Australia Zoo in Trouble » Australia Zoo

Bindi
16-04-2008

Zooboy, While I do appreciate that Steve has educated a younger generation I find much more interest in David Attenborough docos. They are much better put together and far less focused on ego and more on the nature side of things.

I find John Stainton produced programming to be cheap crap, but maybe because I am soooo old.

16-04-2008

Yeah I agree, I compared the two and the information and I got a lot more info in the David Attenborough docos and all that was in the Steve Irwin ones was all about himself, his family, his zoo or how he handles them with a bit of info on animals. But the ones he made about his zoo were good. Plus the Attenborough ones were better put together and well sorted in a sense.

16-04-2008

I want to but the Life of Mammals set but it's too expensive. I'll wait 'til they're on again and tape it.

16-04-2008

Yeah they are very expensive so my parents bought the book then a group of people got me the DVDs. I reckon that people would get scared of bindi and Australia zoo if she becomes a sex-symbol hahaha.

16-04-2008

Australia Zoos new advertising campaign.

"Come to Australia Zoo; Bindi's waiting for you."

16-04-2008

I think most people would be threatened by Bindi - she has access to deadly animals and knows how to use them!

16-04-2008

haha sim, they will come in handy when she get's into the dating scence lol

Ptig, i 100% agree with you, i myslef love david docos, and find them more appealing and educational, but when we talk about a young generation, fast movement, fast talkers is what kids are interested in, they just want to see animals. They would look at david and say old and boring. Hopefully, these kids say at 10 years old, can watch the irwin crew, see animals, learn to appreciate animals, and eventually move onto a much more well produced and education documentary series such as davids.

We need to first capture the mind, to really eduacate it, and then untilise the education to conserve.

16-04-2008

If this thread has become a comparison between David vs. Steve, well that is not a comparison at all...

16-04-2008

Lets try and stay on track here guys

17-04-2008

True. You guys all seem to be falling over each other over my remarks aka Bindi. That is just one part of it, I was just merely illustrating the over-commercial approach and the personality cult (to me it comes off as a form of child exploitation) that blurs any conservation ethic at Australia Zoo.

I WANT Australia Zoo to be a good zoo which is serious about zoo animal management and ex and in situ wildlife conservation. They have so much to offer both landwise and cashwise, that I JUST WISH they would make better use of their resources. They would certainly be taken more seriously in the zoo and wildlife quarters if they would.

So, please guys try focus more and explore the real argument with me .. which is more on Australia zoo as an institution, its role in education and conservation and less so on the Irwins' personality cult. For sake it is not a religious sect, it is a zoo full of wild animals. If they bring in gorillas, rhinos, orangs and tigers it will mean zilch if they do not built state of the art facilities and exhibits and are seen to tie in their commitment in mega fauna with financial support to in situ conservation projects.

F.i. they brought in Sumatran tigers from Taman Safari in Indonesia. Fine ....., but what will they do for Taman Safari and the PKBSI tiger breeding project or Indonesia's wildlife conservation programmes?

To give you a perspective on things: the European EEP has worked tirelessly with the US SSP for years to support the Sumatran tiger programmes in Indonesia, both by supporting financially Taman Safari in Bogor, Java, Indonesia to set up a PKBSI captive-breeding programme for Sumatran tigers in the local Indonesian zoos, improving keeping standards and having some of the eventual unrelated offspring relocated to EEP and SSP collections to improve their gene pools and by ALSO supporting financially and with technical expertise the anti-poaching teams in the protected areas where it matters (e.g. Kerinci Seblat and Aceh), tiger research and monitoring, protected area patrolling and improvement as well as rapid wildlife assessments in southern and eastern Sumatra for tigers, elephants and other wildlife (sun bears, Malayan tapirs, orangs, gibbons, langurs).

What will Australia Zoo put back in?

17-04-2008

A smattering over a quarter of a million dollars into several in situ tiger projects in Indoensia last year alone, and they are already well on their way to that figure again this year.

The expense of acquiring and importing the most genetically valuable tigers in captivity outside of Indonesia, and making these available to the regional (and therefore EEP) captive program.

Want me to go on?

Aus Zoo conservation spend
17-04-2008

I would be interested to know where the 250K has been spent. It will be interesting to see the progress of the new cubs in the program. Will they follow recommendations?

17-04-2008

Yup, puleaseee ..... Zoopro!!!!!

Let's be constructive and get beyond the media hype! Just what I do not understand is ... why does only the Disney feel like stuff gets into the media? Journalists with instant hit and run messages or could communication be better exploited?

Can you provide a link to Australia Zoo's contributions to the Sumatra tiger programme? And of course any other projects they are involved in? Being a little media hungry here ....

17-04-2008

I don't work for them, so I can't send you all their media releases, but you could start here: Australia Zoo - Conservation - Projects

It's a sad state of affairs, but it's reality, that cute, cuddly and quirky gets into the media far more easily than being involved in in situ conservation projects. Put a gorilla or a chimp in a nappy, stick a red nose on a koala for red nose day, have a monkey eating an ice cream during a heat wave, or show Bindi's latest fashions (to tie the discussion into this thread), and you can be sure the media will lap it up. Tell them that you've just spent a couple of hundred thousand dollars to help save tigers in Indonesia, and unless it's associated with some other major event (like the tsunami last year), then it won't get a bite.

Part of this problem is that the zoos don't feed the right types of stories to the media (in my opinion), and part of it is that the media only want cute or controversial. Part of it also, is that the masses out there seem to be happy with cute and cuddly, and don't really give a toss about conservation.

That's what media hype is about, unfortunately so, when Bindi has a new DVD on sale, or Australia Zoo suggests something a bit out of the ordinary, it makes the papers. It's still good PR for the zoo, but it might not be what you or I would prefer.

18-04-2008

I WANT Australia Zoo to be a good zoo which is serious about zoo animal management and ex and in situ wildlife conservation. They have so much to offer both landwise and cashwise, that I JUST WISH they would make better use of their resources. They would certainly be taken more seriously in the zoo and wildlife quarters if they would.

quote from Jelle ( I think )

This is very much my own opinion also .
I am not anti Bindi -- she is a 9 year old kid that has alot more interaction with wildlife than most other 9 year olds .
I am not suggesting in any way that the zoo cuts out all of the Irwin influence as it is because of the work that was started by Bob Irwin , and greatly taken on board by Steve , and now passed on to his predeccesors .
But I will be saddened if the zoo becomes more of an "Irwin land " ( for lack of better term ) than a zoo , even if they rename it Steve Irwin Memorial Zoo ,
Just look on the "zoos" website and it will tell you more information about Irwins than about animals .Its like they are blowing their own trumpet more than blowing a trumpet for the zoo . I wish that the zoo management would work towards the animal/conservation side of things , otherwise the place will just become a generic Sunshine Coast tourist trap , based on reptiles and a few animals , just like back in the early days .

It has done well with improving its facilities and enclosures , and introducing a wider range of animals . It should keep up the same if it is serious to stay as its name suggests --- Australia ZOO .
If they cant be a zoo , perhaps they should put in all their money for a conservation research centre ( like Mt Bruce )
It is a pretty good zoo for QLD . I hope to visit the zoo again some day -- but to visit the zoo there . Not to see Bindi or another Irwin .