I think the netted enclosure had some storks in it . Ebony the leopard at Exmoor is a small specimen but rather feisty and not friendly towards people . I think the enclosure would have had to be modified for the arrival of Zoysa as it was set up to house one animal . As well as being in an attractive setting I found the staff at Exmoor to be very friendly and happy to spend time talking to a Zoo Enthusiast .
Thanks for that Bele. It could be an even tricker pairing with Zoysa and Ebony, Zoysa deffinately being aggresive. It will one that will have to be taken rather slowly.
I visited Linton last year,I know you think Linton is a very good zoo for Big Cats but I don`t I think all the enclosure are just about acceptable and thats it about all you can say.
Linton is good for its cats, Its not the best and its not the worse. The Zoo is going through a huge renovation project at the moment with most of the poorer enclosures being knocked down or being redeveloped. With the Zoo having elder individuals in particular the Tigers and Leopards is best to wait for them to have the rest of their lives before redeveloping the enclosures and causing them un-needed stress. Sorry if I have been pushy as I have no intention to be about this. Its just that redeveloping enclosures can be very expensive and things are being done as quickly as they can regarding how small the zoo is money is alot harder to find. A New Leopard Enclosure is being planned aswell as the older Lion Enclosure being extended soon. And Im sure there are loads of new Renovations in the pipeline so we have to be patient. They are doing what they can.
The problem is the re-developments that you are talking about were been mentioned on my first visit over 10 years ago,and in all that time the only change I have seen to the zoo is the new Lion enclosure,to which I would ask the question if you already have one good Lion enclosure why do you need a second,when you could have spent the money on something which was needed alot more like a new Snow Leopard enclosure.Yes I know the place is only a small zoo but I would say if they needed to re-build so many of the Cat enclosures that the zoo may well be trying to keep to many species of Big Cats,and they may be better off down sizing the collection,which free up more money to improve the rest of the zoo.
They have down-sized the Cat Collection pretty reasonably. They no longer have the Caracals,Lynx and now no Black Leopards.The only addition is the new lion enclosure. The New Lion Enclosure I also think is very good aswell with large mounds,rocks and logs. Dont forget in the last 10 years the Zoo has built the Rare Lemur Breeding Centre - Which in my view is excellent aswell some smaller less-seen enclosures such as a new Love-Bird aviary aswell as the new Lion Enclosure all of which cost alot of money. The Zoo is doing alot of redevelopments such as: Demolishing the old Crowned-Lemur Enclosure Renovating old Lemur/Bird Enclosures Demolishing the old Leopard Enclosure - With a new one being built soon. Extending some of the Parrot Aviarys So credit where credits due they are doing quite alot of work at the moment - And walking around the Zoo it is very obvious that serious work is taking place and these are only the obvious ones. Every Zoo has its faults and Linton has them and they are dealing with them the best they can not everything can be done as quickly as some of the other Zoo's on this forum. I'm afraid theres nothing more I can say on the issue so I think we should stop here.
Agreed we will leave it there but I`m still not convinced by the place,many of the developments you mentioned could have been done for well under 10 grand,Chesters Cheetah enclosure did so you can do good enclosures on the cheap well!!!The Rare Lemur Breeding Centre was never completed how it was intended to be!!!
Well it was certainly under 100 grand by some margin,my case been you don`t need to spend large sums to build good enclosures like the Cheetahs,Okapis and the extension of Komodo Dragons that is now been converted for the Iguanas and the new Otter and Babirusa enclosure.
I was going to say that under £10,000 seems a bit too cheap, what with the viewing and that lol. That makes more sense, and I agree.
