I thought 2022 was going to be a quiet year for Dudley Zoo and Castle (DZC), but today the zoo has revealed their 12-month plan for their 85th anniversary and it sounds fantastic... The brand-new outdoor orangutan enclosure is expected to be completed by Easter. After that construction work will then start on the giraffe house and paddock. The unused land at the rear of the house will be transformed into a second paddock and the two outdoor areas will be linked via the current house, which will be repurposed to allow the giraffes full access to the space. A new visitor walkway and viewing area will be created along the outside of the building. The zoo hope to have this ready by summer. Later in the year, attention will turn to the tiger enclosure. The outdoor area will be extended to include a new pool and stream, as well as an additional climbing frame and platforms. A new tiger house will also be constructed and will include visitor viewing and off-show dens. Meanwhile, the zoo plans to create a new picnic area opposite the sloth enclosure with a view into the off-show Big Ben Cavern. The zoo is also hoping to secure funding to build a Changing Places adult complex care facility near the lorikeet walkthrough. They'll be carrying on with developing plans to restore four of the listed Tecton structures and will continue to work alongside Dudley Council to form a maintenance plan for the castle. Finally, the article states the zoo will also be welcoming a few new animals too, and to watch this space. You know what, I think I will. Crikey! 2022 plans! – Dudley Zoo and Castle
This is AMAZING! I can't describe how happy I am that the giraffe are getting an upgrade. It certainly doesn't look like they're going anywhere anytime soon. The extended tiger enclosure is also something that I've been really looking forward to and I can't wait to see how it turns out. It looks like 2022 is going to be a brilliant year for Dudley zoo.
Its definitely been a long time coming on the Giraffe expansion. Interesting no mention of the bears as of yet. Have I missed something on this front?
I think that after the financial problems that the pandemic has caused, the zoo have decided to prioritise their existing species before investing lots of money on a new enclosure for bears. I still think it's likely that the zoo will have bears in the future but not for a couple of years yet.
Makes sense really. Looking forward to the day that bears are at Dudley again. Seems very much the in thing for a lot of zoos at the moment with more and more zoos bringing bears in
Summary of Dudley Zoo and Castle in 2021 Having only just finished recovering from writing the last one, the time has come again to round up all the noteworthy activity at Dudley Zoo and Castle over the previous 12 months, before we boldly continue into 2022. Upgraded, refurbished, new and future exhibits - New additional orangutan outdoor enclosure. On the 6th of April the zoo announced that work had begun on the long-awaited new outdoor orangutan enclosure. At this very early stage the gardening team had just finished clearing the enclosure in preparation for building work to proceed. The announcement also confirmed that the revised enclosure plans, costing £500,000, which would see the area enclosed with a mesh and glass fence topped with a semi-circular overhang, were indeed going ahead. Even though in 2020, despite being forced to delay other projects, the zoo had already confirmed they would be ploughing ahead with the orang project, confirmation that work had started was still fantastic news, particularly after the rollercoaster of uncertainty experienced over the preceding 12 months. In addition, the article stated that once this new outdoor exhibit is completed, the zoo will then look at securing funds to “redevelop and combine” the original orangutan outdoor areas. The zoo released an update on the project in July and confirmed that work was progressing well. All the old African wild dog enclosure fencing had been dismantled (with the intention of it either being recycled, repurposed around the site, or scrapped for cash to plough back into the project), and 45 telegraph poles had been erected around the edge of the paddock to form the supports for the new perimeter fence (on which work had already begun). It was also revealed how the new enclosure would be furnished; a new 7-metre high, 40-metre-long timber climbing frame that would include ropes, webbing, hammocks, and a heated shelter. As is the norm for Dudley Zoo whenever it carries out large projects, all the groundwork was having to be overseen by an archaeologist due to the close proximity of the enclosure to the grade I listed, 11th century castle. In late July, a Zoochatter visited the zoo and uploaded some photographs to the gallery of the enclosure under construction. These showed that work on the new climbing frame had started as many of the upright supports for the structure had been cemented in place. In early October, an article announcing the arrival of a new male Bornean orangutan to the zoo mentioned that work on the new outdoor enclosure was expected to be completed by the Spring of 2022 and that renovation of Dudley's current orangutan outdoor areas is scheduled to