There still are articles about this project online. One of them is "The Tourism News", were is states Seaworld wants to open a African exhibition in 2015 with Hippos, Crocodiles and Queenslands first Gorillas. It also states Australia zoo is another Queensland zoo showing interest in having Gorillas, A quick online search can fine this!
There’s no fear of that. Wellington Zoo’s Sumatran tiger introduction is going at a faster pace than these imports.
The entire Mareeba/Shambala sell off is probably not the best example of in-country managing disbandment of an animal collection by the zoo federation. They obviously should have stepped in and stamped their authority over it. That way a good portion of the animals would have remained in Australia or New Zealand and their transfer / whereabouts guaranteed and monitored. It has turned out to be a complete shambles with people not even knowing what happened to scimitars .... and the like. BTW: A) Imagine: the administrators would have had to deal with the very same departments dealing with exports as well as imports, right? B) The hippos were sold onto the Taman Safari group.
This is the latest Import Listing: List of Specimens Taken to be Suitable for Live Import (29/11/2001)
The hippos were sold And move to Indonesia in 2013. It is now 2021. There are no regulations preventing export of hippos from Australia- but the import of Hippos is not currently allowed. There is now talk of breeding female hippos back to their sire just to keep the species going in the region. I’m sure that would horrify your average zoo goer. There were never Scimitar Horned Oryx in Cairns.
I am aware re export in 2013. I probably was the originator of the original postings that Taman Safari was the final destination as I am versed in Bahasa Indonesia and can both converse and read the language fairly well. I was citing at the top of my memory that scimitars ran wild or on a farm following onto Mareeba, but I might have mixed up 2 different properties involving wildlife. Other Australian posters might nay / or yay your or mine (re-)collection.
Tipperary dispersed many of it’s animals to Cairns Wildlife Safari in 2004 including Common and Pygmy hippopotami and African lions. Most of these were then sent on to Indonesia. According to this article, 300 Scimitar-horned oryx were sold to the Mary River Station in 2004: No cookies | NT News Their antelope and Banteng presumably came from Tipperary as well.
While I’m opposed to inbreeding if there’s an alternative; if there’s not, I’d rather have the species sustained in the region. We already do it with African lions and Sumatran tigers (both of which can be easily imported); and of course our highly inbred giraffe population. At Dubbo, breeding Mana with his seven year old daughter, Kibibi, really seems like the best course of action given she’s of prime reproductive age and a less related mate won’t be born for many years.
I was told at the time that the Oryx were not allowed to be flown from the NT to Mareeba because the then state government had fears that if the aircraft had crashed these antelope could become feral, It sounds a bit ridiculous!.But knowing the State government at that time it would be no surprise if this was correct.
Dubbo’s Hippopotami Kani turned a year old last week and is approaching weaning age: Zoo Chat | First birthday for hippo calf Kani According to the article, their hippos are kept in two pods: 1.0 Mana (31/03/1996) Ollie x Suzie 0.1 Nile (15/05/1999) Ollie x Suzie 0.1 Cuddles (00/09/2002) Fonzie x Solucky 0.1 Kibibi (11/09/2014) Mana x Cuddles 0.1 Kendi (25/05/2017) Mana x Cuddles 1.0 Kani (15/04/2020) Mana x Cuddles Kani is one of two bulls in the region, so either a transfer to Werribee; or to Monarto to found a new pod (also with Werribee females), seem likely in the next two or three years.
1.0 Mana the Common Hippopotamus has died at Taronga Western Plains Zoo. He was the only breeding male in the Australasian region. His son is therefore the last male in Australia and all future breeding will rely on him. The national population now stands at 10 (1.9) individuals placing hippos in an increasingly dire situation without future importation: Log into Facebook | Facebook
I love your optimism @Kifaru Bwana . But the chances of action are about 99% to 1% No. Without dragging up to much of what has been mentioned before what a different story it may of been if the Mareeba Hippos/River and Pygmys were snapped up by the ZAA instead of being exported, How short sighted was that . Dont hold your breath waiting on our government to complete the IRA for Hippos because you are going to be disappointed. As Corp Frazer of Dads Army once said. We Doomed.
What happens next depends on whether the zoos can share the toys in the sandbox. For the sake of the population (genetics and the reproductive health of all females), Kani should be bred with the Werribee females ASAP - either at Werribee; or as the founders of a new pod at Monarto. The Werribee cows are getting on in their years; as opposed to the young daughters of Mana and Cuddles (born 2014 and 2017) and need to breed sooner rather than later. They’re related to Kani, but obviously more distantly than his mother and sisters at Dubbo. And yes, if Kani dies it’s game over. We all know these imports will never happen.
This situation has been on the cards for years. I believe many thought that importation would of been allowed before it got to this stage. Who would of thought the Mareeba Hippos would of been lost to being exported since importation is not allowed. It did not need someone that was 12 inches across the forehead to work out what was happening, If it was not for Seaworld obtaining one of the cows things would have been even worse than they are now. What were the ZAA doing?, Napping perhaps . Now things drag on, Will we ever see more imported? or is this the end of the road for Hippos within the region!
Pygmy hippopotamus birth at Taronga Zoo: A female Pygmy hippopotamus calf was born November 22 at Taronga Zoo to Fergus and Kambiri. The birth of this calf takes the regional population to 3.3 Pygmy hippos: Taronga Zoo welcomes pygmy hippo calf
Sheesh. Taronga has really been pumping out rare ungulate babies in the last month! First a GOHR calf at Dubbo and now a pygmy hippo calf, both of which have very very small population sizes in the region. Good on them!
It’ll be interesting to see what the future holds for this calf. Assuming imports are still no closer, it seems common sense to pair the two daughters of Kambiri and Fergus with the males at Adelaide and Melbourne. It’d be better to have a population of inbred hippos than no hippos, which could soon become a reality. Yes we have three males and three females; but a few years ago we had three male Common hippopotami - after two unexpected deaths, we now have a single male calf.
