Update after a short visit today : - Eurasian eagle owl and Ferruginous hawk changed aviaries - Saw both parent Corsac foxes but none of the young ones - Cuban hutia still in his / her / their old enclosure which was normal visuable ( see Cuban hutia | ZooChat ) - Last bobak marmot left the collection - In the empty Bobak marmot-enclosure now a newly obtained female Jungle cat ( normal colored ) found its new home to be later paired up with the black male already in the park - new species ( at least not seen on my last visit ) 2 African olive pigeons ( see African olive pigeon | ZooChat )
Last weekend the park opened again after the winter-break and yesterday a Emu-chick hatched : https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=350772135566840
New (sub) species for Faunapark Flakkee : a single "Alaska" red-tailed hawk was recieved and is now kept behind the scenes .
Went to Faunapark Flakkee today to see all the new developments and species with my own eyes. Several new enclosures since my last visit last year : - new enclosure for Horsfield's tortoise ( see Enclosure Horsfield's tortoise - ZooChat ) - new enclosure for Asian small-clawed otters but the otters were still not there ( see New Small-clawed otter-enclosure - ZooChat ) - 3 new aviaries for Hornbills and Touracos ( see New Grey-cheeked hornbill-aviary - ZooChat, Hornbill - Touraco aviary - ZooChat and White-cheeked touraco-aviary - ZooChat ) - new enclosures for the Siberian weasel ( see Enclosures Siberian weasel - ZooChat ) - new enclosure Cuban huita A number of species were placed in other enclosures : - serval placed in the former Crowned crane - olive pigeon enclosure - crowned crane - olive pigeon placed in one of the former raptor-aviaries New species : - European crane - 2 young specimens in the flamingo-enclosure ( see European crane - ZooChat ) - Von der Decken's hornbill - a pair together with 2 Purple-crested touracos in 1 aviary ( see April 22 2019on der Decken's hornbill - ZooChat ) - Purple-crested touraco - 2 in an aviary with a pair of Von der Decken's hornbills ( see Purple-crested touraco - red-breasted subspecies - ZooChat ) - Grey-cheeked hornbill - pair in an aviary for their own ( see Grey-cheeked hornbill - female - ZooChat ) - White-cheeked touraco - 2 in an aviary for their own ( see White-cheeked touraco - ZooChat ) - Parma wallaby - one seen in the enclosure of the Kookaburras ( see Parma wallaby - ZooChat ) - Caracal - one seen in the former enclosure of the Serval - Japanese squirrel - enclosure and sign seen, the squirrel(s) it/themself not - Asian palm civet - 2 seen in the former Bobak-enclosure ( see Asian palm civet - ZooChat ) - Common bronze-winged pigeon - one seen in the mixed Australian bird-aviary ( see Common bronze-winged pigeon - ZooChat ) - Ayam Cemani - small flock in one of the Australian parakeet-aviaries ( see Ayam Cemani - ZooChat ) - Only a few young seen : - European eagle-owl ( see European eagle owl chick at the nest - ZooChat ) and - several Harvest mice young ( see Harvest mouse with young - ZooChat ) Remarks : also new was a white Black-tailed prairiedog - a mutation I had never seen before ( see White Black-tailed prairiedog - ZooChat ) I wasn't able to discover the pair of Siberian weasels in their 2 enclosures which was actualy the main reason to visit the collection - I've ( as far as I can remember ) never seen this species before but will re-visit Faunapark a few times more this year so hopefully I will be more succesfull then !
Tayra (Eira barbara) born at Faunapark Flakkee two days ago. Faunapark Flakkee I saw this odd species for the first time myself last month and found it quite fascinating. They are pretty rare in collections around here, so it's good to hear there's at least a chance of there continuing to be some around.
Nowadays there are three zoos in the southern Netherlands with tayras, so it isn't a true rarity anymore. Nonetheless, it is a fascinating species.
Three small collections though, none of the big zoos keep them. Would consider them still as a rarity for that.
