What will 2012 bring?

23-12-2011

Hopes for 2012, London,to continue the good work and hopefully raise sufficient funds to build their next new major exhibit for the tigers, two minor things, more pay boxes open at peek times so intending visitors do not have to queue for unacceptable lengths of time,also at the gift shop, could they please stop this irritating charge for a bag when people have been good enough to patronise the zoo and make purchases at the gift shop.Whipsnade, I look forward to seeing the baby elephants grow up, hopefully a vaccine will be developed to prevent in future premature deaths from that dreadful and heartbreaking herpes virus.Edinburgh, I would sincerely like the giant panda exhibit to be a success, financially and otherwise, hopefully money raised from this could go towards better accommodation for sea lions and some of the cats, perhaps enclosures of the same standard as what they have for their chimps and penguins, please no more of this ridiculous breed to cull policy and no more attempts to put on shows watching an animal being cut up, the public do want it and do not accept it. Blackpool, I think the time has now come for Blackpool to consider the future of their elephants. I am not saying that they are living in bad conditions, but are not comparable with the likes of Chester, Twycross and Whipsnade.Either improve facilities for the elephants or if this not possible or practical then perhaps it is time to consider them to be re homed, it would be a loss to the zoo, of coarse, to no longer have elephants, however, other major collections have stopped keeping elephants and are still here today. I would like the proposed new elephant facility at Longleat to come to fruition, perhaps the Blackpool elephants could go there to join Anne, as both Indira and Marsella are former circus elephants I am sure they would enjoy spending their retirement with Anne, reminiscing about their years in the businessTwycross, well I look forward to the day when the bulldozers move in to demolish the vacated green mile chimp houses, I hope all goes well with their integration with the other chimps housed elsewhere in the zoo, I hope the financial state of this zoo improves, they certainly have a loyal visitor number to make this possible, however could they please stop this £1 charge for babies please. As Mr. Zoo giraffe stated, hopefully the trustees will wake up before it is too late, with all respect was there any need to state the obvious!, which reminds me did you enquire any further about an M.B.E. for Miss Evans?, that would be a great thing to happen at this zoo next year!

23-12-2011

What babies have Twycross charged the public to see? It was South Lakes that had the charge/donation to see the white rhino calf, is this what you're thinking of or have I missed anything?

Also, will have to disagree about the Edinburgh 'show.' There was a lot of controversy indeed, and probably not a good time in Edinburgh's history to try it with everything that happened last year, but I think it would be worth another try. If the animal needs the autopsy [all zoo animals do] then why not allow people interested in biology/vetinary science to watch so that they can learn about the process? I imagine it would be highly educational. There is however the problem of people that just want to go in for a morbid look at something being cut up.

Would the idea of a public autopsy sit a little more comfortable with you if Edinburgh weren't making money from it, or if it was only open to people with a genuine interest in the biology side? I think there was no problem with a charge personally, if people had not boycotted it then maybe money raised could go towards better accomodation for the sea lions or big cats?

23-12-2011

Whilst it would be nice to see the Jags together, they are both probably a bit past it in terms of breeding , Pele was very prolific at Marwell of course but is now an old cat , and Sophia was not in the best physical shape I thought.

23-12-2011

Yes you are missing something as Twycross brought in a charge of £1 for human babies to enter the zoo this year,so that they could bring in a few more pennys to the zoo!

23-12-2011

In 2012, collection-wise - It would be nice IF; South Lakes stopped winging about the council and everything else , if Eagle Heights decided exactly what they are doing and stopped being so unprofessional , they need to knuckle down or pack it in completely.
Let`s hope Edinburgh Zoo has a better year after all the uncertainty of the last 12 months , it would be wonderful to see the potential new Polar Bear pairing at Highland , and with it - the prospect of the first Polar Bear cubs in the UK for many years is an exciting one! It would also be good for another collection to take on the challenge of producing another good Polar Bear exhibit in the UK , it will be needed for sure , forget the antis and plow some decent money into it , if others can do it overseas then why not here!? Polar Bears WILL become seriously endangered , so zoos need to act now and prepare for that likely-hood.
Let`s hope that no more smaller collections are lost - particularly with regard to the bird gardens that are left - though this may be wishful thinking if current economic trends continue of course?
The best of luck to Blackbrook in their fight for survival and Galloway too - I hate to see any zoo close, (even the slightly poorer ones can be put right with enough support). Marwell need to think, very carefully. It would be good to see Dudley Zoo actually move forward , I love the place but it is such a shame to watch it simply stagnate.
London Zoo need a dose good luck, and better publicity in 2012.
I would like to see the King Cobra Sanctuary and Crocodiles of the World go from strength to strength and have a damn good year! RSCC to get themselves sorted out - it is such a choice collection - it is crying out for a good site and more investment!
Species-wise ; I would like to see more- Bears , Caprine species , small mammals , birds and more diversification , less Meerkats and Lemurs (of the same species over and over again) - they are nice, but really, we dont` need to see them everywhere surely.!!

