I may be wrong on this, but I believe part of the reason is because the adult flamingo pool is not netted, so chicks are hand-reared and moved on to other collections so that pinioning is not necessary?
The species is alas a rare migrant here! I would still prefer a netting over ..., I guess it would be mandatory in a few years anyway.
A search of Chester Zoo on www.zootierliste.de yielded 2 new & very unique mammal species! 1. Grandidier’s Vontsira or Grandidier’s Mongoose (Galidictis grandidieri) !! 2. white-tailed tree rat or White-tailed antsangy (Brachytarsomys albicauda) both behind the scenes as of August 2018. Didn't say how many of either.
This has already been discussed in the more informal Chester thread. Chester Zoo - Chester Zoo Discussion, Speculation & Questions Q3 2018
The issue would be that flamingos live for half a century and more, so they're not going to replace their pinioned breeding flock any time soon.
Netting would keep out the gulls and would enable the zoo to keep small waders with the flamingos, I wish they would do it.
You're imagining a Bristol-type scenario. I don't know how successful the Bristol exhibit is, in terms of breeding Redshank and the like. Flamingos aren't particularly careful where they put their big feet. But yes, they could add some waterfowl too. However, I have an idea the long term plan might be to phase out the current flamingo setup, and keep a flock of Greaters on the already netted-over waterfowl lake, with an African theme.
The flamingo enclosure next to the penguins was netted for a while, several years ago. I don't know why the net was removed, but it could be replaced if the flamingos were to remain there in the long term. I don't think it would be possible to net the other enclosure without severely pruning all the trees on the lemur island.
The young male Sumatran orangutan Tripa, born at Chester Zoo in October 2012, has been put to sleep after his condition and quality of life deteriorated as a result of a developmental condition he'd had since birth. More information included in the link below: Chester Zoo | Sumatran orangutan announcement
Poor little guy. I think i'll watch the episode of SLOTZ that gave use hope for him The Secret Life of the Zoo - On Demand - All 4
Chester's website has just announced that the elephant cow Sithami collapsed and died suddenly at noon today. She was 20. It seems that the cause of her death is not known yet, so there will be a post mortem examination. The zoo hopes that the herd will look after her calf Aayu, who is about 20 months old.
What awful news! Hopefully Aayu will be taken care of and the cause of such an out of the blue passing away will be discovered.
Absolutely devastated, as everyone is, to read about Sithami. My thoughts go out to the elephant keepers and everyone at Chester for this devastating loss. This herd just don`t get much luck.
