I would most like to see the return of jaguars to the collection. The black male was beautiful. Does anyone know why they chose to stop holding this species and where the animals went to?
The jags all went to Chester's Spirit of the Jaguar exhibit. The decision to send away the jaguars wasn't an easy one, but there were a number of factors which were mostly financial, they couldn't afford to get a new exhibit in time for one that was quickly becoming unsuitable as it aged, and I believe Jaguar Cars who sponsored Marwell's jaguars pulled out, leaving little finance left.
There are certainly plenty of species to choose from. During its lifetime Marwell has probably exhibited a far greater turnover of species than any other ZooPark of equivalent size and age in the UK. I'm not really sure why that should be although the shift of policy to keeping more African Antelope would certainly have been responsible for some of the changes. But many others aren't related to that.
one of the key things with Marwell (certinly in the Early days) was that they would aquire a rare species (for example wisent) that is also rare in zoos, they would exhibit them until they had segnificent (soz cant spell) breeding results and for them to 'stock up' in Zoos then they would move them on and 'replace' them with another rare species. for example the Wisent were replaced by Sitatunga which still recide in the same encloure to this day
It would be the Jaguars and the Black Rhinos for me (I know Marwell has its White Rhinos, but still...). As for the domestic animals...I do commend Marwell for the brave decision to phase out its domestic animals though. There was a time when I thought it was OK for zoos to have a little children's farm or pets' corner filled with rabbits and guinea-pigs and goats, but I've done a complete U-turn now. To have domestic animals in a zoo only fosters the idea, still prevalent in many people's minds, that the zoo is there only as a form of children's entertainment. Zoos need to be taken more seriously than this. There is already a legion of city farms/farm parks/petting farms around the country where children can meet, stroke and even occasionally handle domestic animals. Let them keep goats, ponies, and all the rest, and let zoos concentrate on non-domestic animals.
Whilst it is true that Marwell does appear to have had a fairly hefty turnover of species over the years, the turnover is probably no greater than most zoos. It must be remembered that Marwell Zoo, as I still prefer to call it, opened in 1972, and thus all the animal comings and goings are spread over a timescale of nearly forty years. There are presently 20 species at the zoo which were founder members of the collection back in 1972 (although in a few cases the zoo went out of a species only to acquire a fresh group some years later). Those species in the collection now that were also present in 1972 are: (list correct as to January 2010) Bennett's Wallaby Cheetah Amur Tiger Chapman's Zebra Grevy's Zebra Hartmann's Mountain Zebra Przewalski's Wild Horse Brazilian Tapir (zoo went out of this species in 1997, but species reacquired in 2009) Giraffe Nyala Common Waterbuck Scimitar-horned Oryx Black Wildebeest (White-tailed Gnu) (zoo went out of species in 1979, reacquired 2009) Ostrich Greater Rhea Emu (zoo went out of species in 1984, reacquired 2006) Greater Flamingo (zoo went out of species in 2003, reacquired 2006) Greylag Goose Demoiselle Crane (zoo went out of species in 1984, reacquired 2001) Sarus Crane
I dont want to sidetrack this thread but I couldnt help but see this and completley disagree. I see the point of zoos, in addition to the captive breeding of endangered species, is to harbour a sense of excitement, to inspire and entrance all generations (particularly the young), thus leading to a repsect for wildlife and feeling of responsibility. Domestic animals allow this in their physical intimacy, entertaining and inspiring children, ultimatley leaving them with happy memories. Zoos are a form of entertainment and so long this is in conjunction with species conservation then there is nothing wrong in that. Rant over back to Marwell
they've never had African Lions. They had Asians which were impure- so admittedly with some African blood...
