Founder Animals. » West Midland Safari Park

Founder Animals.
03-08-2008

Does anyone know where the founder stock of the following species at West Mids originated from? ;

Hippos.
Swamp Deer.
Nilgai
Blackbuck
Axis Deer
Pere Davids Deer
Wildebeest.
Cape Buffalo.


I imagine some of the commoner species like Eland & zebra came from other Safari Parks, but the above species aren't kept so widely. Any contributions gratefully received....

03-08-2008

The African Buffalo were imported in 2006(?) and 2007, they are nothing to do with the other group at Knowsley.

West Midlands received the 3 or 4 Hippos from Windsor safari park when it closed, they have continued to breed ever since.

Origin of Founder Stock.
05-08-2008

Thanks.

Can anyone help with the origin of any of the other species mentioned above?

10-08-2008

i think the buffalo came from a herd at Dvur Kralove. I'm not sure where the blackbuck founders came from but i read something about either Colchester or Cotswold sending some to the park but this may have supplemented an already established herd.

Blackbuck
11-08-2008

Yes, I think Cotswold may have sent theirs(about a dozen) as they don't have them anymore. Colchester used to have a tiny group(about 3) so could have sent them to West Midlands too.(will look on ISIS)

West Mids have a good big Blackbuck herd- forty or fifty of them..

11-08-2008

It is hard to tell as Howletts and Port Lympne have always had large herds, which I think have been scaled down in recent years.....they have sent other animals to WMSP so that is a possibility.....Longleat acquired a small group a couple of years ago, these could be the cotswold animals too....

11-08-2008

Yes, at Combe Farm at Port Lympne(this is the 'African Experience' area which I have never been in yet)) there were at one time huge herds of stuff like Swamp deer, Sambar, Axis deer etc and they may have sent of this surplus away.

Do you know what species they have sent to West Midlands?

Longleat's blackbuck could equally have come from Cotswold- the time sounds about right.

12-08-2008

The original hunting dog group came from PL, before then breeding successfully at WMSP, also the safari park hold Sambar, which can only really have come from PL, and I would suspect that their banteng may have come from them too, only because 8-10 years ago PL were breeding their Banteng and had around ten animals. I would be surprised if these had all just died leaving the current 3 that are left. Most of the Banteng were always housed on Combe farm, apart from the Javan Bull, who may still be up on the top (old eland) paddock above the elephants - I haven't been for a few years.

As you know, many UK collections don't really have a 'relationship' with howletts and port lympne, so I would say it is significant for them to send wild dogs to WMSP, and would indicate a greater cooperation, certainly with more common/surplus stock.....

12-08-2008

... so maybe some of the other Asian species e.g. Nilgai, Swamp deer and Axis Deer came from Howletts too?- AFAIK the only three places in UK with large groups of Swamp Deer are Woburn, Whipsnade and Port Lympne but of these PL have by far the most. Howletts is the only other place I know where Nilgai still exist in any number too, though West Midlands has a sizeable group now.

12-08-2008

It looks to me like that is what has happened, especially because of the Sambar. However, I don't think the water buffalo came from Howletts or Port Lympne, as their group is now only at Port Lypmne and has dwindled without the infusion of new bloodlines to about 5 or six animals in recent years.

12-08-2008

Its interesting to work back the other way too. I believe some of Howletts original Asian deer/antelope came from a private collection near Maidstone owned by Sir Gerrard Twirrhyt(?)-Drake. I think the original Howlett's Axis Deer, Nilgai & perhaps Sambar came from there, as against being deliberate importations. The PL Swamp deer were obtained much later, from (I think) East Berlin- as such they aren't related to the Woburn/Whipsnade Swamp deer stock which have been in the Uk a very long time now without fresh blood. Edinburgh also had a fairly large Nilgai group for a long while- these could have gone somewhere like West Midlands.

Howlett's Asian deer/antelope
13-08-2008

I have dug out the first edition of the Help Newsletter (Spring 1978 ) . It is a real shame this is no longer produced .

There is an article on the management of the sambar / axis/ hog deer , nilgai and blackbuck . Whilst it does not say where the stock came from it does say the herd founders were 4 nilgai , 5 hog deer , 4 sambar deer and 5 or 6 axis deer , no reference to the number of blackbuck .

Mention is also made of the 2.2 Clamian deer imported from the Philippines and in quarantine in Plymouth . This was one of quite a few species they were not successful with . It was good to see a male at Edinburgh earlier this year .

13-08-2008

I'm pretty sure at least one of these species, maybe several or all, came from the private Maidstone collection.

13-08-2008

The Calamian deer, every time I saw them, were housed in a smallish paddock at the edge of the picnic lawn, sharing with Parma wallabies, with a small indoor hut....I was surprised at the setup given how rare they were. Howletts and Port lympne for some weird reason just never seem to do well with rare cervids, for no logical reason whatsoever.

14-08-2008

Its a strange thing to say, but I always get the feeling at these two collections that some of the less 'high profile' species just get forgotten about over time.
For example; Port Lympne imported one of the earliest pairs of Red River hogs in the Uk- I don't think they have ever bred to my knowledge but no attempt seems to have been made to promote this by an exchange of partners or mixing them with the more recent(breeding) pair at Howletts.