23-12-2011

I can categorically state the post-mortem did take place as I know of people who attended. I didn't reply about the future of the second litter of red river hogs because I don't know anything about it or the commercial sponsorship of the pandas. All zoos make money in many different ways and considering that the majority of those who attended the post-mortem (which is not a show just like the lectures given by the many scientists at the series of Living Links lectures were not shows) were veterinary students who felt the information was valuable to them then I find it sad a qualified vet thinks this is disgusting. I would easily prefer them to make a profit from this than a what I call a show - bicycling parrots or asking people to pay for a photo posing with an animal.

I think your attitude to the Javan Rhinos post leaves a lot to be desired when you expect to be able to state your opinion as though it's fact but belittle someone elses opinion so easily. As I stated before in response to someone else posting again about Edinburghs post-mortem I think the best thing to look forward to in 2012 is looking forward itself.

23-12-2011

My apologies, I'd completely forgot that Twycross had brought that policy in .

@TARZAN: I won't say too much more on the matter of the autopsy, but if an animal has died naturally and needs an autopsy, then what is so disgusting about giving intrested parties an option to watch it and at the same time LEARN more about it, ie. the processes, what sort of things are looked in to during the examination and how things are diagnosed post mortem etc.

I agree with your sentiment that if Edinburgh are trying to just make money off a bit of morbidness from the general public then yes, it is disgusting. However, I don't personally see the problem with giving the chance for GENUINELY interested parties [who may want to/are pursing a career in the field] to watch and learn from it. You have your opinion, I have mine, I have no problem with that. But my personal opinion is that if the right people attend these events then they could be highly educational and mutually beneficial.

23-12-2011

Very well, let's agree to disagree on the autopsy show! best wishes to you for Christmas and New Year,and plenty of enjoyable zoo visiting next year.

23-12-2011

I'm happy with that . Best wishes to you over the festive period and beyond, and happy zoo visiting 2012 .

Back to the point of this topic [kind of, it's more what it will bring for me that any particular zoo], I'm looking forward to the possibility of doing my first German trip, with Duisburg, Cologne, Wuppertal and Krefeld on the cards [maybe more].

Following that will be a trip up to Edinburgh to see the pandas and a great deal more that I missed first time. Will also likely get another trip or two done depending on finances and how much time we would have available. Also a good deal more day visits to some more UK collections, and of course return visits to zoos I've already been to [Cotswolds, Chester, Bristol, London, Whipsnade etc]

Also got some pretty interesting lizards that will be brought home soon all being well. I won't say too much cause I don't wanna jinx anything, but a couple know about them and it's hardly hidden very well in certain parts of the internet. I don't know exactly how common they are in private hands, but zootierliste only shows two European collections that house the species [both in Germany].

Zoo-wise, I'm looking forward to seeing plans for 'Islands' at Chester when they're submitted to the council. Other than that, I can't think of anything off the top of my head, just be interesting to see what the zoo world has to throw at us this year

23-12-2011

Same charge, but a different type of baby!!

23-12-2011

The last plan I heard was for the remaining Green Mile Chimps(some are still there) to move into the older Gorilla House(near Elephants) alongside the older Gorilla pair. I don't know if that is still the current plan, if any progress has been made with integrating these chimps prior to their move, or if that plan has been changed at all.

23-12-2011

2012 for me will bring my first annual pass to Chester (I think Father Christmas is looking after it for a few more days). It will be interesting for me as I have never got to grips with the zoo like I know many people have and this is probably because I have not been going nearly as often as I should to appreciate it - if that makes sense What with all the other places you can visit with the ticket, it's a good choice.

For my most frequented place of all by far being Knowsley, I am looking forward to see Warthogs on display in the new year their and also get a glimpse of the 3 new Lion cubs when they are allowed out.