I have confirmed via direct contact that RSCC will reopen for the season on March 1st. However, some animals (which ones unknown) will be off show as construction continues. Operating hours are 10am to 5pm. Admission is 15 pounds plus an additional 5 pounds if you want to take photos.
I was thinking that too! I reckon that could have a negative impact on some people as they might want souvenir pictures but may not want to pay extra! And how are they going to enforce this? Is someone going to walk around asking anyone with a camera for proof they've paid for the privilege?
Yes I was not given specifics on how it would work. I would imagine that it does not apply to cell phone snapshots but only to "real" cameras. I suppose (just guessing here) that they just ask you at entrance or have some kind of sign at entrance booth and trust people to be honest. Other possibility is that when you pay the extra five pounds you are given a wristband which staff can easily identify. I plan to be there taking photos in about a month so I will let everyone know how it works.
I hope they have some more unusual and interesting species when they re-open, it really does seem to be the place to go for zoo rarities and one offs in the UK at the moment. Single handedly starting an unrelated breeding programme for Palawan Binturong is a major achievement! We talked about it back in the early to mid 90's when Paul Robinson took over the chair of the small carnivore TAG but nothing ever happened. We also had plans to bring in Columbian Weasel but that never got going either - maybe Todd could be the man to get that started?
No not really! The other exciting species proposed at the time was European Mink. Owston's Civet seems to be the only species that zoos got interested in that was regularly mentioned during SCTAG meetings back then. Oh yes and Wolverine, which are now represented in a few collections.
I'd love it if more collections went into European Mink - or indeed any collections at all within the UK, as I believe it has never been displayed in any collections over here. I can imagine quite a good educational opportunity could be had in displaying the species, discussing how critically endangered they are in the wild and the effect the invasive American Mink has had on the species.
Excellent point TLD - I'd like to get some over here, where do they hold them on the continent? Anywhere particularly successful at breeding European Mink?
When did you stop being involved in the TAG? Very interesting stuff! TLD we are trying our best to encourage collections to keep Europe mink but you need to keep at least 5.5 animals to breed them
According to ZTL - with the usual caveat that it is only as accurate as the editors updating it - there are 45 collections on the continent holding the species, of which 22 are in Germany. It appears a fair few of these collections are breeding the species every so often; however it rather appears only a single collection is making a concerted effort with the taxon. Tallinn Zoo is listed on ZTL as breeding the species regularly, with the population on 30.12.2011 (the most recent update on Zootierliste) being listed at 60,50 - of which 10,1 were born in that year.
I was only ever on the periphery of the SCTAG as I kept Kowari privately and worked with Bunturong, Kinkajou and Tayra at the zoo I worked for at the time. Paul Robinson was a good friend at the time and he chaired the SCTAG in the 90's before Tony Lewis took over when he left. Stewart Muir and Frank Wheeler were also colleagues involved in the TAG at that time, I just went along to a couple of meetings in my capacity as a keeper. I sat on the HerpTAG during this period more regularly. We're talking 1994 - 2003ish. Even all that time ago it was Tallin Zoo who were talking about European Mink. I seem to recall a very knowledgable chap named Tiit Marran who was leading the initiative. Go on RSCC - bring in 5.5 European Mink and get them started in the UK!
Considering the focus of RSCC on southeast Asia I suspect they wouldn't be interested personally I think somewhere like Exmoor, HWP or Newquay would do nicely with them.
Weirdest thing, zoo-wise, I've heard for a while. It seems simultaneously arbitrary, hard-to-police, desperate and irritating if not completely insulting -it's a basic desire of any visitor to take photos. Are we going down a Ryan Air type pricing policy -£x to use the toilet, £x if you want to see the Tarsiers, £x to talk to a keeper. Bizarre. Additionally there's the question of whether it'd be per person (with multi-cameras), per camera and inclusive or exclusive of phones and iPads? If this were a South Lakes policy the thread would be melting down.
IPhone cameras are of great quality now anyway. So even though I assume they will not be enforced under the £5 rule they would still be average camera quality (obviously nothing like DSLR though). Bit of a silly rule tbh and many visitors will not probably know this before visiting... I feel sorry for the kiosk staff!
In the mid-1980-ties I had to pay extra at Hagenbeck's in Germany to take photos but I have heared never after that, that a collection takes extra money for taking photos.
Many years ago the Exotic Feline Breeding Compound (California, USA) used to be free admission but they only allowed members to take photos. Membership was a reasonable 15 dollars a year, but of course if you did not live close and only wanted to go once then being forced to buy a membership would be a bit of money. Several years ago they instituted a standard admission fee and did away with the member only photo policy.
Indeed, when I first started visiting German zoos, it was necessary to purchase a permit to take photographs in both both Hamburg (Hagenbeck) Zoo and Frankfurt Zoo. Similarly the Zoology Museum in Berlin used to charge visitors extra if they wanted to take photographs.
