Werribee to Disneyland » Werribee Open Range Zoo

10-05-2008

From the sound of it there are a few Victorian State members not happy with the idea.
Brumby's flaks spark MP dissent | The Australian

10-05-2008

This could be the begining of the end of this idea

16-05-2008

Hi All,
this is my first posting in this site.
I too am furious about this proposal. The flagrant disregard for due process, the absence of consultation or evaluation and the gleeful, opportunistic delight with which the State Government has embraced Village's, what, 4th? takeover in as many months is just sickening.
There is NO confidence that the Zoo will maintain stewardship of the animals. They have NO power in influencing the decision about their continued management.
Like putting a jacuzzi in your rented home, if the landlord kicks you out, you've lost your bubbly bath.(Unless you move it to your next home.)
If the State Gov decides to "gift" the crown land on which WORZ sits to a private company, the staff and management of WORZ may "have" a zoo and animals but literally won't have anywhere to keep 'em.
And if the animals are stuck with Village? Oh man. Just no good is going to come of it.

How &^%%^%&*^$$ insulting are the #u@ki^$ comments by Roadshow that their proposed rollercoaster ( boasted to be the biggest in the southern hemisphere) "uses new technology that makes it extremely quiet"
WTF?? Who the hell do they think they are, imagining that they can say $hit@ like this without sporting huge red nose and custard pies?? How dare they treat Victorians as if we're so laissez faire that we'll just nod like zombies and move onto the next bit of misinformation?

Ach, does me gall bladder in just thinking about it.

Freinds of the Zoo (FOTZ.org.au) has launched a petition, there's another website (www.noplaceforavillage.wetpaint.com)with some more stuff. It's under construction but it's a Wiki, so if you want to go on there and add stuff, go for it.

The Zoo & Parks Victoria have been gagged, so someone's gotta do some agitating.

We plan to march if the Govt doesn't retract their unconditional support on their 30/5/8 deadline.

Alright, I'm done for now.

Cheers,
The-Mole

17-05-2008

Welcome to ZooBeat, and I enjoyed your ranting about the proposed takeover of Werribee. I'm sure that you summed up many of the chief concerns that animal lovers have felt since the news broke, and there are many of us here that have visited or live in Melbourne that are skeptical when it comes to the plans of the Victorian government.

22-05-2008

it is very good news it needs updating

24-05-2008

Zoo theme park 'a circus' - National - theage.com.au

The latest anti-Village Roadshow article. "African Safari World" seems destined to eventually open, but will it be a success?

Interdepartmental report lodged
03-06-2008

Hi All,

just keeping y'all up to date with WORZ happenings

- Interdepartmental committee set up in response to criticisms of process/ content when info was leaked, lodged its report on the proposal to the Brumby government as planned on 30th May

- FOTZ are reported to be "cautiously optimistic"

Hmm. See me shiver with anticip...


- Several letter writers have been recieving generic letters in response to their quite specific concerns about the wellbeing of the animals under this proposed regime. The letters make a blanket statement akin to 'the animals will be fine'.
( I know this to be true, as I have acquired one. Makes for brief, uninteresting reading.)

Understandably this isn't going down too well with some of these folk who take animal welfare quite seriously and sending these poorly considered, homogenous platitudes into the public arena might actually bite the governement on it's arse IF something like the RSPCA or PETA decide to conduct and publish their own evaluation of what life under the rollercoaster really would be like for your average zebra / rhino / pregnant hippo etc.

If you've heard anything new about this or have some clout with animal welfare lobbyists and want to make sure that the animals there get a fair deal, post what you're doing about it and let us Melburnians especially know what you need. I know that there are a lot of local opponents to this, not necassarily FOTZ / ZV who are guest readers and who want to help in some way.

Happy Agitating,
Mole

03-06-2008

I have also received this letter. Very unhelpful and rather condescending. To be honest I'm not holding out much hope. I'm rather cynical and pessimistic by nature and I beleive that the big money nearly always win. But I hope. I have done everything that I can, including sending letters to the RSPCA, the Humane Society and PETA (PETA is my nemesis so to speak but I am happy to use them on this occassion.) However I haven't really received many words of encouragement from them. PETA totally ignored me, which I find is typical of them, they are only concerned about animal welfare when it suits their agenda.

As for the report, is it possible to read it?

Letter
03-06-2008

Could one of you who have got this generic letter post it on the forum ?
It might get more people like myself to send them a response .
I cant at the moment as I dont have an email address to write to the appropriate person , and I dont know the exact content of the letter

05-06-2008

Hi Nigel - I don't have the means of de-identifying the recipient of the letter that I have acquired so I won't post it on here.
Some ideas for letter content can be found at the FOTZ site - FOTZ - Werribee Open Range Zoo
The reasons for opposing this are spelt out - you could even just cut and paste.
Another couple of letters can be found by following the links here Letter writing - SaveOurZoos
- it also gives the emails of people to whom to send your letters.
I hope that that is helpful. Let us know how you go.
Mole

05-06-2008

G'Day Jay,
Geez, for someone that describes themselves pessimistic, your flame burns right brightly! You've been doing a hell of a lot!
Schade about PETA. As I understand, RSPCA has a stance of having no support for the principle of zoos, which makes engaging their support even by viewing WORZ as a harm reducing example of animal captivity a bit tricky. I suspect that PETA may have similarly polarised views that may render them immobile and in practice, seemingly ineffectual in this particular arena.

The Report - well - not so far. But I will be chasing it and I suspect that FOTZ will be as well.

Cheers - Mole

05-06-2008

the next step could well be online petition from zoos victoria homepage.
i think dave hancocks outlook is correct; with a larger city like sydney failing to sustain a theme park I dont see how Melbourne could expect to keep a similar venture viable for long with fewer international tourists and a smaller domestic population.
what I would then hate to see is for Weribbe to close completely

06-06-2008

The petition now has oiver 3000 signatures (mines in there somewhere) and lots of interesting comments. I wonder if there is a similar thing for people who it is a GREAT idea

07-06-2008

is there an online petition yet? alot of interstate people with either a passion for zoos and wildlife or a hate of privitisation of state assets would probably like to put their name to it.
the more signitatures the stronger the signal becomes that this is something that Victorians and potential tourists dont want.
If the proposal moves forward after consideration then the next step in the argument will be to shoot holes through the flawed premise of job creation "Hi where an American company. We would like to acquire your state-owned zoo. You will pay us to do this, and in return well make jobs for you. But we cannot promise you that the venture will be a success. Just dont look at what happened in Sydney with wonderland and rest assured the zebras wont care about rollercoasters".

07-06-2008

The petition I mentioned is online at FOTZ.org.au
The promise of jobs is always a siren call. Motice that they vrow about thousands of jobs, then later, almost as an aside they mention that most of those are temporary while the place is being built, lasting a year at most. The actual number of permanent jobs quoted is something like 500. Still a large number but I wonder how many of those will be part time, ie only in weekends and holidays and so aimed at teenagers looking for spare cash, rather than an adult trying to make a living.