The zoo have announced on Facebook that they have bred two Caracal kittens, born on the 30th March Exmoor Zoo's Post
I visited Exmoor today - my first post-lockdown zoo visit. The zoo was pretty busy, when I arrived at 10.30 the main car park was fuller than I have seen it before (although I never visit at weekends or bank holidays). There was a short queue to get in, but everyone was on their best behaviour both outside and inside the zoo, although the twisty narrow paths made it virtually impossible to follow the zoo's one-way system (following the exhibit numbers on the map). The headline news is that the zoo has become a charitable trust. I believe that this has been under consideration for some time, and I hope it will help to secure the zoo's position in the future. I saw most of the animals I expected after my visit in February, plus the youngsters mentioned in the posts above. I did not see the ringtail, which must have been asleep, or the hunting dogs, and the palm nut vulture's aviary was empty. There were 4 new cockatoos in the aviary formerly occupied by the Patagonian/burrowing conures: they were unlabelled, but I suspect they are Cacatua sulphurea parvula - I will post some photos soon and canvass opinions. Also new are 2 hooded vultures in the aviary between the sitatunga and the Nature Reserve, plus a pair of Tarictic hornbills and a small group of red-billed Queleas in the row of aviaries near the tortoises. I wore a mask all day (except during my picnic lunch), which complicated photography by causing my glasses to steam up from time to time. I think I'm just going to have to learn to live with this: the alternatives of no mask or no zoo visits do not appeal me.
Are all zoos requesting masks are worn during visits now- even outside? Or do rules differ in different zoos?
Exmoor has no such rule, neither do Paradise Park (Hayle) or Newquay where I am booked in tomorrow. I would be surprised if a zoo insisted on masks at the moment, but we have all been surprised from time to time recently. However I am choosing to wear a mask on my zoo visits. I have been quite happy not wearing one for trips round the supermarket, in a low risk area of the country where social distancing has been well observed. But as I am relatively old (by ZooChat standards at least) and zoos are not built for social distancing (although I appreciate that they have been working hard to avoid problems), I have decided to wear a mask for visits in the foreseeable future - although that is not very far ahead at the moment. The key factors to my mind are that my zoo visits last for hours, mostly in the open air but increasingly indoors as well, and many of the other visitors will be in family groups with young children who may not understand the importance of social distancing, particularly in busy areas near popular animals.
Thanks. I am in the same age group obviously. I agree about your social distancing comments, some folk, not just children either, just don't seem to care at all about this. What with all the (obviously necessary) precautions in place, the one way systems plus the need to advance book etc I can't see myself visiting any zoos at all in the near future, though that will doubtless change at some time in the future. I think back fondly to my last Whipsnade visit made just a few days before the lockdown actually started.
I should stress that people at Exmoor yesterday were sensible and considerate, but there were a few parties with 5 or 6 people, some of them with older people in mobility scooters, and there were quite a lot of young children, some of whom were obviously excited about going to the zoo (not surprising in the circumstances and nice to see in many ways). There were no problems that I saw, but I did not regret wearing my mask, although I was in a small minority among all the visitors.
Exmoor is probably one of the hardest places to avoid close contact with other people in, given all those very narrow pathways between the exhibits on both sides. I would think things are a lot easier in some of our other, and larger zoos. But I was amazed to read about long queues at some of Chester's indoor buildings like ROTRA, unheard of in my(limited) experiences there.
Good visit today. I watched the Ringtail pair for 20 mins whilst admiring the Martens. I got lucky with seeing the Tayra & Binturong very active too. No sign of Rusty Cats (one keeper said he’s seen them twice in 4 months!). A pair of Tarictic Hornbills have arrived from Paignton. I thought the flamingo enclosure was ridiculously tiny - is this temporary? It was great to see Ground Hornbills after Paigntons left the collection and of course all of the Ibis species are a real treat! Caracal & Puma were very active as were the Pademelon. I thought the Siatunga enclosure was brill and is a great use of that space. Good to see two Gibbon babies. Looks like Red Titi have replaced some Tamarins (unlabelled). Overall, a wonderful little zoo with old school facilities & super friendly staff! Highly recommended
