Marwell Wildlife Marwell Zoo News 2018

A Hartmann's Zebra foal was born on Sunday. This is only the second live birth at Marwell since 1997. The only other foal in that time was born and died in 2014

 

I am headed to Marwell zoo today for the first time in 3 or 4 years. I understand it’s reduced it’s species diversity in that time; but any must-sees or species less common elsewhere in the U.K.?

 

I think that Marwell is now the only UK zoo with Arabian oryx; since you've not visited for a few years, the lesser kudu will be new to you and they make a fine exhibit.

The Somali wild ass are a particular favourite of mine and don't forget the chevrotains in the new Tropical House.

 

Had a visit today and sadly came away with the impression that things have not improved since our visit earlier in the year. We had a good day and got a great viewing of the Purple Honeycreeper but there has been no improvement on the empty enclosure front. If anything, it seemed worse.

It got me asking myself what the place really needs now to bring it back from this spiral it seems to be in. As in - realistically, what plans would you put in place in the short and long term that would make best use of the empty enclosures they have and make the place a bit more cohesive?

Putting aside the travesty that is the Valley Field I think the area that has lost its way the most is the very bottom of the park. I like the walkthrough aviary and and the coati enclosure is fine enough - but the whole 'Outback' section is all over the place in terms of species and the empty enclosures in that area are rampant.

They general impression I always have walking away from Marwell is that there is a total lack of vision. Things don't work out and they just give up on them. It makes me sad...

 

Thanks for the depressing report, it seems that Marwell is nowhere near turning the corner! As myself and several others have repeatedly argued, this zoo has been in constant decline for over 10 years. I find every visit more depressing and have vowed not to visit this year after the latest departures and I'm only 2 months from achieving that, I'm not bothered about seeing the £multi-million tropical house, that will just annoy me even more!

Marwell is the equivalent of a Premier League team who've already been relegated once and are heading for another relegation. The difference is in football failing management would probably get sacked before the first relegation, how much longer will this continue

 

Just out of interest, what species would people like to see here? This could be a species that have left and/or never been kept ? Only ask as I have never been but clearly Marwell has lost a lot of species without replacing them. Any particular favourites that are missing ?

 

Hmmm, Asian Lion, Black Rhino, Kiang, Kulan, Onager, Maned Wolf, African Hunting Dog, Fennec Fox, Sand Cat, Sumatran Tiger, Clouded Leopard, Jaguar, Llama, Vicuna, Guanaco, Alpaca, Colobus, Patas Monkey, Takin, Anoa, Malayan Tapir, Rodrigues Fruit Bat, Chapman's Zebra, Gemsbok, Black Gnu, Eland, Nilgai, Black Buck, Swamp Deer, Serval, Caracal, Lynx, Wombat, Black Ape, Arabian Gazelle, Ankole, Tarpan, Wisent, ......anyone want to add a few more?

 

An Ape species. Gorilla or Bonobo maybe

Bears - of any species

Hyenas

 

Gee it would be nice to see all of those, plus a few marsupials/small mammals, and a few more rare ungulates to secure the collection, but I see that as unlikely, I hope not though..

 

Marwell has never held Alpaca,still holds Anoa at the moment,how about Goral,Dama gazelle,Impala,Walleroo,Babirusa,Black footed cat,Bush dog,and on and on,as long as people still come to Marwell it will not change,and it gets over half a million vistors a year,the future is as now a smaller zoo as regards animal areas,it would look better if it knocked down the old empty areas that wont be used now and tided it up.

 

I think they need to add more ABC species in the short term to regain interest in the collection. Possibly move some of the hoofstock around the Leopard exhibit into paddocks at the rear of the park and introduce carnivores such as African Lions and/or African Hunting Dogs. Have an African themed section with the cheetahs, giraffes, bongo, lemur loop (pathetic attempt of a walk-through exhibit considering the amount of unused space they could have built it on) and then the new carnivore exhibits. Short term just to boost that area and get some headlining animals back into the park. Long term a species of great ape at the rear of the park with smaller primates close by. Gelada Baboons would look brilliant in one of these empty paddocks to! As for the Valley I would consider completely rehoming the giraffe (plus add a bull) into the Valley with numerous other hoofstock, rhino and cranes to actually make use of it; and then use the current giraffe section for another new species! Then extend the cafe to make use of those excellent views over the new and improved valley! Elephants would look stunning in the Valley but completely out of reach for Marwell but those are just some ideas I have for the park ha!!

 

Surely it would be better to put more animals in the empty areas ? I know I'm odd, but I go to see animals, not admire empty spaces!

 

I fear this is true - but it sums up the lack of ambition of this typically British zoo. Given its location, and its size, Marwell should be achieving at least a million visitors a year. 500,000 is not an impressive figure when compared to the numbers who go to, say, Chester, Colchester or even Drusillas.

I would suggest that, when visiting Marwell, one sees a very high proportion of slightly pissed off visitors - people who aren't having a particularly good time, people who aren't seeing enough stuff, people who don't feel particularly cherished (only London can match them on this front). Getting in some Goral, or a nice pair of Fossa, would certainly be a Very Good Thing, but it's more the whole mindset of the place: look after visitors, and show them lots of animals. Make the zoo an interesting, and attractive, and involving place to visit. I don't particularly like Colchester, but it gets it right on this front - hence its extraordinary success. And when one looks to the continent - there are legion examples of zoos that get this right, and see hundreds of thousands of visitors coming through their gates.

 

Marwell's problem IMO is that its nowadays run by a committee or trust so all the decision-making is probably more problematic. Plus is there anyone with a real sense of purposeful zoological direction? It seems the answer is no.

 

This is the conclusion we always reach in our conversations on the ride home from Marwell too.

I also agree that it is the least engaging / immersive of all the zoo's we have visited. I would even welcome them converting some of the empty space into a farm park section over leaving it as is. That would at least be engaging for the younger visitors.

What is interesting is that in my mind I increasingly find myself comparing (and not favourably) Marwell to the likes of Cotswold Wildlife Park and Wingham. I don't believe this is the category they would expect to sit in but I can honestly say I'd pick either of the other 2 over Marwell given the choice. This tells me that at least one new ABC species is needed at Marwell to reinvigorate the place. I'd go with lions personally - the public will love them and a new enclosure could be built relatively easily / cheaply. I think I would then run with the cats theme - bring back Ocelot / Serval and add Lynx / Caracal / Clouded Leopard. Ideally I would move Cloudies into the current Amur leopard enclosure and build the Amurs some improved accomodation. Longer term I would like to see Jaguars there too - and some 'interesting' small cats. Jaguarundi / Jungle cat maybe.

 

I agree but thats not going to happen of the Marwell of today,not under the present regime.

 

Sadly, you are probably right, I don't think people who care about the zoo ( including us) should just accept this though!
The present regime needs to go before they destroy a once great zoo any further!

 

On a more positive note, I was pleased on my visit there last week when I overheard that they've stopped giving out paper maps to guest visitors & instead recommend downloading their app for navigating around the zoo. Is this something other zoo's should perhaps take on board? Chester must go through so many maps a year with their visitor numbers...

 

It's easier for Marwell to do away with their map, mainly due to the fact there's not much left on it! Chester is hard enough to navigate for some visitors, even with a map.

 

It's certainly a good idea to not waste as much paper but I like collecting zoo maps and have made up quite a collection over the years but I agree that It's not a great loss!