortable! I am a snail keeper myself and i think its appauling that these poor snails are made to live in those conditions! People look and take note of how your tanks are set up and this is VERY BAD education for young children who want a pet snail!

When a snail is kept in a home that is too wet.... they simply die! Snails are so basic and require mimimum care, with a little knowledge they can live happily!

When i visited, i did take photos of the state of the tank and if you do not start to do research and find out EXACTLY how these land snails should be kept then i will be taking this further as it is irresponsible and selfish to keep such pets that you have no idea how to meet their needs!

It worries me that if you cant look after a snail properly, that are so easy to keep, mainly by children!!! ...... then are you providing the correct care for the rest of the exotic animals that live at Dudley Zoo?

You should be ashamed!

I demand answers right away as to why these species are subjected to such plain and simple ....... cruelty!

Vicki Edwards


I didnt even check it for mistakes.... i was that angry i literally did it and pressed send!!

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[coyote]

You did a good job of speaking out about the conditions those snails had to live in, because that's the only way their conditions can improve. Please let us know what kind of response you get from the zoo.

[kristensaurr]

That is disgusting. I have never been to the dudley zoo, but I think if I did I would throw up. That is so horrible.

I have a friend who had taken about 6months to study tarantulas before adopting one. From there she continued her studies and now has 14-20. We call her the tarantula guru. Less than a year ago, we went to a flea market in Sacramento (CA) and the condition in which the tarantulas were kept in, that I myself was so blind to, made her almost shake with fury. The next day I hitched a ride with her back to the flea market. She had a packet of care instructions and she proceeded to scream at the care taker. He told us where he was getting the tarantulas from and she followed the trail back to a small shack of a store called "Fish Store". From there she proceeded to scream at these care takers and shove packets in their faces.

What I am saying is, maybe you could go there and investigate and try to help teach them how to take proper care of a snail so that they have no excuse not to.

In my situation, the conditions of the tarantulas did not improve. However, me and my friend are not but children (It was a little less than a year ago, so we were about 13-14), it is difficult for ignorant people to believe children when they say that they are wrong or to take them seriously. Plus, being children, we cannot threaten them with lawsuits or any type of consequence. This might be different for you.

Good luck! I really like your letter, and I hope that the snailies conditions improve!! Keep us posted!

[cherryblossom]

This kind of thing is everywhere... mostly seen in pet shops. I am surprised that a zoo would keep them in such conditions!

I am a caudete keeper too and have varieties of newts... where we live the local store keeps his newts in all the completely wrong conditions too.

There have been many complaints about his conditions but nothing has been done. Every time I go in and see the condition of his newts it breaks my heart. I would buy them all and keep them if I could however most of them will not survive much longer the conditions they are kept in.

Let us know if you hear back from the zoo!

[kristensaurr]

That's how my friend feels, cherryblossom. But at the same time she feels that if she purchases them from the store then she is giving money to the people who aren't taking care of the tarantulas. She feels that if no one buys anything from there, then they'll go out of business. Or if no one buys the tarantulas, then they'll probably die and maybe the petstore people will work on having their product NOT die.

Horrible people can't even take care of some of the simplest animals.

[vicki]

I got a reply today .................. I will copy and post up but they are basically saying that their snails have never been kept in the conditions that i described to them in my letter!!!

''Dear Vicki.

I am writing in reply to your letter regarding a recent visit to Dudley Zoological Gardens and I was disappointed to read that you had some concerns regarding the welfare of our African giant land snails

In response to your concerns, I immediately checked our snail exhibit but didn’t find mouldy food or standing water and the substrate did not appear too wet

The care of these animals is undertaken by several different members of staff and overseen by one of the presenters with nearly 20 years experience successfully keeping and breeding these animals both at work and at home

I have spoken to this member of staff about your concerns and he assures me that the snails have never been kept in conditions that in any way were detrimental to their health.

I can assure you that food is changed regularly and yesterday there were only 18 animals of various ages within the exhibit and all appeared healthy

Unfortunately on a visual side, the more active and healthy the snails are, the more slim e is deposited around the exhibit particularly on the glass and this does make the exhibit appear unkept

We do successfully breed the snails and this may account for fluctuating numbers within the exhibit although population density is monitored and excess animals are removed to prevent overcrowding

To ensure continuity of care of all animals, they have individual or group records and animal care sheets, I have checked through these and found nothing untoward or incorrect but I have now included additional information and notes to ensure that food, substrate care and population density within all exhibits is more closely monitored

If you ever have any concerns regarding the way our animals are cared for, our staff would be happy to discuss the matter with you on the day and we will do our utmost to resolve the issue as quickly as possible

All customer feedback is important to us and I would like to thank you for taking the time to let us have your comments. I hope that I have been able to answer your concerns.

Regards

Matthew Lewis ''

[coyote]

Thanks for posting their reply. Next time you are there, take pictures or videos. They can't argue with a photograph or video showing the conditions.