John Aspinall in with the gorillas at Howletts Wild Animal Park, 25 May 199

I know that some keepers died from being mauled by tigers, but did anyone ever perish at the hands of the great apes?

not yet.....

I realize that there are some staunch supporters of Howletts on this forum, but seeing an elderly man (sadly deceased) romping around inside a metal cage with some apes is not entirely educational. Surely more spacious and naturalistic exhibits such as the ones at Seattle, Woodland Park, Disney's Animal Kingdom and Leipzig better recreate a gorilla's natural enivonment and thus the public can become better educated in terms of habitat preservation and animal conservation. All of the ugly metal, children's slides and other toys have some merit to keep the apes occupied, but I'm still not convinced that it makes a great zoo exhibit. The Howletts style of keeping gorillas, for better or worse, is barely in evidence thoughout many zoos worldwide.

snowleopard, it is quite unfair to compare Howlett's against the other zoos that you listed.

Aspinall started his parks as a private collection which solely focussed on the animal's needs. Recently they have been opening more zoo-standard exhibits, but the ethos of the park was traditionally 'animals come first'.

Yes it may not look pleasing or educational to humans, but it's perhaps one of the best gorilla enclosures on the planet in terms of gorilla welfare.

Basically, it's a top quality enclosure, but a not very good exhibit.

Yeah, it's not about what it looks like.
I've never seen Gorillas as active and happy looking as I have in Howletts. When you see a massive group obviously enjoying themselves so much, you look past all the metal and focus on what's more important: The gorillas themselves :>

All valid points Jimmy and Ashley, and I won't dispute anything that you stated in your replies. I knew when I made my original comment that there would be an instant message defending the famous Howletts-style gorilla exhibits...haha. I have pointed out on other threads that the type of ape enclosures that are found at Howletts and Port Lympne are simply not in existence at North American zoos, and with the exception of the Columbus Zoo I cannot think of even one other collection that has their apes in a metal cage atmosphere. It could well be the fact that North American zoo fans and European zoo fans tend to experience a variety of different aspects in their respective zoos on either side of the Atlantic. I understand that when I visit a major collection on the continent where I live that I expect to see lots of greenery, trees and a naturalistic environment, and that is perhaps why it would be hard to justify a zoo like I mentioned earlier (Woodland Park, DAK, San Diego, Atlanta, Busch Gardens) opening a brand new gorilla habitat that was all metal and full of hay and toys. That might well be terrific for the inhabitants of the cage, and perhaps in some ways the old-style cages are the best thing for the gorillas, but it would simply never work for zoo visitors in North America.

The last sentence sums up the issue very nicely. We all come from different perspectives, but the largest divergence is between those who are looking at zoos from an animal management viewpoint and those who focus on zoos as public exhibition facilities. While it is possible for zoos to excel in both aspects, there is no doubt that the Aspinall gorilla enclosures are terrible exhibits, but provide fantastic homes and management spaces for the animals.

As an education professional I must disagree most strongly.
I can think of no better way to show the intelligence, tolerance and good nature of gorillas and how much we can share with them.
Of course that's an entirely different message from the one provided by the view of some unnamed apes in an attractive, but entirely unnatural environment, designed to resemble an idealised African landscape by the Disney organisation.
But we can all choose which message we prefer: or if we are wise, we can take both and try to find better ways of presenting them and to think up further ways to help people to understand gorillas.

Alan

Gotta disagree with Alan--showing caged apes playing as "pets" with their owner sends too many wrong messages. Again, the welfare of the animals is not in question--it is the "take away" perceptions of visitors watching this. How different is this from the Siegfreid and Roy Las Vegas tiger shows? Not very--it is presenting an entirely false picture of what the animals are about, wrapped in a warm and cuddly facade of inter-species "love."

I agree with gentle lemur. After all, king kong gave the gorilla's this horrible, violent image, and a human entering the cage shows they're the complete opposite. Besides, if they're in captivity then I have no problem with humans forming that type of bond by entering the enclosure. It makes it all the more interesting for the animals and the humans.
We have to remember that they're never going to actually be "wild" gorillas, so why treat them like it by keeping away from them?