I at last got to the Altina Wildlife park and found it very good for a new private zoo. The have the same feeling I do against castrating animals such as the last Kudu and phasing out species which will be very difficult to replace. *They only have 3 Eland at the moment but will be getting females in the future. At the moment they have one young male one adult bull and one castrated male. * 6 Hog deer including one Fawn and the buck. * about 10 ostraches * Over 10 Barbary sheep, one lambed the day before I was there and another had a lamb a couple of weeks old. *Himalayan Tahr * 20 Black buck Antelope which are of a diferent bloodline from most zoos as they were aquired from a private breeder. * Fallow, Red and Rusa Deer * 2 male Mongolian Wild Horses, from Dubo I think. * Water Buffalo *Camels * Bison * Two male Girafe from Monarto which are the same two I saw as young calves there about 3 years ago. * They have one male Mained wolf and have aquired a female from Europe which is being imported at the moment. All the Mained Wolves in Australia are related and other zoos are planning to phase them out. I was a week early as their Crocodiles are ariving next week. They are also planning on getting Lions in the future and have had the site inspected for its suitability. They also plan on having a python display in the future. They also have the standard Goats, Alpacas and pigs which the kids enjoyed feeding. The tour is done in a cart behind a horse and must be pre-booked. My only complaint is that you can not go at your own pace due to this fact and OH&S wont allow them to allow people to go unsupervised. I would have gone a lot slower if on my own. The horse does not like Giraffes so tries to hurry past them. I have photos which I will put up.
Thanks for the informative review...I have wanted to visit this zoo for quite a while to find out what it's like. If you don't mind me asking; what sort of condition is the place in in terms of infrastructure etc?
Pat, everything is new and most fences are 6 ft deer fence with extra wires for the Giraffe. The Mained Wolf enclosure in also new and he has two large pens. When I get the pictures up you will see. It was not easy getting good pictures through the wire, as I was on the horse drawn wagon all the tour and there was not the opportunity to get off and put the lens through the wire.
I put the photos up. The Eland were not near the fence so I did not get any of them and the Bison photo was not worth puting up. I did not take any of the new Crocodile enclosure. The property is 1,500 acres and only 500 acres are cleared. The rest is Red Gum forest along the Murrunbidgee river.
Nice review Monty! I couldn't find the cost of the tour on the park's website, and I even downloaded the two-page brochure and there was no price anywhere. It seems to me that the park has a gorgeous location, but other than the maned wolf, some ostriches and about 15 species of hoofstock it appears to be quite a ragtag collection of privately-owned animals. Having said that, the variety of hoofstock must be one of the largest in Australia. I'd like to visit one day, but the idea of not being allowed to walk around by oneself is terrible for hardcore zoo fans.
They plan on getting more animals and breeding groups when they can. Our guide even pointed out the dam she thinks would be the ideal location for Hippos. They have gone to the trouble of importing a female Mained Wolf so I think they may even import more species if and when they can. They have huge areas for expansion and are only limited by money and availability of animals. I booked and paid on the phone with visa, I think it was $62 for myself and two children so it must be about $30 for adults and $16 for kids.
Does Altina WP have access to a reasonable visitor base? It sounds like they have quite grand plans, for a small collection. I take it that Victoria's regulations on exotic keeping is a bit easier than some other states, judging from the fact there is a number of small private collections. Would I be correct in suggesting that QLD is the most difficult?
There are no large population centres nearby so I dont know what sort of attendances they get. It is in NSW and school holidays are on so they have enough people to do tours daily at the moment. They have a zoo lisence and have been inspected as a suitable site for lions so I think they would be able to keep any animals they can get in Australia.
Sorry for getting my geography incorrect. For some reason I thought it was south of the Murray River... Strange location then. It would be interesting to have some idea of visitor numbers.
It seems that it isn't set up for large numbers of visitors nor for just dropping in on a whim or after seeing that it exists so maybe they don't really need visitors financially?
It only goes past them. It would be good if they did have a large paddock with the safer smaller species such as Tahr, Barbry sheep and deer so it went throught the paddock. The horse hates Girrafe and did not even want to stop beside them.
