I did some digging and it seems like there are 3 Chacoan peccary at the Queens Zoo; they posted a video of them all together as recently as 4 years ago, and they came in 2012.
So for those, like me, that were sad for this cutie... it seems he does, in fact, have piggy friends (or at least, did 4 years ago).
A cautionary tale- I worked for a small AZA accredited zoo a few years ago. Most of the animals at this zoo were native animals that had been stolen from the wild as babies or injured. Either way they were determined non-releasable and their only hope for life was by living here. This zoo has a raccoon and this raccoon knows his routine, like any dog or cat knows when its regular feeding time is. This raccoon would jump excitedly in front of the door every time he heard his keeper getting his food ready. While this behavior doesn’t “look good” to anyone watching, he only did it for a few minutes out of the day and there was really no way to keep him from getting excited about dinner (my cats are the same way.) Every other minute of the day he could be found playing with his enrichment, doing normal raccoon behaviors, or sleeping.
One day someone came and took a video of the raccoon’s anticipatory behavior. He posted it to Twitter and said “he’d been watching the raccoon all day and that’s the only thing the raccoon did.” And when he talked to our lead keeper about it and she explained what I did above, he posted how “I talked to the keepers and they said there’s nothing they can do about it.” The video went viral getting millions of views and thousands of comments claiming “zoochosis,” calling for the zoo to be shut down, and for the raccoon to be sent to various internet celebrities that “rescue” wildlife. Meanwhile, this guys video was only a minute long and was too zoomed in to show the animal’s entire space, which was bigger than what’s required. Also, no mention at all of the people who stole the raccoon from the wild as a baby and ruined his chances to be a normal raccoon in the first place. The zoo responded explaining and when the guy posted their response, the comments changed their tune and called him out for “posting a defaming video without context.”
TL;DR: be careful of the fingers you point when you actually have no idea of this animal’s life. Another comment pointed out there are more peccaries at this zoo than pictured here; maybe they were behind the scenes when you visited. Save this energy and the attention of the public for the roadside zoos abusing their animals who actually deserve it.
WeightlossTeddybear on November 18th, 2025 at 13:16 UTC »
It’s a peccary! The not-a-pig native to the Americas ❤️
jessuvius on November 18th, 2025 at 14:42 UTC »
I did some digging and it seems like there are 3 Chacoan peccary at the Queens Zoo; they posted a video of them all together as recently as 4 years ago, and they came in 2012.
So for those, like me, that were sad for this cutie... it seems he does, in fact, have piggy friends (or at least, did 4 years ago).
elise_ko on November 18th, 2025 at 15:47 UTC »
A cautionary tale- I worked for a small AZA accredited zoo a few years ago. Most of the animals at this zoo were native animals that had been stolen from the wild as babies or injured. Either way they were determined non-releasable and their only hope for life was by living here. This zoo has a raccoon and this raccoon knows his routine, like any dog or cat knows when its regular feeding time is. This raccoon would jump excitedly in front of the door every time he heard his keeper getting his food ready. While this behavior doesn’t “look good” to anyone watching, he only did it for a few minutes out of the day and there was really no way to keep him from getting excited about dinner (my cats are the same way.) Every other minute of the day he could be found playing with his enrichment, doing normal raccoon behaviors, or sleeping.
One day someone came and took a video of the raccoon’s anticipatory behavior. He posted it to Twitter and said “he’d been watching the raccoon all day and that’s the only thing the raccoon did.” And when he talked to our lead keeper about it and she explained what I did above, he posted how “I talked to the keepers and they said there’s nothing they can do about it.” The video went viral getting millions of views and thousands of comments claiming “zoochosis,” calling for the zoo to be shut down, and for the raccoon to be sent to various internet celebrities that “rescue” wildlife. Meanwhile, this guys video was only a minute long and was too zoomed in to show the animal’s entire space, which was bigger than what’s required. Also, no mention at all of the people who stole the raccoon from the wild as a baby and ruined his chances to be a normal raccoon in the first place. The zoo responded explaining and when the guy posted their response, the comments changed their tune and called him out for “posting a defaming video without context.”
TL;DR: be careful of the fingers you point when you actually have no idea of this animal’s life. Another comment pointed out there are more peccaries at this zoo than pictured here; maybe they were behind the scenes when you visited. Save this energy and the attention of the public for the roadside zoos abusing their animals who actually deserve it.