Fingers crossed it won't be long before their replacement species is announced. Exciting times for Knowsley
Just having a read on TripAdvisor and interesting that one of the comments states the "elephants temperarily housed making a pit stop before continuing on their journey". I persume they may be coming into Britain or just passing through. Whichever way is exciting I guess
@Elephantelephant or @Elephant Enthusiast do evor of you have any idea where thease elephants are destined for? If I had to guess about African Elephants, I would say Colchester Zoo,West Midlands Safari Park or lastly Noah’s Ark Zoo Farm. If we are talking about Asian Elephants I would predict Belfast Zoo.
My post wasn't supposed to cause any animosity or arguments so maybe best now to let this conversation die off. Obviously (despite me wanting to see elephants return) this will probably never happen. Nothing else left to add.
Any hint on when the replacement species for the lion pride will move in and be revealed? Has there been a delay due to the ongoing virus?
Do we even know what the replacement species is? There were rumours a few years back they were planning on getting spotted hyenas, but I don't know whether that's going to be the case. I sincerely hope it is - some spotteds in the North West would be greatly appreciated.
I've not discovered any hints regarding the species(believe me I've tried) I'm hoping for hyenas or cheetahs but I could be completely off track. Hopefully there'll be an announcement soon but we probably just have to be patient
I'd be most pleased if they took the lions back! It was a great area for them. (but out of my dream land...) I think it will be another canine species with lions and tigers already a big draw and the Iberian Wolves not the most impressive or showy animals around but we will see.
How about Dhole? Compared to Wolves they are much less retiring- the ones at West Midlands and Howletts can always be seen...
@Embu regarding the Elephants,you can never say never. I personally believe that Elephants will come back to Knowlesley. Could Knowlesley temporarily house the Elephants that are destined for West Midlands Safari Park next year while the West Midlands enclosure is being prepared? Alternatively could a large heard come to Knowlesley then be split between Knowlesley and West Midlands?
If further restrictions in the North West affect Knowlsley's ability to stay open, it will be dicing with death. If it's forced to close, it's basically doomed - Knowlsley can't access the government's £100 million Zoo fund - a fund which is basically a closure fund anyways. Knowlsley is perfectly managed for social distancing - keeping the Safari Drive open whilst cordoning-off the walk-around areas would prevent crowds.
I'm intrigued as to your idea that Knowsley would face closure, I appreciate that having been closed for so long and all have to be booked online will have affected their numbers but they do seem to be doing OK atm. It will however be interesting to see how they manage over the winter and hopefully they like all zoos and safaris (providing no local lock downs) can pull through the winter.
Fortunately, the new restrictions seem to be primarily targeting hospitality businesses (e.g. restaurants and pubs), so Knowsley might be spared. However, I'm not gonna hold my breath...
Oh good point. Yes the catering and fairground side will suffer but hopefully the gift shop will still be open even with restrictions in place. It will be interesting to see how many future plans and developments(not just here) will now have to be abandoned or shelved for the time being.
Which invariably makes this Zoo Fund a misguided terrible hoax and empty shell program. It should be to keep zoos small and state of the art at the helm operating, not .... doomed to close down thanks to Government policy objectives elsewhere that have a major impact on their commercial or not-for-profit operation.
Personally, I think there's a strange uptick in spotted hyenas being represented in UK collections - in two years, we've gone from one zoo, with three non-breeding individuals (because the male is the father of the two females) to three institutions, one of which is intending to breed them (and has already done so if reports are to be believed). Whilst part of me thinks Longleat and Yorkshire were being canny, attempting to capitalise on the 2019 Lion King (**** as though it was), what seems rather more likely is the new EEP for canids and hyenas that EAZA released in June 2018.
Yes, there seems to be a real effort with Spotted Hyaenas at the moment - which is a relief, as the other three hyaena species are all notably dwindling.
