Does anyone know of any way of getting editions of the International Zoo news magazine over the internet? It used to be available from Zoo news but that stopped about 4 years ago. I always enjoyed reading it but as I was only a school kid i couldn't afford to pay the subscription fee to have it delivered.
IZN is still very much alive and kicking. It comes out eight times a year. The latest issue includes feature articles on the new tropical house at Hamburg, management of sealions, and enrichement for giant tortoises. It is no longer available on the internet, sadly. It is not produced by Chester Zoo. Rather, they offer financial support (it is has always been a loss-making venture), but - beyond having their name in the front of the magazine - they don't really have much of an active role in the magazine's production. It is still edited, as it has been for nearly 20 years, by the excellent Nicholas Gould, who now lives in the Orkney Islands. Nick is not a zoo enthusiast in the way that most of us on this forum are, but he is a real enthusiast for all things which are done well and with panache. He can be contacted at Fealquoy, Rousay, Orkney, KW17 2PS, Uk. E-mail: [email protected]. Subscriptions to the magazine are not cheap, but they are still good value for money (compare to the latest International Zoo yearbook - a snip at ca £110!). Nick will send a free sample copy to anyone who is interested.
An old thread, but i think the place to announce the passing of the magazine's former editor Nicholas Gould, to which a member here has written a lovely obituary in the Nov/Dec 2014 edition. International Zoo News
Thank you for posting this link. Nick was a great fellow, and his version of IZN was a great magazine. I'm grateful for your kind words about the obituary.
I don't subscribe to IZN these days, but i did enjoy it when I received it, the articles where very professional as was the whole magazine. I'm sorry to hear of his passing, he may have locked horns with Clinton keeling, but it didn't stop him printing Mr Keeling's letters, A true gent i believe is the words to use.
I've printed off a number of issues at my workplace, as at a price of almost $100 Canadian just for a single annual membership it is not difficult for me to choose the free option. There is close to 20 years of issues that are all available for free online and I just browsed through the Nov/Dec 2014 issue a few minutes ago.
Nick and Clin had a very interesting relationship: they were polar opposites in many ways, and Nick used to enjoy teasing Clin and goading him about things which others amongst us might have left to lie. Nonetheless, I think there was genuine affection there, between the pair, and that they each enjoyed the tussles and respected their opponent.
I have IZN back to 1953. It,s fascinating to see the evolution of zoos over the decades. I too was sad to hear of Nicks passing
Sad to hear about IZN Editor Nicholas Gould. It was, and looking at some of the online issues, obviously still is, an excellent little magazine. In the days long before social media and the formation of independant societies, it was virtually the only regular purveyor of zoo news readily available to zoo enthusiasts.
The history of the magazine is an interesting one. It was founded in 1951 by a 17 year-old Danish post office worker, Bent Jorgensen, who wanted a way to get news from zoos, and thought that starting his own magazine would enable him to do this. He would later go on to be the director of the Copenhagen Zoo. Its editorship was, for nearly 20 years, in the hands of a Dutch zoo enthusiast (and public relations expert), Gerald van Dam, and when he retired, in 1973, it was taken over by John Aspinall (possibly seeking to gain credibility in the zoo world). There followed a trio of relatively short-lived editors, of whom Geoffrey Schomberg was the most notable, before Nick Gould was appointed, in 1989. By that time the magazine was poor: badly edited, with no real sense of identity and little aesthetic appeal. Over the next 21 years Nick turned this around. He was a fastidious editor, who was magnificently pedantic with both content and design. Since his retirement, in 2010, I fear the magazine has lost its mojo. With the internet offering so much, a printed publication can, to my mind, only justify its presence if it is flawless in its execution and authoritative in its content. I'm not sure that the current incarnation of the magazine is either of these things, and as a consequence I am not sure that it offers anything that cannot be found elsewhere, online. During Nick's reign, this was most certainly not the case.
I hadn't realised JA was involved with it that early on, though I was aware he was later on. I remember some of the 'phases' it went through too and how it became poor and very thin at one stage. That it didn't 'die' completely is a credit to Nick Gould obviously.
One of the best zoo magazines I've seen ! Untill about 2010 I was member and even wrote a number of articles for it and even was Guest editor. A pitty it has become so expensive that only few private people still can afford it .
