Edinburgh zoo has been given 3 years to massively improve their facilities for the resident (1.2) Patagonian sea lions, as well as improve the facilities for the big cats, in particular the jaguars. The 3 year period is until their next inspection for their zoo licence. The current sea lion pool has held Californian sea lions in the past for over 40 years, and successfully too, with many breedings taking place, but it looks as though time is being called on this relic from the zoos past. To look at it from a visitors point of view, it is a lovely pond, around 100ft long and about 6-7 feet at its deepest. It is fed by a stream running from farther up on the zoo site, so it is a fresh water pool NOT salt water. There are no separation facilities in the enclosure. The jaguars are currently in the former Amur tiger enclosure, which has been on site and used by tigers, since the zoo opened. The inspection also called for a "radical refurbishment or complete replacement" of the food store and veterinary areas of the zoo. Sea Lions could face axe from Edinburgh Zoo Deadline Press & Picture Agency Zoo upgrade ordered or sea lions will be left high and dry - Scotsman.com News http://www.zoochat.com/61/edinburgh-zoo-06-04-09-a-71613/
Wouldn't the simplest solution be to **** the sealions to the polar bear enclosure temporarily while some space is stolen from the old red panda enclosure to build an area for isolation. If i remember from my last visit there was nothing in this enclosure, so surely it is better being done away with to benefit the sealions. Giving up on the sealions would be a great loss. As for the big cats, i know the 'carnivore row' enclosures badly need upgrading, but what are the zoo supposed to do with the animals while this is going on? Surely it would cost far too muh to shift them all out to different zoos temporarily
In the ideal world, i would like to see the former gorilla house and small deer house ripped down, and a pool placed for the sea lions situated there
As regards the food store and vet facilities, these would be lost in the land sale anyway. The plan is to build new state of the art facilities the other side of Budingo, Rainbow Landings and Living Links. The entrance at the top of thecar park has been canned as the council won't allow the sale of the bit occupied by the entrance building. The other advantage of having the food store and vet building by Budongo is you can have transport access via the car park rather than that road up behind Oasis, taking away the need for large service vehicles in the middle of the zoo! As regards the sea lion pool, I always thought it was quite good. I have been told that the depth is actually measured in metres! You don't realise how deep it is until it is drained (pictures anyone?). It is one of the oldest enclosures having been there since the zoo was first opened. If the jaguar enclosures need serious upgrading then that must surely mean that whole carnivore walk should be condemned as, particularly the larger outdoor part of that enclosure is the best part up there! I think it's fair to say that the powers that be at the zoo are more than aware of failings at the zoo. The bulk of the money from the landsale would be used to improve the basic infrastructure which badly needs upgrading to allow these improvements and more. It's obviously a slow news day as this is relatively old news!
Isn't there some unused land just above the sealions, next to the pandas? Could that become an uphill isolation pool, perhaps with the pandas and porcupine enclosures added? It might be easier to replace the jaguars with a smaller species than to replace or revamp the jaguar enclosures. I don't think it would make sense to redevelop the old gorilla house and the small deer/antelope house (which is one of my favourites) without considering the Monkey House and the old stump-tailed macaque/thick-billed parrot enclosure, and perhaps the warthogs and bush dogs too. Alan
Just to comment- I think this was the most poorly designed modern exhibit I've seen in a UK zoo. Glad it is not used for the original inhabitants (which also included Orangutans)anymore. I think it could safely be demolished without anyone missing it!
Always liked Edinburgh's sealion pool. Old enclosures are not necessarily the worst, they can sometimes be the best. Its also unique(?), at least in the UK, to encounter see Sealions as the first animals after the Entrance. I hope they can keep it in some form or other.
okay, to be honest the sealion pool is not the best, neither is the big cat row, but the jaguar cage is exelent, this is definatley a slow news day!
I think the original jaguar cage is on the big cat row, they don't normally live in the massive one as that's where the tigers will eventually live.
Having recently visited the Zoo I can report that, I really liked the Sea Lion Enclosure it offers great views and looks very nice but a seperation facility would be a wise move. If it would be a shame to have them move from this area. For some reason the Tiger (temporary Jaguar Enclosure) Just didnt do much for me im afraid, for some reason it wasnt too my liking. If Edinburgh can keep the Carnivore Row for smaller Cat species for example Pallas Cats,Eurasian/Siberian Lynx and maybe even Puma it would keep Cats in the Zoo, Keep the old enclosures and it would fit them alot better then the larger cats in my opinion.
If they had come from the wild they would be from South America but as they are captive animals the females came from Kristiansand zoo in Norway and the male came from Aalborg zoo in Denmark. The problem with the pool is not just the size etc. it is also about how the water system is regulated/cleaned and at the moment it comes through another enclosure with cranes and wallabies before it even gets to the sea lions.
This area of the zoo will be incorporated into the ocean and wetlands biome as part of the masterplan, and i am quite sure by that time the monkey house will be redundant as they build the rainforest biome over in the area dominated by Budongo. I felt that with the geographical link between the penguins and the sea lions would be better emphasised if their enclosures were next to each other. The current sea lion pool is fed by a stream that runs through the wallaby/crane enclosure, and is filtered by a reed bed outside the mansion house, but, really these days that is not good enough for the sea lions, they really deserve a salt water pool for a start.
It would be interesting to know if regular tests are done on the water quality in the sea lion pool eg coliforms etc. For those interested in this subject there is links to various articles here: MAINTAINING THE AQUATIC ENVIRONMENT It is now becoming more common for zoo inspectors to ask for sea lion pool to be salt water. In my experience fresh water tends to predispose sea lions to eye-problems due to osmotic imbalance. Although I did hear an opinion that giving access to both and fresh and salt bathing water more an ideal.
Hopefully it wont be too difficault a task to sort the issues out, shouldn't be for the current tiger habitat I expect? The Sealions, I would hate to see them leave so I hope they can do something with that which allows them to keep them there. One feeling I got is that the feedback the zoo recieved was mostly positive, but the media only gave that a one paragraph token entry, just concentrated on the two areas they got marked down upon.
Having read the article in the Scotsman, it is the Jaguars off-show facilities which are in need of up-dating, due to Health & Safety concerns, not the actual enclosure.