begin in the year 2024. Personally, I think the next phase should be to convert the peccary enclosure into another new orang outdoor area, then after that convert the existing 1960s outdoor areas into larger indoor areas. After a visit in late October, a Zoochatter reported that the new orangutan enclosure appeared to be progressing well and that the perimeter fence looked almost complete. - New Southern cassowary exhibit. After a visiting Zoochatter reported in 2020 that a new exhibit for Southern cassowary was being constructed to the right of the giant anteaters, on the 8th of April 2021 the zoo released a brilliant Jurassic Park spoof video to officially introduce the new Southern cassowary exhibit to the general public. The light-hearted video felt like the perfect way of announcing the new exhibit and engaging the public on social media. The exhibit consists of 2 long paddocks side by side, which visitors view from the far end - the opposite end being the location of the housing. The paddock on the left, known as the ‘main paddock’, is slightly larger than the other and has a bit more naturalistic landscaping (rocks, grass, low planting, and a small pool). The 2 paddocks have the option of being merged via an access gate if required. Dudley Zoo is a heavily wooded site, and for this exhibit the zoo utilised this asset well, as the exhibit is surrounded by the existing dense vegetation and the original enclosure was extended forwards toward the main pathway to incorporate a large tree that creates a fantastic canopy; culminating in an exhibit that has a lush, naturalistic forest-like quality to it. The dappled light is ideal for creating cooler and warmer spots throughout both paddocks for the bird/s to lie in as needed. In front of the main paddock, a large new wooden viewing tunnel, with a corrugated metal roof, was constructed. The educational material inside the viewing tunnel is a continuation of the Jurassic Park/dinosaur theming seen on the outside, in that it focusses on the evolutionary link between birds and dinosaurs; cassowaries being the best bird species to visualise this comparison. A small separate window, outside the viewing tunnel for the main paddock, provides visitors with a view into the secondary paddock. Landscaping, planting, theming, viewing, education, and promotion all went up a level for this exhibit. Apart from a few blips regarding small size and/or viewing issues with some of the zoo’s smaller new enclosures (black lemurs, macaws), over the past few years the overall quality of new enclosures and refurbishments at the zoo has continued to steadily rise. The animal collection has become a lot more interesting over recent years too, e.g. giant anteater, sloths, binturongs, six-banded armadillos, Arctic foxes, Asian palm civet, and now cassowary. Of course the addition of cassowary would be an improvement to any collection, but the addition of the new cassowary exhibit in what was arguably already one of the best portions of the zoo is particularly nice. The new exhibit became home to a single male Southern cassowary from Paignton Zoo. - New exhibit near chimps. Despite the fact in 2020 it was reported that a new enclosure being constructed either side of the path leading towards the main chimpanzee outdoor viewing area would be for the zoo’s black-and-white-ruffed lemurs, it did not quite turn out that way. A Zoochatter and his trendily tracksuited Zoochatter companion visited in mid-April and saw that the brand-new enclosure had become home to a solitary male Sulawesi crested macaque, who had apparently been separated from the main group and was awaiting female company. Due to this development, it therefore seems that the original plan for the enclosure to house black-and-white-ruffed lemurs, who apparently needed to be moved from the lemur walkthrough due to fights erupting, won’t come to fruition for a while, if at all. In addition, it isn’t clear what the new plan for the black-and-white-ruffed lemurs might be at the moment, although at least 4 black-and-white-ruffed lemurs did leave the zoo during 2021 so perhaps the issues have now been resolved. However, I do think this is a pity, as personally I think the new enclosure is a lot more suited to its originally intended occupants of primarily arboreal lemurs than primarily terrestrial macaques, of which Dudley already has another group in an excellent enclosure that is far superior to this one. Anyway, that aside, after the visit from the Zoochatters above, some great photos of the exterior of the new exhibit were uploaded to the gallery. These photos showed, on the right-hand side of the path, a substantial-looking wood-framed structure enclosing the outdoor space, which is roofed and sided with steel mesh and with viewing windows along its convex front edge; fairly similar to the sloth enclosure that was built in 2019 – although about half as tall. The new basic indoor housing, which includes viewing windows to its front and rear, is located on the grass bank on the left-hand side of the path and is connected to the outdoor area by an overhead tunnel. A new shallow-stepped pathway leads down from the main pathway by the bear ravine towards the house, to allow access to the rear viewing