Howletts Wild Animal Park Howletts Wild Animal Park News 2017

I agree, it's not much better than a zoo to begin with, and since they will be living in semi-wild conditions they will likely struggle with the move.

But that being said it does reduce the number of excess males in Europe, if only by a small amount.

 

To me it is not a great idea. But what do I know, its only a couple of Gorillas, if they die they have room for more their.

 

Yeah, I know both zoos have been struggling with their blackbacks of late so it'll be good to make a new bachelor group and give them more capacity to breed!

 

Perhaps they need to work with other zoos, instead of sending animals on a death sentence back to the wild.

 

I'm with you on that, the whole Aspinall anti-zoo ethic is one I really don't agree with.

Does anyone know if the Aspinall zoos still aren't part of the gorilla EEP?

 

Is the last group the family group sent back?

 

Yes, Djala's, they sent nine or ten I believe and are now down to five or so.

 

The Villa? Is that the Round House?

 

Nope, the Round House is called the Pavilion. The Villa is the caged/indoor accomodation for the other group of bachelors (you can go and see it just past the colobus and binturong)

 

Very dangerous country road. I thought they operated a minibus pick-up from the station.

 

I think only Djala and his blackback son(forget name) are left of the main group. A surviving daughter was removed and sent to another reserve.

The rest of the group died under very mysterious circumstances that were never properly explained. First blamed on interactions with a rival 'rogue' male, it perhaps seems more likely they were either poisoned or killed by other human intervention, for reasons we will never know.

 

Worth pointing out, as I already have done to Crowthorne, that the bike ride from Canterbury station is actually really delightful as it takes in some gorgeous countryside before Bekesbourne. I think part of it is along the Pilgrim's Way.

When I was living in Cambridge I was able to get my bike through London because King's Cross and St. Pancras are so close together. If I do visit this summer it might be a little more tricky!

EDIT: In fact Euston (the 'Birmingham' station) is also really close to St. Pancras so we're still looking good!

 

Surplus male gorillas are so prevalent in European zoos non-one wants them( or they can't build enclosures quick enough to take the surplus) Reducing production is the only answer to the problem really. Aspinall's have so many males the only answer is to send a few more out to Africa I think, though why they've chosen adult males this time rather than the upcoming younger ones I don't know.

 

From the IUCN/SSC Guidelines for Reintroductions: “Re-introductions should not be carried out merely because captive stock exists, nor solely as a means of disposing of surplus stock.”

I'm with @zoogiraffe here. They shouldn't be used as a blinkered hypocrite’s vanity project, either.

 

So brilliantly put

 

I think they should reduce or stop breeding at Howletts( and a lot of other zoos too) to overcome this problem. The elder Aspinall's dream or idea was to breed them in his estate and then 'return them to the wild' but reintroducing captive stock is fraught with problems as they have experienced already with the Djala group, the only time they have done it so far with gorillas from the UK. It seems these new males will not really be reintroduced to the wild either, more a semi-captive situation.

 

I think it's the lack of transparency that worries me most.
All the publicity seems to be 'spun', assuming that reintroduction is a good thing without qualification or explanation, which obviously arouses suspicions like those raised by Giant Panda. Moving 'spare' males to Africa may be justifiable for in situ educational purposes or for trialling reintroduction techniques. But the transfer of Djala's group looks like a rash experiment that failed catastrophically: I realise that this may not be true, but without a clear statement of the facts, an analysis of the problems and an acceptance of responsibility by the person or persons who made the decisions, it looks like flim-flam.

 

When I was there last, the talk given at Palace of the Apes(Djala group's old home in fact) mentioned a group having been reintroduced to the wild, but no mention of the failed outcome. I guess the listeners all went away with the false impression it was a success. While on their facebook they still refer frequently to Djala as 'living free' as if the whole experiment was a big success which is(IMO) very misleading.

In one way Djala is worse off than previously when he lived in UK- he had a large group formerly, whereas now he lives just with one son for company. I think maybe they could give him/them a couple of new females- but from their other African projects rather than from the UK groups.

 

I do not agree with the attempts, it seemed very hap hazard but someone has to be the first and losses are to be expected.

Ideally they should publish a paper on the experiment so lessons can be learned and inform feature attempts.

I think you may have to introduce captive females to a rescued male maybe this will help with leading the group safety around dangers. Either way a more measured approach is needed and not rush these things.