A Toledo Zoo official has criticized a report that says certain animals fare poorly in captivity.

Zoos need to improve the habitats for the animals or cease keeping them, according to the report by a pair of researchers at England's Oxford University in the journal Nature.

“When you don't see the raw data, to lump all [zoos] together is unfair,” said Dr. Randi Meyerson, a veterinarian and the zoo's mammal curator. “Yes, we do realize you do have to take the animals' needs into concern when you're designing an exhibit. But we do a lot to keep [our animals] stimulated.”

Dr. Meyerson noted that the Toledo Zoo opened a state-of-the-art polar bear exhibit in 2000 that includes numerous natural habitat features. Similar concerns have been addressed in the zoo's African wild dog exhibit, she added.

In their report, researchers Dr. Georgia Mason and Dr. Ros Clubb said that problems like high infant mortality and pacing by carnivores, such as polar bears, lions, tigers, cheetahs, and other animals that roam, are related to the size of their habitat. In the wild, polar bears can cover an area of 31,000 square miles; their zoo habitat is one-millionth that size, the researchers noted.

Dr. Meyerson said the Toledo Zoo's polar bear exhibit allows the bears to wander into the seal exhibit when the seals are absent to stimulate their senses, and includes live fish feeds, an off-site training area, and a yard where they can dig and play in the dirt.

The zoo has not bred polar bears in years. It now has three polar bears: Nanuyaaq, 9; Marty, 6, and Crystal, 5.

The report refers to instances where polar bears in captivity have been observed pacing as if they are in a trance.

Dr. Meyerson said she hasn't seen much of that behavior in the polar bears in Toledo.

“We try to do a lot of enrichment training to decrease that behavior,” she said.

Dr. Meyerson said three tiger cubs have been born in captivity this year and are in good health. The cubs and their parents live in the zoo's Tiger Terrace.

“The personality of the parents has a lot to do with [their success],” she said.

Dr. Meyerson said the tigers are provided with stands of varying heights and positions.

“We do different things that are novel to keep them interested so they can do their normal behavior,” she said.

At the zoo's wild dog exhibit, where two litters of 10 pups have been successfully bred, Dr. Meyerson said zookeepers kept their distance to allow the normally nervous mothers to carry on without outside interference. “If you know you have a species that tend to be less successful in captivity, there are ways to work around that to help your success,” she said.

In April, the zoo will open its large Africa exhibit on the west side of the Anthony Wayne Trail. The exhibit will include cheetahs, zebras, giraffes, impalas, and ostriches. Though most of the animals are not the focus of the Oxford University report, the exhibit will provide the zoo with one of its most natural habitats, zoo spokesman Andi Norman said.

“Visitors will be looking at the animals as if they are immersed on the continent of Africa,” she said.

Dr. Meyerson, who is polar bear species survival plan coordinator for the American Zoo and Aquarium Association, will be attending a conference in San Diego in February related to polar bears in captivity.

“We realize it's harder to keep polar bears in captivity. The purpose of the conference is to bring people who manage polar bears in captivity with those who work with them in the field to come up with ways to better manage them in captivity,” she said.

First Published October 9, 2003, 12:48 p.m.