window, and joins up with the original path that leads around the outdoor section of the exhibit towards the chimpanzee outdoor viewing area. A subsequent upload of photographs, thanks to another visit in April from another Zoochatter, showed that the interior of the outdoor area consisted of extensive use of ropes strung throughout its volume. Another Zoochatter, who is much more informed on the subject than I, praised the lack of fixed climbing apparatus. At ground level, at least at the time photos were taken, a few short palm-like plants had been planted and the substrate left as bare dirt, which hopefully in the meantime has sprouted grass or been improved in some way (for example adding a substrate of bark chippings, leaves and twigs to encourage foraging, as can be seen in the zoo’s capuchin enclosure). Overall, whilst being nowhere near one of the zoo’s standout exhibits, I still consider it a decent enclosure (it’s a lot better than the black lemur exhibit for example), but one that could possibly be improved with slightly more suitable occupants. - New exhibit next to the capuchins During 2020/2021, a small new exhibit appeared to the right of the capuchin enclosure. I believe it is currently an additional enclosure for pygmy marmosets. - Refurbished snow leopard on-show indoor area The on-show section of the snow leopard indoor area was refurbished. It was also divided in two so that only the front half is now on show. Notable arrivals • 0.0.8 yellow-banded poison dart frogs from Colchester Zoo (I think they may have arrived right at the end of 2020, but I’ll include them here nonetheless). Located in the zoo's ‘farm barn’. • 1.0 five-year-old reindeer, named Kenny, from the Wildwood Trust in Kent. Joined DZC’s all-female herd as part of the breeding programme. • 1.0 ten-year-old Southern cassowary, named Frankfurt but renamed Zeus, from Paignton Zoo. • 0.1 two-year-old giant anteater, named Lyra, from Yorkshire Wildlife Park. Joined DZC’s three-year-old male named Bubbles. • 1.0 eight-year-old Nile monitor, named Hector, from Wingham Wildlife Park. • 0.0.3 juvenile scarlet ibis. Moved into new aviary next to Queen Mary restaurant alongside Puna ibis and ringed teals. • Black beauty stick insects (Peruphasma schultei). Located in the zoo's ‘farm barn’. • 2.3 White's tree frogs from Edinburgh Butterfly and Insect World. Located in the zoo's ‘farm barn’. • 1.0 thirty-three-year-old Bornean orangutan, named Djimat, from Aalborg Zoo in Denmark, on the 7th of October. Successfully introduced to the zoo's resident female orangs, Jazz (aged 29) and her daughter Sprout (aged 10), with the hope of forming a successful breeding group. • 0.1 two-year-old binturong, named Coconut, from Cotswold Wildlife Park. Joined Dudley's resident male binturong named Elliot. • 2.0 naked mole rats, named Mike and Paul, from Bristol Zoo. Joined DZC’s existing colony located in the chimpanzee indoor viewing area. Notable departures • 0.1 three-year-old Brazilian tapir, named Luna (Meena x Chico), to Yorkshire Wildlife Park. • 0.1 Bactrian camel, named Delilah, to Folly Farm Adventure Park and Zoo. • 0.1 pygmy marmoset to Shepreth Wildlife Park. • 1.0 eleven-year-old white-faced saki monkey, named Splodge, to Dartmoor Zoo. • 0.1 four-year-old binturong, named Ellie, to Colchester Zoo. Ellie originally came to DZC on 14th June 2018 from Tierpark Berlin. • 0.3 black-and-white ruffed lemurs to Hanwell Zoo, London. • 1.0 black-and-white ruffed lemur to Woburn Safari Park. • 1.0 three-year-old black lemur, named Jimmy, who was born at Dudley, to a collection in West Sussex to join a female. Notable births and hatchings • 0.1 Colombian black spider monkey. Named Ivy. • 1.0 Bactrian camel. Named Valentino (born on 14th Feb). • 0.0.1 prehensile-tailed skink. Named Pippin. • 1.0 ring-tailed lemur. Named Hobi. • 0.0.8 bats (unknown whether Seba’s bats or Egyptian fruit bats or both). • 2.1 Barbary sheep. • 1.0. yellow-breasted capuchin. Named ‘H’. • 0.0.1 pygmy marmoset. • 0.0.1 emerald dove. • 0.0.1 emperor tamarin. Named Marmite. • 1.1 geladas. Male named Kaleb. Female named Zala. Both born to different mothers on the same day (15th Oct.). • 0.1 gelada. Named Mekelle. Notable deaths • 0.1 pygmy marmoset, named Pam. The zoo’s breeding female who, after arriving at DZC from Dublin Zoo in 2013, had produced a total of 28 offspring with a male called Hendrix. (Please note there may well have been many more arrivals, departures, deaths, births & hatchings during 2021 than those that were announced by the zoo in the lists above). Other things of note • Three of the eldest juvenile geladas, males Billie (aged 6), Ambo (aged 6) and Gimbi (aged 4), from the breeding group moved into the large hillside enclosure to the left of the spider monkey enclosure to form a bachelor group. The reason for the move was because keepers observed them forming their own bachelor group within the family group, so it was a natural move for them. The zoo previously held a bachelor gelada group in this enclosure from 2013 to 2019. • One of the zoo's Humboldt penguins, named Pingu, turned 30-years-old. Pingu is the 4th oldest Humboldt penguin in the UK and one of the founding members of Dudley’s current Humboldt penguin colony. Dudley has