It sure seems like it has been the Spring of small Dutch zoos for me this year, as today I visited my third small Dutch zoo in two months time: Faunapark Flakkee in Nieuwe-Tonge in the Zeeland province. It's not a very large place and it would be a challenge to find without a GPS, as there were no directions to the place anywhere in the (tiny and very agricultural) village of Nieuwe-Tonge. Also, if you do go there, do not follow your GPS if it leads you through the village as the streets are tiny and bendy - so stick to the larger roads. Now, about the place itself - I liked it and enjoyed my time there. The park is quite naturalistic and just a little bit wild in terms of landscaping and vegetation - I've read reviews with people complaining about the park being "full of weeds" or "not being maintained well enough", but I personally did not find this to be the case, they just take a bit of more a laid-back and natural approach rather than it being an intensively managed garden or park and I do appreciate that. As far as the enclosures go, in general they were relatively simple in terms of materials used and construction, with little theming going on (and where they is some it was admittedly questionable at times), but they were mostly decent with mostly vegetation and natural materials used to furnish the exhibits and give the animals their necessary accommodation. There were plenty of new exhibits in the park all made of similar materials, with a lot of wood used, and I definitely liked the look and style of these new exhibits. The new exhibits were also generally pretty decently furnished, mostly with natural materials and vegetation. From seeing their exhibits I would guess they have a pretty decent understanding of the needs animals and of how to meet them in human care at a public facility. It seems like they are gradually renovating their facilities and replacing the older exhibits with more modern ones. There were still a few older buildings and exhibits in the park and while some of them weren't exactly pretty, I saw few weak exhibits and I cannot remember finding any of the exhibits to be truly subpar. It is a small collection but with some interesting and uncommon species for zoo enthusiasts and I can now add a few more new species to my list. There were a few species that didn't show themselves well (or at all) but I got lucky with no major misses in terms of rare species. Unfortunately once more I visited a zoo with no map (apparently because they are still working on new enclosures) and it wasn't a neatly ordered or very logically ordered place, so - and this was the exact advise of the volunteer behind the ticket and food counter - the best thing to do was just to walk down every small path and trail and to back-track and double-up at times to make you don't miss anything. Hopefully they will have one again in the future. As far as food goes, the fare was fairly decent at Faunapark Flakkee. The "uitsmijters" (slices of white bread with ham and melted cheese, and two eggs, fried sunny side up, on top) were pretty decent and tasted fairly good and not cheap, but not overly expensive either. I've eaten worse at zoos for sure. I wouldn't recommend Faunapark Flakkee as much as I would Zie-Zoo, for example, but for true zoo enthusiasts or if you happen to be in the area I'd still say it is worth visiting, even if admittedly it is not nearly as impressive as many other zoos. I would rank Faunapark Flakkee above BestZoo which I also visited recently, but I would not rank it as highly as Zie-Zoo, nor do I feel like a repeat visit would be in order anywhere in the near future. Of the three small Dutch zoos I visited this year I would say Zie-Zoo was the one I was most impressed by and probably the only one of the three I plan to visit again in the coming years.
Nice review KevinB. One small mistake Faunapark Flakkee is NOT in Zeeland but in the province Zuid Holland. I also visit this park with some regularity ( living about 25 kilometers from it ) and also like it. Because of the constant building-activities they always ( or almost always ) have to offer some new enclosures and/or new species.
I apologize for not doing better research and getting things a bit mixed up with the islands in the south-west of the Netherlands and which province they are in. That shouldn't have happened and I hate making errors of that sort. And yes, it does seem like this zoo is still in full development (and also seemingly becoming more professional with their exhibits).
A first breeding for Faunapark Flakkee : 2 Cape genets were born. However the first young was already dead when it was discovered and at the same moment the female gave birth to the second young. This was taken away and is now raised by a nursing domesticated cat.... fingers crossed !
For some time the single Jungle cat at Faunapark Flakkee - the only one in the Netherlands past away but now a new young unrelated pair has been obtained, making Faunapark again the only public holder of this species in the Netherlands.
A male Jungle cat has been sent to Parc Zoologique Lumigny in France on June 24th. Security Check Required 7 skunks were born on May 17th. Security Check Required
On the 30th of May a female White tufted-ear marmoset (Callithrix jacchus) gave birth to triplets, sadly one of these passed away last Wednesday. Source: Facebook of Faunapark Flakkee (16/06/2021) Log into Facebook
