South Lakes » South Lakes Wild Animal Park

South Lakes
06-10-2007

[quote=zoogiraffe;23544]As some one who has visitied the place at least once a year for the last 6 years,i wouldn`t say it was a damn fine zoo,differnt yes but fine no.the raised walk way that he put in to me has spoilt the zoo completly [quote]

I have not been there, so perhaps any comment is unfair. However, I have watched the developments at South Lakes and know others who do visit quite regularly. It seems to have developed very rapidly(too rapidly?) over the years without an awful lot of care going into the building work. Is it a 'jerry-built' zoo? I 've seen photos of some of the paddocks too which look very bare from overuse.

The website trumpets breeding successes and conservation projects in a way that implies-we're the best, other zoos are .... [quote]

I copied this out from another forum.

It seems - I have only seen the website so far - that exhibits are not as well thought out as it is made out to be on the website.

People seem to have strong opinions on the owner David Gill.

So, let us start ...!

06-10-2007

The website i think does give an impression of a better zoo than it really is, the walkways do really spoil things a little bit. However they do have a great marsupial collection and the mixing of Hippos with Mandrills is interessting

06-10-2007

I've not been to the place even though I go to the Lakes quite a lot (mostly the north end around Keswick). It's quite remote from anywhere unless you're staying in the Barrow or Kendal area.

The website immediately strikes me as being a bit 'unprofessional' and some of the mixed exhibits sound strange. I think the planning of the zoo expansion has also been badly thought out (witness the debacle over the car park which was expanded without planning permission, igniting a long-running battle with the local council which Mr Gill finally won last week).

However there certainly appears to be a commitment to conservation. I think I'm right in saying Mr Gill is the EEP studbook holder for several of his marsupial species, and the tiger projects they are funding in Sumatra are very commendable. I would be interested to see the accounts - I bet they plough a lot more money into in-situ conservation than some of the more 'respected' zoos (but then again it always helps if your owner is a multi-millionaire to begin with!)

06-10-2007

jst go read a forum about the zoo he started here in his native australia, and u will form opinions very quickly- mareeba wild animal park

06-10-2007

the photo on the website of the hippo with mandrills was certainly an interesting one, and he obviously has a lot of macropods which is good

06-10-2007

Zooboy,

I know the story, but what is actually the latest on the inquiry into the Mareeba debacle? Has it been formalised? Is someone or are multiple individuals held accountable for what went wrong?

06-10-2007

South Lakes remains one of the few large zoos in the UK that is not a member of BIAZA. It is a member of EAZA though.

06-10-2007

They used to be a BIAZA member but i think they left under a bit of a cloud around the time the rhino got out and had to be shot the main road,they re-applied to join in 2005 or2006 and were turned down.The park has some very good ideas and the animals are in very good condition but they seem to have more than their fair share of problems.I have meet and spoken to David Gill a few times and have always found him to be very talkative person who has very strong opinion of whats right and wrong,within the zoo world.

06-10-2007

3 big hippos...7 hippos total (5 pigmies and 3 commons)

Lol, as Zoo Boy says below, 5+3 actually does equal 8. I should have noticed that too!

06-10-2007

3 big hippos actually equals 8 lol my bad!

06-10-2007

which zoos could do with them most?

06-10-2007

Like someone trying to murder the owner....

Does anyone know yet if that was a simple 'breakin' or did the perpetrator have other agenda?

06-10-2007

Does South Lakes have a masterplanning? What is it destined to house in future? Which new species? Does the zoo have more park exhibits or is it more biotope range? How are the enclosures sited in the landscape?

07-10-2007

I went to south lakes a year or two back, while yes it is a very different zoo experince i would not class it has one of the UK's bigs zoo's. if you ask me it feels very much like he went to Ikea and bought a flat pack zoo and put it together badly!

07-10-2007

Many people wish he'd gone to that much trouble with his failed attempt in Queensland! Much more would have been better of course. Still, he's as far away from here as can be now, that's the main thing