quite the record of animals who have lived to good ages. • The zoo became the international studbook holder for black lemurs, having already been the European studbook holder for the species for almost two decades. • In August, the zoo stated they could now confirm with 100% accuracy that their Humboldt penguin colony consisted of 29 males and 39 females after analysing the DNA of the youngest 21 birds to determine their sex. • A few different Zoochatters who visited during the last 12 months all commented on how smart the site was looking and that they got the impression a lot of maintenance work had taken place across the zoo during the lockdowns. • As far as I know in 2021 there were no changes to the former ibis aviary, to the left of the otters, which the zoo had previously mentioned may be demolished and replaced with a small picnic area. I also believe the bush dogs remained in their usual enclosure during 2021 despite at one stage the zoo needing to build them a new enclosure behind the old discovery centre as part of a shuffle around in order to free up space for the new orang enclosure (edit: although who knows if the bush dogs may now need to move to make way for the tiger project). • After 4 male Arctic fox siblings arrived at Dudley in October 2019 from Highland Wildlife Park, throughout 2021 a maximum of only 2 individuals were seen together at any one time by multiple visiting Zoochatters. Now this may be because two of them have passed away, two have moved to another collection or perhaps because the zoo have had to split the group into two groups of two who are time-sharing the outdoor area. Parallel to that, the Arctic fox enclosure is in fact the iconic ex-polar bear Tecton, situated in the middle of the triple Tecton enclosure complex. The enclosure used to be home to an elderly Asiatic black bear called Inca. After Inca died in the March of 2019 and the enclosure became vacant, many Zoochatters speculated on what would be the most suitable species to occupy it next. Many different species were suggested, but common themes among them were species that were either small, not particularly fast moving, animals that wouldn’t be too interested in the goings on outside the enclosure, or mostly arboreal animals. These characteristics made sense as the ex-polar bear Tecton is a fairly deep pit with opaque walls and a small floor area relative to the verticality of its climbing structures. Therefore, although a fantastic new species, when the zoo revealed that Arctic foxes, i.e. a terrestrial, highly active, fast moving, inquisitive species, would be making the enclosure their home, from the get go it did not feel like a particularly great fit (I appreciate others may feel differently). After multiple visits since then, while not a terrible enclosure, it has never felt like something to shout about either and I’ve never been entirely comfortable seeing them in there. It has also never felt like a permanent or long-term exhibit, instead more like a stopgap solution, especially as the only effort the zoo made to change the enclosure was to add a few plastic tubes and plant a few saplings (although due to it being a listed Tecton I do acknowledge that the zoo is severely limited to what they can do in there). Next door to the Arctic foxes, in the right-hand enclosure of the triple Tecton complex, is home to the zoo’s black howler monkeys. The history of black howler monkeys at the zoo is as follows: - Summer 2011. 2 female howler monkeys (3y/o Avyanna and 2y/o Alicia) join DZC from Twycross Zoo. This was the first time the zoo had ever held the species. They were housed in a small enclosure behind the Discovery Centre. - 5y/o male called Dargie arrives. - August 2012. First birth. Dargie x Avyanna. Male called Arie. - May 2013. Second birth. Dargie x Avyanna. Male called Becks. - Boxing day 2013. Third birth. Dargie x Avyanna. Male called Tyson. - September 2014. Fourth birth. Dargie x Avyanna. Male called Shelby. - September 2016. The family of six (presumably Alicia either died or left the collection at some point) move into the right-hand enclosure of the triple Tecton complex. - June 2018. Arie and Becks leave Dudley for Zoo du Bassin d’Arcachon, France. - March 2019. Tyson and Shelby leave Dudley for Jerusalem Biblical Zoo, Israel. The howler monkey enclosure, although impressive with ample space and climbing opportunities, may have worked when there were six individuals in there, four of which being active youngsters, now no longer works as well since the last two offspring, Tyson and Shelby, left the zoo in 2019, leaving just, the now slightly older, Avyanna and Dargie by themselves in a very big enclosure in which they seem to spend a lot of time curled up indoors. This means that most of the time visitors are looking into a very large, very empty exhibit. As the last birth was in 2014, it also looks like there won’t be any more offspring to affect that either. This plus the recent suspicion that the zoo may now be down to two sibling Arctic foxes has led to the zoo having two major enclosures, which are side by side, that both have problems. As they are, neither are sustainable and neither of them feel like they particularly ‘work’, by which I mean not working