#aza

Animal Kingdom has a new dominant silverback. Bakari, a 21-year-old western lowland gorilla, transferred from the Saint Louis Zoo and now leads the family troop along the Gorilla Falls Exploration Trail in Africa. 

Bakari came to the Saint Louis Zoo in 2011 from Brookfield Zoo where he was born in 2005. He has been part of a bachelor gorilla troop at Jungle of the Apes since his arrival. This bachelor troop prepares adult males, also known as silverbacks, for the possibility of leading a family in the future. Gorilla bachelor troops are commonly found in the wild, including silverbacks and young adult males that live and travel together until they join a breeding group.

The Saint Louis Zoo was the first AZA-accredited zoo and the first North American zoo to form a bachelor troop for this species, as well as the first to successfully integrate two bachelor troops.

Although western lowland gorillas are the most common of the four-gorilla subspecies, they are critically endangered and facing the threat of complete extinction in the wild. The Saint Louis Zoo supports western lowland gorillas through the AZA SSP and the Saint Louis Zoo WildCare Institute Center for the Conservation of Congo Apes.

Disney shared that you can now spot Bakari along the Gorilla Falls Exploration Trail. As the silverback, he leads the family group and takes on the responsibilities that come with it.

Bakari does his best "Mr July" centerfold pose.

Are there a shit ton of horrible zoos? Yes. Should those zoos exist? No.

But actual good waza accredited zoos and facilities have done so much good for animal wellfare and have brought several species back from the brink of extinction in the wild.

Do I and also many many zookeepers in those facilities wish they didn't have to exist? Hell yeah, the end goal should be for zoos to not be necessary. But with how the world currently is and the way humans are negatively impacting virtually every habitat on earth it's just not realistic.

This simply isn't a black and white issue like many want it to be.

Would it be incredible for every wild animal to just be able to live an incredible life in the wild? Fuck yeah! It just isn't possible atm.

Also there is like a world of difference between for example the San Diego zoo and some kind of roadside zoo, which offers encounters with baby animals.