wild cats in NZ zoos

wild cats in NZ zoos
26-11-2008

the NZ forum primates thread and the Australian forum cat thread inspired me to make a list of the cats in NZ zoos. And here it is.....

*African lion [also including "Barbary" and white lions at Zion] -- Zion, Auckland, Paradise Valley Springs, Wellington, Orana
*Sumatran tiger -- Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington, Orana
*Bengal and white tigers -- Zion
*Leopard -- Zion (black panther)
*Cheetah -- Zion, Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington, Orana
*Asian golden cat -- Auckland (off display), Hamilton (off display?)
*Serval -- Zion, Auckland, Wellington, Orana (off display) [Franklin Zoo's 20-yr-old serval died in March this year]

other cats I've seen in NZ but aren't here any more: puma, snow leopard, Siberian tiger, jaguar, Geoffroy's cat, bobcat, caracal

feel free to comment or add anything I've missed

26-11-2008

Nice list Chlidonias, and if you eliminate the off display cats and don't count the soon-to-be-closed Zion Park then there's not really much to choose from. Only lions, tigers, cheetahs and servals in the entire country! Wow.

27-11-2008

yeah, it wasn't until I'd made the list that I realised just how few cat species are left in the country

27-11-2008

Have I missed something?

27-11-2008

Lion Man losing licence

Sorry for the misinformation Steve, but it is only Craig Busch who has lost his license to operate Zion Wildlife Park rather than the actual park being directly threatened. I see from the thread above that there is now new management at this often critically maligned zoological collection. I have never been to New Zealand, but have also never heard anything positive about Zion...

30-11-2008

A quick correction (I think) the Asian Golden Cat at Hamilton is on display (at least last time I went) they also have a (maybe pair) of Bobcat...

01-12-2008

Ok thanks. I wasn't sure if Hamilton's golden cat(s) were on display or not. Their website doesn't mention bobcats so I assumed there were none left in NZ (the last ones I saw in this country were in Chch in the early 90s)

01-12-2008

I saw both on display when I went about a year or so ago... Maybe the Bobcat has passed..? Not sure sorry...

01-12-2008

oh I just found this post from July this year....
Hamilton Zoo
Franklin's website doesn't mention the bobcats either though, so maybe they have since died, or maybe the website is just crap

01-12-2008

Ah, that sheds some little... I'm guessing Franklin Zoo's webiste is updated very rarely, they are very low budget from what I can tell...

I'm suprised they had a leopard cat..! It must have been off display awhile as in my three visits over the last three years I haven't seen it..!

02-12-2008

as far as I can make out Franklin's website doesn't have a species list, just some articles on individual animals (Zelda the zebra, Sam the serval, etc), so its hard to see what else they have besides the "personalities". The bobcats (and anything else of interest) may or may not still be there. You know, Franklin Zoo's not far from you.....

As for the leopard cat, I hadn't even known there were any in NZ! Hamilton's a bit of a gem with its tapirs and golden cats and other species you can't see elsewhere in NZ zoos (I really need to get up there and see it for myself!)

02-12-2008

Ha Ha, I've been meaning to get out to Franklin for almost a year now...

Hamilton is definitely worth a look, you can definitely tell it used to be a private game reserve, i.e. a lack o' money and is not really on the council's list of priorities but all that said, still worth a peek...

05-12-2008

Auckland Zoos Golden Cats are off display due to stress (mother even bit her cub)

06-12-2008

Is this a new cub, or the cub from "The zoo" TV series that is a few years old, well the series I saw with a cub and a neck wound, which had to be hand reared.. They also moved them off show in the series before, which they bred and had two male cubs which were going to be used for educational purposes in a on show enclosure.

11-12-2008

I can confirm that Franklin Zoo does have the two bobcats from Hamilton Zoo, and very lovely they are too. Franklin also has African lions.

Pouakai Zoo in New Plymouth also has African lions and bobcats.