Australia Zoo in Trouble » Australia Zoo

16-03-2008

WHAAAT??? sorry. where has this come from?

16-03-2008

lol hay u shdould buy it

16-03-2008

hmmm . . . okay. . . anyone wanna put in. . . I'd say all we'd need would be a tiny $120 - $150 million. . . so divide that by the number of members we have, surely we can do it. . . joke

16-03-2008

Zoo_Boy, Please elaborate. What sell ... the zoo ... or its image?


Slightly off-topic, glyn and all about this tall poppy syndrome again. Perhaps the expression is only down under, but in Holland we do have the same attitude/process. This will be the harder part for you English speakers ... "als je je kop boven het maaiveld uitsteekt, wordt hij weggeschoten".

16-03-2008

Yes I would also like to know were this came from

17-03-2008

It seems as if there are lots of rumors floating around, as an article in the Aussie press (and found in the news section here at ZooBeat) states that selling Australia Zoo to Animal Planet is a possibility. But at the same time there are many denials of that claim, and it's truly sad at the amount of bad publicity that the zoo has been receiving. There are numerous large-scale plans for the establishment, and expanding from 28 hectares to 400 hectares means that the African Savannah/hotel/railway idea might one day be realized.

17-03-2008

zoos and queensland just don't seem to mix!

17-03-2008

AAARRRGGG you are so right.
Talking to several of friends on the coast this weekend. General response to the rumours about selling up was 'told you so'. Terris image is really tarnishing badly. Unfortunately there is a large element of anti US bias here as well from them. It would appear that the Irwins Golden run has now reached its end.

17-03-2008

maybe it has, maybe not, remember the bad run a few yars abck- the bob croc thing, then the antartic wildlife thing.

i hope it all woprks out- cause i would agree with older bob, it wouldnt be steves dream to ever sell that zoo.

17-03-2008

To my mind 2 issues really do stand out, the rest is total hogwash (your tall poppy syndrome):

1. the over the top commercialisation of Australia Zoo by Terri c.s. that has obviously produced a rift with good old Bob. Terri was the financial mastermind, whilst Steve was the conservation buddy (now that he is gone and she is at the helm alone it shows - so no anti-US bias, it has to do with policy and direction). This entire selling the zoo business is exemplary for Terri's attitude/"vision".
2. the serious oversight in conservation issues by the current management of Australia Zoo, where it has just not heeded the conservation regulations (koala hospital and release). Oncemore, this is Terri's attitude/"vision" at play here.

Now my knowledge of internal Queensland policy does not go that far, so like most non-Australians, I can not discern whether this Queensland "told you so" ethic is worth more than the salt it is written on. I just understand from comments by all you Ozzies that Queensland is not exactly at the front of taking adequate conservation measures for the native flora and fauna.

To me - given that your are so opinionated on the Queensland govt. conservation track record, there must be some substance to it - it seems now Steve is no longer with us, the powerful conservation lobby that he stood for is gone and the antis now see their moment of glory.

As non-Australians I do wish that some of you - Zoo Boy et al - to explain to us (but I guess that would mean an entirely different thread and somewhat off-topic here) what exactly the Queensland conservation and government attitude towards it scene is today.

17-03-2008

I didn't post the actual comments that were made which showed the bias that many I know have. Comments like 'What can you expect of a bloody yank, marry your way in then and then think of only the money." "Shrill harpy voiced yankie woman" "Money grubbing Yank" etc. Maybe it's just the circles I mix in but Terri was always the least popular. He may have been embarressing but 'but at least he was a true Aussie - and he had a heart of gold and really cared about the bush and stuff"



I could go on about such stuff as damning the Mary river, the rampant clear felling etc but actually Queensland govts. have done quite a lot of good, such as the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, The Wild Rivers legislation (very controversial that is though), The protecting of the Daintree and of Fraser Island against strong commercial opposition, the govts. attempts to rein in the clear felling, the attempts to prtect and save the South east corners Koalas population. Bit of a mixed bag, like all govts. really

17-03-2008

I also believe the zoos run by the queensland government have no problems at all and are doing great things for conservation. . .

17-03-2008

the whole koala thing has probably been blown out of proportion because it combines two iconic elements-the koala and the Australia Zoo.
i would love to know how many private wildlife carers release rehabititated wildlife back into their exact spot of origin? Australia Zoo should be setting an example in leading the way and sticking to protocol and you cant have a major organisation like that flouting the laws but at the same time, put the law issue aside and theres not too much else to worry about unless you really want to broaden the argument and take into account the whole environmental stance of the QLD government......
off the top of my head, here are some classic and recent QLD enviro classics........................
the Govt sinking hundreds of vehicles, ships and other junk within a reef to create a reef and then publically crowing about it
the State Fishery's policy of translocating freshwater fish species
the land-clearing debacle
the multi-faceted argument of putting a skylift through the centre of the Daintree (although this provoked much debate I agree with this)
and for arguments sake and to be unfair (because it was a Federal suggestion) because its QLD and we can be unfair, this is the state with the world's largest reef which they proposed covering with shade sails to protect it from global warming??????????????????????
haha. not that NSW is any better environmentally, were just SEEN to take it more seriously due to the lack of fake tans and plastic boobs

17-03-2008

You wouldn't believe how many wildlife rescuers flout the release site rule.

Koala relocation
17-03-2008

I thought the discussion was about the action of releasing Koalas in the wrong places. I cannot see an excuse. If there is a problem notify the department, don't just do it anyway.

God bless fake boobs!!!