Charlie from Longleat has today moved to Newquay Zoo. Story here: News at Newquay Zoo Brotherly love Today (30th September 2009) Charlie, an African Lion, arrived from Longleat Safari Park to join his older sister Connie. Animal Collections Manager John Meek said "Connie is now beyond breeding age and has appeared extremely content on her own since the sad loss of Kabir last year. An opportunity has arisen for her younger brother ‘Charlie' to join her from Longeat. Charlie is two years younger than Connie but at eleven years old is a full grown adult lion. There is the possibility that Connie may not want company as she seems a very relaxed, chilled out lioness enjoying her retirement at Newquay. So it has been agreed with Longleat that should there be any sibling rivalry he would be welcomed back to the safari park. The arrival of a new lion is always a very exciting event for staff and visitors, and we are looking forward to seeing Charlie strut his stuff here at Newquay Zoo." The journey down from Longleat went very well and as you can see in the photos here, Charlie is a handsome lion and sure to be a big attraction with the visitors. He will be on view to the public from Saturday 3rd October
That's a shock! I saw him in late August at Longleat and spoke to a keeper who said nothing about him leaving. Good luck to Newquay with him and let's hope Connie enjoys the company.
It's a shame that Longleat have lost their last fully grown male; the only ones in pride B are young and as far as I know haven't grown proper manes yet. Still, I wish all my luck to Newquay, he's a very impressive lad.
A surprise move I'd say, but it was unfair for Newquay to keep Connie on her own for this long! I wonder if there are plans to breed from the Pride A lionesses, but I'm thinking they are possibly too old? The males in Pride B may need splitting up as well, hence Charlie's move to Newquay?
The article does state that if they don't get on then Longleat will take him back. If things do go well with him and Connie then this could mean that some of the younger males from pride B can be put in with Charlie's old pride. Freeing up space for a new male to come into pride B.
Sounds like an ideal plan. The older male (mr dudley or nookie, i don't know which one is left!) is definately of breeding age now, so needs removing. As for a new male, i'd be tempted to say one/two would need to come from Blair drummond or Woburn. There are already Longleat genes in the Knowsley pride, and who would want a lion from west mids? may have white lion genes in them haha!
Woburn only has one adult male lion, and one youngster, the other three males are castrated. I think getting new blood would be a better option for them!
Blair Drummond might not be an option as either Nookie or Mr Dudley has now bred with one of the ex Blair Drummond females at Blackpool Zoo.
The only zoo I can think of with African's (breeding) are Africa's Alive, who had their first litter a few years ago, but whether them male cubs where castrated is another matter. Possibly Europe is the only other option, but I'm partial to say that because it is a safari park, they may just take any male lion going spare for breeding?
That's pretty much what happend with Kabir. I heard a while back that Coombe Martin in Devon were looking to re-home a least 1 of there 3 ex-linton males. Possibilty there?
Yeah, that could be a good deal there, them males must be around 3 years old now, would be ideal for the younger pride.
Great News, just need to see if all things go well i think this is a great situation Longleat have agreed if things do not go well as Connie has been very content on her own he still has a place with the pride at Longleat. If things do go well options could be open for Longleat Just need to give the situation lots of time, Good luck to Longleat in the future and hope Charlie likes it at Newquay.He is a very handsome looking Lion - A look Longleat has come to have of its own. As for spare males go the 3 that are now at Coombe Martin Samson,Leo and Lennie would be of breeding age as they were born in May 2007 however it may not be wise for all three to go.Linton have just her cubs from their other pair which are 2 males and 1 female - I think im right in saying that Linton would like to keep 1 or 2 of the cubs as the enclosure is of a very deacent size and could happily accomodate 5/6 lions or so. We need to remember to keep the Pride going they only need 1/2 litters overcrowding is something not needed. Just need to give this issue time to see if they want to breed from the Prides at the moment as Pride B allready have younger animals so may not want them to breed for another few years as for Charlies Pride they are all middle-ages and cubs would have to be bred reasonably soon if they want to keep the Pride going with the blood they have there. Kind Regards
Press said he fell but a keeper told me it was actually Connie that broke the previous male's leg so for that reason I think they were justified in being cautious about bringing in a new male. He also said they'd probably use the enclosure for Jaguars when they go out of lions.
Jaguars! very interesting it would be highly interesting to see how they landscape the enclosure for jaguars. They now have a video on the homepage of th website: Welcome to Newquay Zoo
