From facebook: It’s with sadness today we announce the passing of Gerald the Giraffe last week. We know you will join us in sharing your sympathies with our dedicated Giraffe Keepers and the wider Noah’s Ark Zoo Farm family who are feeling the loss to our park. Gerald joined Noah’s Ark in 2007 at the age of 2, one of our original ‘big zoo’ animals. He was full of character and an instant hit with visitors and the media, forming an unlikely friendship with Eddie the goat and becoming love-struck with girlfriend Genny when she arrived in 2010. He was hugely popular with our visitors and the whole staff team. Gerald, 12, was proud dad to our two boys George, 4, and Geoffrey, 2. Gerald began showing signs of ill health on Friday 31st March. He was not eating and had stomach pains. Working quickly with our experienced veterinary partners we monitored him closely, running a series of tests and making him as comfortable as possible. Sadly his condition deteriorated and Gerald passed away during the night on Thursday 6th April. A full post mortem was carried out by specialists, the results of which will be returned shortly. He was a gentle giant and will be missed by all. We are creating a Memorial Wall to celebrate Gerald’s life. We’d love to hear and see your memories of Gerald with any photos you’ve taken over the years – do share yours below. We’re glad to say our much-loved giraffes Genny, George and Geoffrey have adjusted to life without Gerald and are doing well, enjoying the warmer weather outside.
Yes he was,perhaps now they will bring in a pure Retic bull to go with the female which is a pure Retic!
I agree Zoogiraffe, there isn't a huge amount of room in Britain for surplus purebred animals let alone more hybrid. We shall wait & see....
I think there may now be a good chance that a male reticulated bull (and perhaps even another female retic) may be sourced from within the European zoo community. As far as I know though they are not a member within EAZA as yet.
They came from the private collection of Nigel Marven (tv presenter of animal related shows such as "10 deadliest snakes") I knew he had aldabras but didn't know it was so many or where he got then from.
To be honest I didn't know he had lent any to Bristol Zoo. It looks like the'll be a permanent feature at Noah's Ark.
Went to the zoo today - lovely trip. A new Tapir and Capybara house is under construction. It's nice to see how the spectacled bear enclosure has developed over the past 7 months since my last visit... the bears are very active! Spoke to the owner - he hopes to get orangs in the future which would certainly be interesting. From what I saw there seem to be ostrich chicks. It's primate week so took a vip tour where I was able to feed the tamarins and marmosets. Overall a nice and informative visit with fantastic educational talks.
I'm assuming the educational talks don't stray into some of the more theological elements said to be a feature here?
No, not at all... anything but! The owner did a tad, but that wasn't park of a talk; I didn't mind as he was fairly respectful and didn't try and force his religion upon me.
I think they should look at improving their rhino, giraffe and big cat accommodation before they think about great apes. When I visited last one of the bears was pacing quite a lot, while the enclosure is a reasonable size I think it's pretty bland.