Southern Bald Ibis (Geronticus calvus) at Blackbrook Zoo - February 24th 20

Strange looking bird and indeed very rare. Do you know howmany are kept at Blackbrook ?
I guess these were bred by Walsrode ( ? ).

Just like the Black-necked Cranes and Asian Openbilled Storks, Blackbrook has absolutely nothing to indicate just how special these birds are. Why go to the trouble of displaying such rarities if you don't tell the public what they're looking at?

I think the general public wouldn't really care or even take any notice, so not much point wasting too much money on signs to tell them perhaps?

With all due respect, on that basis why bother having anything apart from ABC animals? Blackbrook simply has to get serious about telling its public just how special some of its stock is. And if you give animals enough publicity, they can glean a following. Thirty years ago Meerkats were just another small brown animal in a handful of zoos.

I'm not suggesting that Asian Openbills are likely to be fronting an insurance quote search engine any time soon, but that's still no excuse for Blackbrook's lack of labelling.

I would simply state captive breeding as a possible reason, likewise there will be other reasons - zoos can keep a species few other places keep for reasons other than bragging about 'look what we've got.'

If a species is highly endangered then it becomes educational to the public if there is appropriate signage, but for species that are just rare in captivity I don't see why the public needs to know only two or three other collections keep them.

Sometimes little facts like that do arouse further interest, or pride in a local collection. It might lead members of the public to think of Blackbrook as something more special. Similarly, if enthusiasts didn't have zootierliste and similar tools, we'd appreciate signs like that.

I think a simpler attitude to take is that everything (within reason) should be labelled, even if only to give a name and distribution.

That is a point I agree on, the species should be labelled in a manner that educates the public about the species [what they are, where they come from, status in the wild plus any interesting tidbits relating to the species as a whole].

Signs about being the 'only collection in the UK to keep this species' are something that, whilst I don't mind personally, I don't think they're vital and I don't think it should evoke criticism of Blackbrook that they don't advertise they're the only UK collection with southern bald ibis. No amount of Compare-the-southern-bald-ibis.com adverts will make them popular with general visitors

I often get the feeling JR is saying what he thinks other people want to hear. Perhaps I'm wrong?

The species is kept by several private breeders too. This isn't the only collection in the country with the the species, they're actually bred by a member here!