for the animals, not working for visitors, or both. Miscellaneous • A huge, abandoned building, called the Dudley Hippodrome, that is nothing to do with the zoo but has sat beside its entrance and loomed over its car park since 1938, had plans for its demolition agreed by councillors. Over the past few decades, the building fell into serious disrepair and became an enormous eyesore, which likely had a significant negative impact on a lot of visitors’ first impressions of the zoo. It is planned that once the site has been cleared the space will become a much more attractive £25 million modern university campus specialising in nursing and healthcare courses. • Work continued outside the zoo on the construction of a new tram station and VLRNIC (Very Light Rail National Innovation Centre). The station will be located right next to the proximal end of the zoo’s car park; a thirty second walk from the zoo’s entrance. Once finished, it is sure to increase accessibility to the zoo, therefore potentially helping to bring in many more visitors. A digital impression of the completed structure is shown below (the car park on the right in the image is in fact part of the zoo’s existing car park). Image credit: VLR: Coventry's vision for future mobility - The International Light Rail Magazine (tautonline.com) Visitor numbers Unfortunately, I have been unable to find the total number of visitors for the previous year (2020), so the graph below is unchanged from the previous summary. Tectons • In the July of 2020, the zoo was awarded a grant of £120,000 from the Getty Foundation to fund the development of renovation plans for 4 of the site's Tecton structures; the Discovery Centre (the former Moat Café), the Queen Mary Restaurant, the former Tropical Birdhouse and the former Elephant House. In order to create these plans, first a thorough and lengthy investigation process would need to be carried out. In August of 2021 the zoo gave an update. Over the past 12 months work had gone well on investigating the condition of the four structures. The investigation process had included surveys, concrete testing, paint analysis, photographic recording, design drawings and historic design analysis, referencing back to the architect’s original documents. The restoration plans were expected to take at least until the end of 2021 to complete, thereafter further funds would need to be sourced to actually do the restorations. For any zoo to have an old building on site must be a slight headache, but to have twelve 85-year-old listed Tectons, most of them enormous, that feature so prominently across the site must be a severe migraine that is experienced uniquely by those charged with the care of Dudley Zoo. Due to the Tectons being such a large and permanent fixture, the zoo does not have the option of simply abandoning them. The zoo is forced to use as many of the structures as they can in some form or another, otherwise large parts of the zoo would lie empty. The zoo must also put a considerable amount of time and effort into sourcing the huge funds required to restore and keep them maintained, fundamentally because when you run a public attraction, it has to keep looking attractive. On top of that are the strict limitations caused by the structures’ protected status, which affect not only what can be done to the Tectons themselves, but also what can be done to almost everything around them. As a result, any planning permission the zoo applies for in order to make improvements to the site takes so much longer than normal and is so much more complex and restricted than what must be experienced by the vast majority of other zoos in the UK. Therefore, any time you see any progress being made with any of the Tectons, such as the 12+ months of detailed pre-planning investigation work mentioned above, or any big developments to anything surrounding the Tectons, it should be applauded in my opinion, because an incredible amount of work has gone on behind it. • The original 1937 'wave' entrance had a new modern lighting system installed thanks to a £50,000 Town's Fund accelerator grant. The zoo said that most of the time the listed Tecton will be sympathetically illuminated in white. However, the colour of the light can be changed to mark national celebration days or special occasions etc. In summary Despite the arrival of cassowary and a new male orangutan, 2021 wasn’t the most eventful of years for DZC, although to me this is a sign of a ship being steadied, on slightly calmer waters, while the crew take stock and important improvements quietly take shape. At the time of writing this at the end of 2021, I can’t predict that 2022 won’t be similar, however what I can predict is that the opening of the new orang enclosure will be MASSIVE for them. * * Edit: Since the zoo revealed its plans it turns out there will be a lot going on in 2022. Completion of the upgraded giraffe exhibit will also be a big deal for them. However, while hopefully started, I think it's very unlikely that the tiger project will be completed during 2022. Things to look out for in 2022 • The arrival of a female pygmy marmoset to start a new breeding group. • Any announcement that one of the female orangs may be pregnant or has given birth. • Completion