Hemsley Conservation Centre Hemsley Conservation Centre

You had to walk through the cafe to get to the maned wolves.

 

Cafe ????

Certainly didn't see a cafe anywhere on the site

 

There was a shipping container type thing in the middle of the park by the picnic tables - but I think it was only serving drinks. I wouldn't call it a cafe.

 

The garden centre cafe possibly?

 

The cafe was separate to Hemsley. Perhaps it doesn't exist any more...

 

One thing I havn't mentioned is the ridiculous parking situation. Apparently when the garden centre is closed (mon-wed?) they lock the gates so the only parking is the itty bitty space directly in front of the entrance.

 

The garden centre cafe was still open last time I was there a few months ago

 

We went to the maned wolf talk and we went through the cafe and up a pathway to an open field. In the top right corner was the maned wolf enclosure. The fence was pretty flimsy, don't think they were there for long before they were sent back to RSCC.

 

I can't say I've actually seen anything stating which new marsupials they were holding. Could be pretty much anything (small!) I guess.

 

Quite a lot of big changes happening here in 2019, some before Easter and most before end of the year. The current collection is in no bigger than 1 acre of the Centre's 10 acre site and they have room to expand further if needed. But a few big things happening in 2019. 2 new exhibits will be ready for the summer, and one most likely for Easter. Within 18 months the centre will ave at least doubled in size and display some very exciting species.

 

Do you know if they still lease the land from the Garden Centre? I read online about them previously being served an eviction notice - which I'm assuming they managed to negotiate to stay as they're still there.

 

The current people who run the garden centre don't own the land.

The person who ran the cafe at the Garden Centre has now left, and there is no longer a cafe at the garden centre.

 

The Garden Centre is owned by the land owner. The land owner is very friendly and supportive of Hemsley and they access to a lot more land of the land owners. The people like Hemsley also rent the garden centre from the land owner.

 

Hi Thomas,

I just want to correct you on this. Hemsley have two Eastern Aardwolves. Which will be going on show very soon. Hopefully before Easter if they can get the exhibit finished in time. They are considering it being a combined exhibit with Aardvarks, but these are likely to come later and the Aardwolves will go on show in the next couple of months.
Neither of their Aardwolves have come from Park Cottage / Park Exotics according to the owner of Hemsley and neither did they have to pay a pretty money for.

I just wanted to give facts to the above rumour, having spoken to the owner of the centre myself recently and he was very open about current plans and that.

 

Two nocturnal species you won't see for the price of one.

More seriously, I hope the quality/sizes of their exhibits are increasing from their current ones if they're going to put that many animals in one enclosure.

Given, only a very small number of zoos hold them I'm struggling to imagine where they came from if not Park Exotics and if they didn't pay money from them. Remember, owners can sometimes be a "little vague" for political political reasons (e.g. "rescued tigers" that were purchased/donated from a circus).

 

I know where they came from. Not for me to say though. Was not Park Cottage though. They were already in the Uk though and are quite young.

 

Well if you’re willing to post a)that you know where they came from and b)the country of origin on a public forum then I’m sure you would be perfectly happy to share with the class!

 

No, there's a difference in correcting an incorrect piece of information, than disclosing something else. I was merely stating that the centre actually had two Aardwolves and neither were bought or sourced from Park Cottage / Exotics. Had I wanted to disclose where the centre had obtained them from, I would have.