• Question: Out of all the animals you have looked after which has been the hardest to care for and why?

    Asked by charlyjoy to Charlotte, Jo, Kevin, Louise, Valeria on 13 Jun 2012.
    • Photo: Kevin Mahon

      Kevin Mahon answered on 13 Jun 2012:

      Working with Moon Bears in China – many of the bears had been freed from very horrible ‘bile farms’ where farmers put them in tiny cages for most of their lifes to extract bile from their gall bladders. As a result, many of the bears were physically and psychologically scarred for life – many of the bears I looked at had missing paws, eyes and claws. It was quite hard to look at bears that spent all day stereotyping (repetitive behaviours performed) and acting aggressively to other animals due to their background.

    • Photo: Joanna Cruden

      Joanna Cruden answered on 13 Jun 2012:

      Tree Shrews, they were very aggressive and extremely difficult to handle, although they were bred in captivity they were far from tame, they ate live crickets which in those days were not so easy to buy, and they are small, we had to pick them up using leather gloves which made it tricky because we did not want to hurt them. But they seemed to thrive in the large tanks we kept them in!

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