Hi folks,
Hoping to get a bit of support as unfortunately I have not been able to improve a bad situation on my own so far.
I visited the Scottish SEA LIFE Sanctuary near Oban, Scotland on the 12th September and immediately found issues with the axolotl exhibit. It was overstocked, with bright lights and no hides, there was rotting bloodworm everywhere and the substrate was gravel. See attached pictures, you can see the axolotls have crammed themselves into the only available crevasse.
Before I left I indicated to a staff member that the conditions, and especially the presence of gravel, was concerning. I then emailed the sanctuary outlining these concerns, but giving advice on how to remedy the situation. I sent pictures of a dead bloated juvenile I tried to rescue after it had been kept on gravel, and also that widely spread x-ray picture of an axolotl with a large stone ingested.
I have only just received this reply:
'Following your earlier query the Head of our Animal Care Team has now spoken to our Company Vet and raised your concerns with him and received the following response.
Our axolotl exhibits are regularly inspected by the vet on his visits to the site and we have had no incidents or deaths in the six years we’ve been keeping these creatures. We have also bred them successfully on a number of occasions. Our axolotls get a varied diet, not just bloodworm, and we’ve never had a problem with the water quality in the tank, which is monitored several times a day.
Our fish tank is a mix of different species of fish, we are aware of this but they are, so far, living happily together and breeding successfully.
We are subject to regular vet and zoo licensing inspections, both of which we score very highly in for animal welfare.
The Company Vet has therefore stated that he is satisfied with the conditions in which these animals are kept and has not found any cause for concern.'
I really think that this attitude is appalling, and as I work in a LFS, these are the comments I hear every day to justify poor conditions. I have made my reply, and stated I will continue to find support.
How should I go further with this? I have a number of email addresses for people higher up in Merlin Entertainments (they run the show), and have made a report to the SSPCA already.
Hoping to get a bit of support as unfortunately I have not been able to improve a bad situation on my own so far.
I visited the Scottish SEA LIFE Sanctuary near Oban, Scotland on the 12th September and immediately found issues with the axolotl exhibit. It was overstocked, with bright lights and no hides, there was rotting bloodworm everywhere and the substrate was gravel. See attached pictures, you can see the axolotls have crammed themselves into the only available crevasse.
Before I left I indicated to a staff member that the conditions, and especially the presence of gravel, was concerning. I then emailed the sanctuary outlining these concerns, but giving advice on how to remedy the situation. I sent pictures of a dead bloated juvenile I tried to rescue after it had been kept on gravel, and also that widely spread x-ray picture of an axolotl with a large stone ingested.
I have only just received this reply:
'Following your earlier query the Head of our Animal Care Team has now spoken to our Company Vet and raised your concerns with him and received the following response.
Our axolotl exhibits are regularly inspected by the vet on his visits to the site and we have had no incidents or deaths in the six years we’ve been keeping these creatures. We have also bred them successfully on a number of occasions. Our axolotls get a varied diet, not just bloodworm, and we’ve never had a problem with the water quality in the tank, which is monitored several times a day.
Our fish tank is a mix of different species of fish, we are aware of this but they are, so far, living happily together and breeding successfully.
We are subject to regular vet and zoo licensing inspections, both of which we score very highly in for animal welfare.
The Company Vet has therefore stated that he is satisfied with the conditions in which these animals are kept and has not found any cause for concern.'
I really think that this attitude is appalling, and as I work in a LFS, these are the comments I hear every day to justify poor conditions. I have made my reply, and stated I will continue to find support.
How should I go further with this? I have a number of email addresses for people higher up in Merlin Entertainments (they run the show), and have made a report to the SSPCA already.
