Dudley Zoological Gardens Dudley Zoological Gardens in 2019

Tasmanian devils, helmeted hornbills, and pangolins!

Relax, of course Dudley isn't getting those animals, but what they are doing is launching a vote to let the public decide which one of three conservation projects, each focusing on one of the above animals, the zoo should support.

People who add the voluntary 10% Gift Aid donation to their entrance fee will be given a token to allow them to vote for one of three options...

Option 1: The Save the Tasmanian Devil Programme - "Threatened with extinction from Devil Facial Tumour Disease (DFTD), funds would help monitor current devil populations, preserve two healthy groups on isolated islands, support genetic research and promote captive breeding to restock devil numbers."

Option 2: The Helmeted Hornbill Working Group - "To help prevent hunting of their casques and bills for ornamental purposes, funding would encourage local communities to create larger protected areas and introduce better law enforcement to crack down on the illegal trade in Asia."

Option 3: The IUCN SSC Pangolin Specialist Group - "As the world's most illegally trafficked animal for food and traditional medicines donations would aid conservation research, create wild strongholds, change international legislation and help re-educate communities that consume pangolin by-products."

The vote will last all year and votes will be counted after the 31st December deadline. The conservation project with the most votes will receive a donation of £10,000 (£2k per year for five years) and the other two projects will each get a one-off donation of £1,000.
Conservation donation - Dudley Zoological Gardens


I'm very relieved that the zoo isn't doing another enclosure vote this year, and it's nice that there is finally a vote at Dudley where all three options are urgent .

Personally, in my ignorance I wouldn't know which option to vote for. I wouldn't know which of these three equally vital conservation projects is more in need of funds. I'd perhaps naively hope that the Australian government and some of their excellent zoos would have option 1 covered, so that leaves me pondering between options 2 and 3.

It also leaves me feeling slightly uneasy about deciding which project, and therefore animal, is more 'worthy'. However, therein lies the beauty of this vote, it makes you think, because deciding which project to support is something that everybody, and every zoo, does. No individual person, or zoo, donates to every vital conservation project on the planet. My initial reaction was why don't they just split the money three ways and give £4,000 to each project, but there aren't just those three projects in the world; there're hundreds of them.

Another reason why I like this vote is because it highlights to the general public the plight of these animals, animals that most people may never have heard of before, as well as the conservation projects out there fighting for their survival. And it's nice seeing zoo's supporting and increasing the awareness of animals that aren't held by them.

A further positive is that people who may not have ever given money to in-situ conservation projects before will feel like they are donating directly to these projects and feel more connected to them. Zoos often say that when you visit them your money is going towards animal conservation projects, but you never really know how much or what these projects are. I think this vote makes things much more transparent.

 

The zoo is changing tack with regards to trying to get their pair of great grey owls, 12 year-old Granville and 11 year-old Ursula, to breed. Various methods, such as changing nesting boxes and materials, have been tried in the past with little success, so now the pair have been taken off-show temporarily while their aviary is completely refurbished.

Much of the foliage has been cut back, the roof has been changed, and new perches have been installed. The owls will return to their enclosure in the next few weeks.
A little encouragement! - Dudley Zoological Gardens

 

Interesting comment at the end of this article: "DZG is currently in the process of applying for funding assistance to carry out a programme of restoration work on the castle and other listed monuments across its 40-acre site."
Mobile monitoring - Dudley Zoological Gardens

 

I'm with you on this one - the Tasmanian Devil project shouldn't be an option since Australian institutions are already doing well on this. One of our small local zoos here has one of the best breeding for re-introduction programmes in the country. Projects in developing countries should definitely receive priority.

 

Another interesting comment at the end of an article; "Find out more by visiting Lemur Wood, our one-acre walkthrough exhibit, which has been home to a variety of free-roaming lemurs for the last 14 years – and keep an eye out as we’re planning to refurbish the popular paddock in coming months."
A decade celebrating lemurs - Dudley Zoological Gardens

Will be interesting to see what happens to the now empty black lemur house in the walkthrough, and whether they improve the paths to make them more pushchair/wheelchair friendly.

 

Four northern hawk owls have arrived at DZG from Whipsnade. They are in the old raven enclosure opposite the burrowing owls. New owls fly in! - Dudley Zoological Gardens

 

Well we could all vote for Helmeted Hornbill - THE Red Ivory Killing Fields!!!

 

Among the other feathered arrivals that have joined the collection, there are also two West Indian Whistling ducks, six White-faced whistling ducks and nine eiders, all of which are found in the waterfowl paddock and the triple bird aviaries.

 

The aviary for the hawk owls is to small for 4 birds 2 maybe but not 4

 

The zoo has passed the £400,000 mark of their aim to raise £800,000 by the year 2020 to build a brand new Bornean orangutan enclosure.

The zoo says fundraising is right on track for work to begin in winter 2020 as by next year they will be able to put in the rest of the money.

On top of individual visitor donations, funds have been raised by allocating all income from keeper experience days, animal encounters, and selling exclusive merchandise in the shop.

The new enclosure will be shared with the lar gibbons and is expected to take up to six months to build. It will be enclosed by a woven net and include large telegraph poles with hammocks and ropes.

The African wild dogs will be relocated on site in another part of the zoo.

People can still donate to the project (see link below for more info)
Halfway there! - Dudley Zoological Gardens

 

Anyone care to guess where they'll go?

 

I was thinking the lion enclosure.

They haven't had much luck with lions lately, and all they have now are the two sisters who are both getting on a bit. I reckon the lions could move to another collection, freeing up their enclosure for the wild dogs. Once the wild dogs pass away they could then start again with a new lion pride.

 

Yes it is a shame, as the lar gibbons do currently have a very nice enclosure which is well suited to them and where they have been very successful. However, I can't wait to see them in with the orangs in an enclosure several times the size.

It would be brilliant to see another gibbon species go into their old enclosure and become just as successful.

 

According to a poorly written article by the Express and Star...

- The revamp of the lemur walkthrough will include:

• a balcony area inside the entrance
• a rope bridge
• asphalting the paths to make them easier for visitors to use
• refurbishing the fences
• a specially commissioned lemur sculpture which will be used to raise awareness of the plight of wild lemurs.

- A new children's play barn will be built where the current food stores are located, near the farm.
Plans have yet to be finalised but it should contain large wooden climbing apparatus, a small soft play zone and an eating area. There will also be Changing Places facilities nearby to provide extra equipment and space for people with profound and multiple learning or physical disabilities. Using the play barn will incur a small charge to visitors but will be free to those with a zoo membership.

The play barn is designed for families with young children who want a shorter visit where they can stay at the bottom of the zoo without having to walk around the hilly site in order to access facilities.

Dudley Zoo to invest £1million in 2019

 

The refurbshment of the great grey owl enclosure has been completed. It is certainly a lot lighter than it was. New-look home for owls - Dudley Zoological Gardens

 

February half-term week saw the highest visitor numbers on record visit the zoo. A total of 27,960 people visited, causing the zoo to extend its opening hours.

Over just three of the days (Friday 22nd to Sunday 24th) a total of 14,891 people visited, which is nearly as many that visited over the entire week of Feb half-term last year.

Feb half-term visitor numbers

2017: 6,528
2018: 15,612
2019: 27,960

What a week! - Dudley Zoological Gardens

 

The weather last week certainly helped a lot of zoos.

 

Lemur Wood is closed for refurbishment - due to re-open in time for the Easter holidays. I hope they don't make it too "manicured" - it has a very natural feel about it at the moment.
Lemur Wood closes for revamp - Dudley Zoological Gardens