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Paradoxurus

Binturong at Southport Zoo, 2001

Binturong at Southport Zoo, 2001
Paradoxurus, 2 Feb 2009
    • Nanook
      It always amazed me that Southport held the record for breeding Binturong in the U.K. and held the largest "group" of Binturong aswell in an extremely poor enclosure! Z.
    • Nanook
      Actually , the same could be said for their Mandrills!! (in their original enclosure) too. Z.
    • Baldur
      Out of curiosity: why do you end both (and perhaps all, haven't checked) your posts with "Z."?
    • Animal
      When and why was this park closed?
    • sooty mangabey
      There lies a very long tale!

      It was always a fairly anachronistic place, and, by modern standards, left a lot to be desired, even if there was a collection that was very interesting, and the zoo's owner, Doug Petrie, was the sort of fellow who thought nothing of engaging with animals.

      Tucked into the corner of a pleasure park, and with very little space, it was a zoo that inevitably attracted a fair degree of criticism, much of it probably deserved. But it had weathered a lot of that criticism, and had made fairly substantial improvements (even if it still wasn't exactly the San Diego Wild Animal Park). However, in 2004, the local council took advantage of a clause in the zoo's lease to close the place down, and allow its acreage to be subsumed by the adjacent funfair ironically, that funfair did not last much longer. I believe the zoo site is now part of a paintball extravaganza.

      While I don't think the British zoo scene lost one of its greats in Southport's closing, there is something rather sour about how it happened, and the perception that the animal rights folks had 'won'.

      I know one of its former senior keepers very well; he is an outstanding animal man, and a superb communicator. While he is the first to admit tot he zoo's shortcomings, he is also adamant that it had many strengths. I trust his opinion!
      TNT likes this.
    • Animal
      Thank you fro this very intersting answer :)
    • Waddi
      Maybe not one of greats in regard to the enclosures but based on the breeding record and the animal collection then in my opinion it was definately one of the greats.

      Would have been great as a non-public breeding centre, obviously where to get the funding without opening to the public is a problem. Plus from what I could tell, Doug was quite keen on displaying animals for education purposes.

      Does anybody now what animals they privately keep off show at their new establishment?
    • Pertinax
      Isn't it mainly a Falconry Centre they took over?

      The only species I am pretty certain they don't have now is Mandrills as they were dispersed among other collections(Heythrop and Trotters principally).

      I don't want to detract from their breeding success with Mandrills which was highly creditable but I think the original pair were obtained almost accidentally from an animal dealer, rather than being deliberately focused on, but how many other collections contain species obtained that way?
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  • Category:
    Southport Zoo (Closed)
    Uploaded By:
    Paradoxurus
    Date:
    2 Feb 2009
    View Count:
    3,587
    Comment Count:
    8

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