Orana Wildlife Trust has pulled out of running Natureland, Nelson after four years at the helm. New operator is now being sought Orana Wildlife Trust Pulls Plug On Nelson's Natureland... | Stuff.co.nz
hmmm, I wonder if I could persuade the bank to loan me some money..... here's the text of Nisha's link for ease of reading: ...and the original thread about Natureland being taken over by Orana: http://www.zoochat.com/17/natureland-zoo-closing-14439/
Might be prudent not to ask them!! Read the comments following the article. It was explained to us when we were there that Nelsonians had no concept of what a fair admission price should be. They really expected to visit the zoo for nothing. When the Trust did raise the admission price a fraction the locals responded by staying away in droves. It will be a pity if this zoo has to close as it is a neat little zoo with some of the most dedicated staff that I have ever met. However, it will be a herculean task to make it commercially viable. Hmmmmmm - on reflection, you might be just the person to do it!
I was going to make reference to the comments under the article, particularly the one that said at $9 it was too expensive and only "rich toruists" could afford to visit!! Someone else made the observant remark that its a good bet those same people still have enough money for their beer and cigarettes though.
It's a very, very small facility to operate as a commercial venture, or indeed to charge an admission price for. I wouldn't waste the trip to the bank Chlidonias. At best it *might* be viable as an attraction to drive attendance at a catering venture, plus you could probably get a Government subsidy for some sort of education program. But as a standalone paid-attraction zoo? It's just too small. I have to admit that I doubt I would pay $9 to see a few capuchins, meerkats, a porcupine, a possum, an aviary and some NZ reptiles. Ok, I would if Nelson were the only city in NZ I was visiting, but not if I could go to any of Auckland, Wellington, Hamilton or Christchurch on the same trip. I figured Natureland's days were numbered from the time the big earthquake hit Christchurch last year.
sadly that is how the general population think not a large enough population base to rely on general public admission to fund it been there done that and still have the stretch marks charitable trust, grants or funding educational programmes, new exhibits each year may help or a rich philanthropist
I actually thought it was a rather bizarre decision for Orana to take on Natureland in the first place. As Steve says its a nice little zoo but without doubt its major visitor base is the local population, and I think it will always struggle there. It would be interesting to see some costs of what it takes to run it and how many visitors it needs to make it viable.
You will need those figures to take to your Bank. An article somewhere said that they get 30,000 visitors a year but need 35,000 to achieve viability.
found that article: Financial lifeline for zoo - news - nelson-mail | Stuff.co.nz "Ms Anderson [from Orana] said about 30,000 people were visiting Natureland each year and to make it viable it needed to get 35,000 people through the gate a year." I'm not sure if that is the total number needed, or only the total needed when the local council is supporting the zoo (Orana was paying $10 rent yearly, and the council was providing $200,000 support the first year [from 2008], $175,000 the second year, and $150,000 after that for the next five years). I just checked the Nelson Council site: http://www.nelsoncitycouncil.co.nz/facts-and-figures/ Nelson city has 42,891 people.....
and there are the figures. Looks like they need to double the entry price to take enough, but if they do then the numbers of visitors will drop too much. Or keep the entry price and double the visitor numbers.
Seven fulltime staff seems rather excessive, I would have thought they could have got by with less than that, why did they need two new staff? I would like to know what the staff roles are, I could see it being 2-3 keepers, one receptionist/retail person (plus part-timer here too) and then a teacher for the education side of things. Make the most of volunteers for garden/ground maintenance, and even cleaning/food prep and feeding of domestic species. What species does Natureland have, other than farmyard species? Any native species? Is the walkthrough aviary just standard exotic birds? Are meerkats, capuchins, & porcupine the only exotic mammals? It says they have a "retail area", is this just a shop, or is there a cafe here too?
I can't remember staff numbers when I was there, but I would expect one full time shop/reception and one part-time, three or four keepers (three minimum) and the manager who may also be a keeper. I would suggest the two new staff would be the educators. The retail area is a small shop where reception (tickets) is; no cafe. There are a few native birds (apart for the kea and kakariki, mostly rescue individuals), tuatara and some geckoes. The walk-through is all exotics (mainly Australian parakeets); there was a plan to turn it into a native aviary but the roof needed repairing before that would happen. The only mammals apart for the domestics are fallow deer, porcupine, meerkats, capuchins and possum. They did have otters previously but they died of old age and instead of replacing them Orana had them modify the enclosure and sent them the porcupine which they needed to off-load.
Zoo's Fate Known Tomorrow - news - nelson-mail | Stuff.co.nz and a couple of the comments below the article: "Yes put down the prices because no one in Nelson would pay $4.50 to visit their local zoo. As cheap as $4.50 might sound it is a lot of darn money if you are a Nelsonian." "How do you get in for $4.50? Cost me $10 per adult the last time I went there earlier this year and I thought the price was a bit high. If I could get in for $4.50 I'd go several times a year because my son really enjoyed it but at $10 I won't go back."
on looking at the figures a few posts back I decided that I didn't want my bank manager displacing a spinal disc from laughing too hard, so decided not to pursue the idea any further than just the passing fancy.
