Animals from Tipperary

Animals from Tipperary
24-04-2007

Well this should belong in a NT thread, my bad but Mareeba currently does not hold zebra, Giraffe or Tapir. however all of these were at Tipperary from records I've seen. In the list of animals purchased from Tipperary by David Gill only the Zebra were on it.../ and that was two and one in foal. So what has happened to the giraffe? the Tapir? and did the other 6 zebra just dissappear, surley that would warrant some kind of investigation... Mary rIver Sttion is a game hunting lodge. they do hunt "pst" animals but maybe permission to hunt the tippeary animals was not obtained. Mary River does have a safari lodge for wildlife spotting but there is no mention of the exotics they have. Warren Anderson and his previous animal managers from tipperary are impossible to get in touch with and I have had a pretty hard time getting in touch with Mary River. Any thoughts? Ideas? Debates? questions?

24-04-2007

mary river to my knowledge has all the animals, and mareeba owns most of the eantelope

the mary river bloke bought gills animals (some dispersed far and wide) and had planned to have a commercial game lodge, nt govt said no, u are not breeding to hunt, he got shits, gill bought animals, but no money exchanged

huge debate, much of which i can not say, basically, most animals at tipp are at mary river

24-04-2007

Still interesting that although the website talks of the deer etc there is no mention of some of the other animals that you'd think would be a major drawcard to Mary River. The Zebra, Addax, Eland etc are owned by the new owners of Mareeba well that's what I was told would happen when the park was sold. but QLD govt wouldn't allow the import. As vfar as I know as Mary River own the animals they can't be stopped from shooting them... maybe. correct me if I'm wrong. I know they can prevent them from breeding which is why Gill had a problem with the Govt in the first place. Does anyone know how many tapir tipperary had, or anything about any of the animals there. surely there would have to be records somewhere.

24-04-2007

there were records, but for many years since anderson sold out, not mnay to no records were kept, on this any breeding could have taken place with out knowing, which is a prob when introducing these animals in to arazpa manged population.

24-04-2007

6 Tapir... permission would only be granted to trasnport Tapir, Eland and Addax into QLD from NT if the males of these species were desexed. Otherwise the import will not be permitted. apparently he also had two black rhino both of which died in the late 1980's.

26-04-2007

does anyone know if any of these brazilian tapirs are still alive and their relationship to the other tapir in our zoos? the zoo population desperately needs new blood if it is to continue reproduce.

26-04-2007

our egion isnt the only one. the us is getting its first injection of new tapir genes in many decades with two brazillian tapirs being imported to the us from a central american zoo...

26-04-2007

from memory the recommendations for tapirs states that the breeding pair at dubbo are the last pair that can be bred in the region without serious inbreeding. is it stands arturo (sp?) has no potential mates.

considering the costs associated with importing animals, and the inability to do so with artiodactyls, i am still flabbergasted (thats right flabbergasted!) that a single statutory zoo or a consortium of such, did not esure they secured the animals at mareeba and tippery.

it may have been difficult to place certain animals (such as the bears and all those lions!) but other animals were no doubt much sought after...

26-04-2007

totaly with you. tapir, addax and both hippo species would seem the prority species to me. as im sure youre aware, inaction on the behalf of ARAZPA and all stakeholders (zoos with or wanting tapirs in the future) will result in an expensive mistake.
by allowing the current population of tapirs to age and pass reproductive capability the zoos will only have to face mass importation of tapir in the future. at big cost, becuase of the number of founders needed.
as it is, just integrating one or two or all 6 of the tipperary animals into the current population would ensure long-term persisitence.
the zoos should have a timeframe for action. either the tipperary animals being sourced and placed by the end of 2007,or recquests for import start to be porcessed. as this is in itself a drawn-out minefield, and with the tapir population not getting any younger the ball should be rolling NOW

26-04-2007

well thats assuming that the tapir at tipperary are still alive, old enough to reproduce and not decended from the current zoo stock.

but yeah, if they are the issue of the tapirs (and moreso hippo species in particular) is certainly a case of a terrible missed opportunity. already we have had a apparent "pair" of pygmy hippo lost to neglect at the park..

personally just can't believe that it was left to happen the way it did.. sure hippos are long lived, but zoos victoria in particular has invested huge amounts of cash in modern times to the display of the two hippo species. yet, somehow the only opportunity to secure the species in their institutions for good wasn''t taken up?!!!

of course i don't know the details, but jeez, just seems like a massive loss to me...i have still zero faith in the mareeba/tippery situation.

26-04-2007

And you're also assuming that we know the pedigrees of the animals (if they still exist), they are unrelated to the existing animals (and no one knows that), and perhaps the biggest assumption is that whoever currently has the animals is going to just say "yeah sure guys, here you go. We don't really want these animals anyway".

Lots of assumptions there, and very little, if any, facts are known or available.

26-04-2007

Yeah all I know is that in 2003 an application to import 6 Brazilian Tapirs from NT to QLD was rejected by the QLD govt due to the pest risk! Mr Gill refused to desex the males and therefore they stayed in the territory.

27-04-2007

zpprpo right

also to patty

zoo vic, did attempt to get mareebas hipp females and 1 male are very viable to the region, and werribee was attempting to get the, so they could maintain 2 hippo exhibuits- again fill in gaps, we all know wht its so hard

werribee was truying to sign the line for all the animals, but didnt happen

the pest risk, true, qld said all antelope and hoved anaimals (addax tapir etc) were a pest risk if escaped, so all males to be castrated, and we all see why thats tupid, and we can also not see why theyw ould be, large white antelope running away, easy to aim and get

27-04-2007

the new hippo exhibit at weribee did leave me a little puzzled, to say the least. as you jus tpointed out, it represents a massive investment of tax-payers money into an exhibit which could be without an 'exhibition' soon. and its not like the hippo experience could easily be re-adapted to suit another species...
just to recap, how many hippos are there between adelaide, melbourne and WPZ? and who had the last births. from memory, weribee in 2001, and WPZ in 1999?

27-04-2007

well i dunno bout "soon" hippos are remarkably long lived animals. but certainly it represents an investment into something that potentially has no long-term functionality...

unfortunately your comment is very true of the pygmy hippo exhibit at melbourne. one of the zoos best modern exhibits, already feeling the effects of the strict importation laws..

this is off my head, but i belive their are no breeding possibilities with the adelaide animals. the auckland animals have just one potential breeder amongst them but no ability to send her to australia. that leaves just the animals at werribee and dubbo, of which some may(?) already be related and i think some of the dubbo animals are quite old at that.

at a guess there may still be limited potential "matches" between the two zoos, but without the mareeba animals its not looking good...