The Casson is closed it seems for the long term due to building safety, the animals inside are being moved elsewhere/leaving the collection. Only the tapir and pigs will remain.
Not good news then! Effectively the tapir have gone if they can't be viewed indoors! One of the zoos main attractions !
No its not ideal, especially with the aquarium building set to be emptied and closed in late 2019 for much the same reason. Hopefully neither remain shut for too long.
Not conjecture. Decision was approved by the ZSL Council in June. Source: keeper in the aquarium on my last visit on Monday.
London Zoo had the world's first public aquarium, the Fish House of 1853. The current aquarium dates from 1924; what a shame it couldn't survive a few more years and reach its centenary. Sadly the aquarium building is in a very poor state of repair; its closure has been rumoured for a long while so the news cannot be any surprise, although I kept hoping that there would be a last minute reprieve. Whilst the building may be somewhat dilapidated, the individual displays are superb and feature many fascinating species which makes the news even sadder.
Will the Aquarium be closed permanently? I remember seeing something on here about it being fully restored with sky lights?
This is a real shame, although not unexpected. The aquarium was the last really interesting, diverse and endangered collection left. It now makes sense why they haven't been doing anything else (apart from the Snowdon), they'll need all the money they can get to fix this, hopefully it's a blessing and leads to a refurbed aquarium, Mappins and elephant house...
Are they stuck with this building for ever and a day? Elephant house previously, 'white elephant' now..
Ah, only if it was able to hold those species today... I've actually spent much of my day today looking through the London galleries here (specifically at older photos) and it is quite striking to see what was once one of the most diverse collections of animals in the world become rather for lack of a better word, generic. London has so much potential yet is put behind things like listed buildings and space. If they could figure a way to become one of Britain's greatest zoos again that would be spectacular. When I say 'great' I don't mean going back to the 60s-80s either, but London could become a great collection in a different way. I've never visited London Zoo personally but it has always intrigued me (mainly on a historical standpoint) and I would love to visit some day. I have a question for ZooChatters who have visited London over the years, what would you do to put the zoo on the world stage again (I really don't know how to put this into words but hopefully you get my point)? Honestly, this question could sprout a thread of its own...
There has been much debate on this over the years, but if the Casson building really can't be used any longer it needs smashing down (sadly) or de-listing. I would like to see the llama paddock, bird display area, Casson area and all surrounding Lawns developed for Malayan Tapir, Orangutan and sun bears to link with the Indonesian theme for the tigers ( possibly find space for binturong and a small cat too? Possibly another primate and put an Indonesian hoofstock species on the lower mappins
What are the chances of the Casson Pavilion being delisted? After how long it took to even modify the Snowdon Aviary I can't imagine how they would be able to be allowed to demolish the Casson, which is unfortunate as the land could easily be used for other animal exhibits instead of an old relic with no purpose.
Perhaps they can get a heritage lottery grant to make it useable again, I don't know?! It must only be the main building that's listed as they had no problem smashing down the walls of the paddock on the 'elephant' side!
They could work some birds into that plan, amazing parrots, Passerines and pheasants to choose from with that geographical theme! The Casson wasn't even a good elephant house.
I hear from a very good source that the aquarium would cost at least 8 or 9 million to even make safe for staff to work in let alone improve animal and public facilities. sadly that means goodbye to the aquatic collection. I'm afraid that years of neglect of infrastructure in favour of over priced projects like lions and tigers are starting to take their toll on both sites. ...
