Great Hoof-Stock/Antelope Enclosures/Collection

Yes. The Gladys Porter Zoo seems wonderful!! I hope to get down there soon. Hopefully very soon. I want to get down there before their Jentink's Duiker dies. He's very old and the last of his kind in captivity.

 

Where is this place and is it open to the public?!?!

 

The great state of Tennessee! No, it's not open to the public.

 

Darn that would be an amazing collection to see. Do you know what else they have?

 

That would be! Too bad it's not open to the public.

 

That is truly amazing. Two questions:

1) What the heck is a poitou?

2) If they are closed to the public, what is their purpose? Do they breed for trade with zoos?

 

1) a breed of donkey

2) yes, they are also a high-end plant nursery.

 

Edit: Whoops, Ituri beat me to it

 

So is there any way to get into this Shadow Nursery? Is there like special tours or anything? Is it mostly known as a plant nursery?

 

Flickr: Shadow Nursery's Photostream

Here are some pics.

I haven't heard much about the place I have seen it on a few Animal planet shows however. Like most hoof stock collections in America it is private and unless you know someone who works there you its most likely they won't let you in.

The largest collection I have heard about is Waters Ranch run by wealthy business man Lou Waters. He doesn't trade much with other places and it will be awhile until much will leave the collection. He has roughly some 150 Greater Kudu, 75 Roan, etc. I don't know much about the place only that it is very large.

 

Has anyone been to Shadow Nursery that can get me in? I'm stoked about this place and will do anything to get in. fyi I'm in California

 

Wow, what an outstanding collection!

 

i was reading some early post about where to see chamois and caucasian turs. NBJ Zoological park in bulverde, tx and rancho exotica in kansas has chamois for sure, i'm sure there are others i don't know of. Turs use to be at Catskill Game Farm but 777 Ranch in Hondo, Tx bought them. 777 Ranch has a huge collections of exotics. It is open to the public for photo safaris but it is a hunting ranch. There are still quite a few caucasian turs i have seen on private texas ranches in the past. Never in large numbers but they are still out there. Another very interesting caprid species is the Alpine Ibex which use to be quite abundant.

I found some really neat pictures the other day in my attic. I took two rolls of film of Earl Tatums farm in Eureka Springs, Arkansas in 1989. There were 1.5 Roan Antelope and two calves at side, large group of around 15 gemsbok, kangaroos and wallabies(wallabies were their specialty in the mid 90's where i once saw close to 100 bennetts in one barn), small groups of impala nyala and bongo. I also have pictures of their pet snow leopard playing with my dad. Did anyone on here ever go to Earl Tatum years ago? I would love to share stories of the crazy things i saw! He might have been a shunned in the media but nobody came close, even today, to his knowledge of husbandry of hoofstock.

Last time i was there was 1998 and there were a 1.2 Topi and a good sized group of persian gazelles among many others. I came home with a pair of bottle baby persians gazelles, the most beautiful gemsbok bull i've ever seen since, and my second pair of muntjacs(the male died just last year probably had 50+ babies for me), but couldn't talk him out of the Topi's. I stayed at his place that night and in the morning woke up, went down the stairs and looked out at 15 giraffes right outside the window! Believe it or not....

 

Wow I'm definitely going to look into these places with turs and chamois. Do these ranches also have the Alpine ibex?

So do you breed exotic animals? That's so cool!

You mentioned topis and I think now there are only like 9 topis left in North America (at least thats what someone told me at the San Antonio Zoo). They have 3 (?) so maybe this ranch you were talking about has the rest.

 

Oh and does anyone know what kind of bovids are at Shadow Nursery?

 

As for hoofstock i belive you cannot beat what is in private collections. As for public zoos. lowry park has a pretty good collection of ungulates including royal antelope,okapi,white rhino,sable. pygmy hippo,lesser kudu,and steenbok just to name a few.

 

St. Louis Zoo's Red Rocks is a very extensive set of hoofstock exhibits with rocky moats and walls and outcrops and shade trees which dates from mid-century. The collection is fantastic and the exhibits are mostly well populated and many are mixed species with large storks and cranes. It reminds me of the San Diego Zoo’s former Horn and Hoof Mesa, may it rest in peace. Swine represented include Chacoan peccaries, warthogs, Visayan warty pigs, and two yards of babirusas. Reticulated giraffes and ostriches share a yard while the okapis have their own. The horse family here includes three yards of Somali wild asses and two yards of Grevy’s zebras. Bactrian camels and banteng and Transcaspian urials are the only species of their kinds, while goat-antelopes are represented by Sichuan takins and central Chinese gorals which share a yard. Antelope and gazelle exhibits are comprised of yards for bongo, lesser kudu, addax, Arabian oryx, gerenuk, steenbok, red-flanked duiker, Speke’s gazelle, Cuvier’s gazelle, Mhorr gazelle, and Soemmerring’s gazelle, a few of which share yards. There is also a yard of red kangaroos and Tammar wallabies!

 

Alpine ibex in private ranches are rare but there are a few that have them in good sized numbers. Mostly the larger hunting ranches have the pure stock. They came from Larry Johnson, a dealer for San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park. Some of the ranches are Star S Ranch Mason, tx , White Elk Ranch, Topsey Ranch, Safari Enterprises Boerne, tx. The first two have websites with pictures of their animals(You can even see some of the original ear notches from San Diego! Funny AZA won't publish the Apline Ibex Studbook.....hmmmmm....wonder why.....oh yeah they would show they all went to dealers and that's why there are none left in zoos!

Topis are rare on the texas ranches. Safari Enterprises has a few and there is another ranch but i've never been able to track a name down. I was looking for Congo Buffalo and a dealer knew of someone in texas who had them and would only trade for Topi females. The ranch obviously had Topis. I was never able to find out the name but there are alot of ranches who like to remain mysterious....

 

Cool. Does anyone know of any other private exotic animal ranches around San Antonio?

 

Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch- it isn't private but its close

La Coma Ranch is kind of far but if it is still in existence try checking them out. I heard they have Black Rhino, Gaur, Grevy Zebra etc. But in your area there are several hunting ranches like this one.

I'm sure if you look around you will find something, is there anything specific you want to see?