of the new orangutan outdoor area and the orangs moving in. • Will there be any further mention of a new giraffe house and extended paddock being in the zoo’s very far future plans? X • Will a female Southern Cassowary join the zoo to partner the zoo’s resident male? • Will there be any changes/additions to the howler monkey or Arctic fox exhibits? • Will the male and female snow leopards be properly introduced to each other if they haven’t been already? If they have then will there be snow leopard cubs in 2022? • Any estimate of when, after being put on hold due to lockdown, work on the tiger project is likely to start, if at all. X • Will there be tiger cubs this year? • Further progress on construction of the new metro station outside the zoo. • Will the black-and-white-ruffed lemurs eventually move into the new enclosure next to the main chimp outdoor viewing area? • Will the former ibis aviary be demolished and replaced with a small picnic area? X • Will there be any improvements to visitor facilities? X • Will there be any sea lion births this year? • Will there be a sloth birth this year? • Will the bush dogs stay where they are, or will they move into a new enclosure behind the old Discovery Centre? Useful/interesting links • A wishlist/ideas for the future thread can be found here. • The gallery can be found here. • To learn more about the history of the Tecton structures at Dudley Zoo, as well as the work that went into restoring some of them, a superb talk hosted by The Twentieth Century Society can be found here. • A thread about the history of some of the iconic animals at the zoo can be found here.
Brilliant summary of the year as always. It really looks like 2022 is going to be a big year for the zoo and I'm very excited for what the future holds for Dudley zoo.
@Benosaurus Well done - very interesting! The new orang enclosure is certainly going to be a highlight this year.
You're too kind Great write-up! I always look forward to reading your overviews - thank you so much for doing them!
Very sad news regarding the zoo's Humboldt penguins. For the first time since the highly successful breeding colony was established more than 30 years ago, there has been a devastating outbreak of avian malaria in the group, leading to the loss of "many" individuals in a colony that was, until recently, 69 birds strong. The zoo has not given an exact number of how many have died. Despite extensive efforts from vets and the zoo's dedicated bird keepers over recent weeks, the outbreak could not be stopped. Staff have been providing tireless, round-the-clock care to individually treat the birds in their fight to save as many as possible. “Having consulted with avian experts and animal collections around the world, we know we’ve done all we can.” The zoo started out with just five hand-reared chicks in 1991 and went on to have one of the largest self-sustained colonies in the UK, with many of their penguins leaving to help boost new colonies at collections across the country. The zoo will focus on continuing to treat the remaining birds and will put in place additional measures to prevent this from happening again. (Note: To those who do not know, the disease cannot be passed on to humans). Penguin statement – Dudley Zoo and Castle Edit: The BBC has reported that around 50 have died so far. Dudley Zoo loses majority of penguin population to malaria - BBC News
Oh gosh, this is awful news. I remember similar devastating events at Exmoor and Longleat... A huge shame
Great summary as usual, but I wouldn't call wearing a tracksuit "trendy", well not at my age anyway... What a blow for one of the zoos highlight exhibits. The keepers must be absolutely devastated.
I think I've read in the past that Marwell once had their entire colony wiped out. I remember Chester lost a lot of birds from the disease a few years ago too. It's so awful. It makes you wonder what the future for that exhibit will be. I mean will the surviving birds have to move to another collection, as there's only so much they can do to stop it happening again? It makes you wonder whether all penguin exhibits should be indoors from now on. I just had a quick look at the zoo's penguin webcam and saw just the one waddling around by itself . It's usually a hive of activity.
That's awful! I really feel for all the keepers, it must be terrible for them. They've all put so much time and care into the penguin colony and for something like this to happen is devastating. The Humboldt penguins are such a wonderful species and always a highlight at the zoo.
I think I’m right in saying that the group that Marwell lost were African penguins, and were replaced by Humboldts afterwards. Still, this is awful for any zoo to have to go through.
It's not just Longleat and Exmoor who had devastating events with the Penguins Thomas as Chester Zoo has too lost alot of bird due to Avian Malaira
visited the dudley today and must admit i did shed a tear in penguin bay it was a terrible sight and so quiet , we did count 8 penguins i feel so sorry for their keepers
Had a lovely visit today but sad to only see only 3 penguins ( there could be more though ) the 2 tigers were getting very along very well …… lol nice to hear of the plans for this zoo
