Noah's Ark Zoo Farm Noah's Ark suspended by zoo welfare group

A Wraxall zoo farm at the centre of allegations it is breeding tigers and camels to be used in circuses has been temporarily stripped of its membership of the country's leading zoo welfare association.

Noah's Ark suspended by zoo welfare group | Bristol News

 

Tira the tiger -Noahs Ark Zoo

Thank you for your post I have just followed the link you gave and read the article. I watched Tira ( the tiger who had the cubs ) over the summer on the web cam at CheckItLive.com : Homepage as did many others, it was very sad to see at the time as we watched her go from bad to worse until she died. I know many of the people watching her were very upset over it from the comments they posted but the zoo staff who answered them did not seem to be very worried about Tira’s health and it was a terrible shock when she died, this makes it even worse now if this is true? Does anybody out there live near the zoo and have any first hand experiences of it’s animal care standards?

 

Its all coming true.

 

I feel BIAZA should have not promoted Noah's Ark Zoo Farm to join as a member of BIAZA at the first place when it became a full member within a year of application. BIAZA really turned a blind eye to allegations recently, but I am glad BIAZA has suspended the NAZF’s membership.

I am concerned about NAZF’s next project to build the new elephant enclosure in the future, this time should be halted due to poor management.

 

Oh dear, its going from bad to worse.

 

The more I hear, like JamesB says, the worse it gets! I really hope that with BIAZA it is more than just a suspension. I saw that report on the web and it seems to be a case of if anyone asks say nothing!

Let's be honest, sometimes, in exceptional circumstances, animals die during birth or shortly after birth. It could be the mother or the young. It happens in captivity and it happens in the wild. As volunteers at Edinburgh Zoo we will often be told in updates if young have died or, as is sometimes the case, been killed by one of the parents. As we are told early on, it happens, that's nature. If you want animals to behave as naturally as possible in captivity you have to accept that. It happens in captivity, it happens in the wild. Only if the young animal is exceptionally important as part of a breeding programme will keepers step in otherwise you could end up with an unstble captive group on your hands which could lead to even more devastating consequences!

Most, if not all, modern zoos will, if asked, admit that deaths happen and the records they keep will be available for examination. Documentation relating to any animal is extensive and covers more detail than you might first imagine! A good zoo will always make itself open to scrutiny by anyone who wants to scrutinise.

What I saw in that report was a case of yes it happened but you didn't see it, right.

Life is harsh but trying to hide it from anyone doesn't help. In fact in my eyes, trying to hide something is basically an admission of guilt!

It needs BIAZA to boot them out completely and publicly say that NAZF is NOT the way good zoos operate! In fact having somewhere like NAZF as a member of any zoo association can sadly bring other zoos in to disrepute, purly by a public perception of being linked via a common body.

 

good riddance to Noahs farm zoo park , i have never visited this place and usually refrain from criticising zoological gardens i havent seen firsthand , but it is my opinion as an athiest and a person conscientious and critical of religeon and its place within the modern scientific community that a zoological garden whose ethics involve teaching creationsim and biblical interpretations of the natrual world , i think the focus of zoological gardens should be of teaching the younger generations the truth of natrual selection and evolution , this zoo has no valid place to hold a licence for a zoological garden , not to mention these claims of animal cruelty and its alleged links to circuses , hopefully this foul place will be shut down

 

"Mr Lacey, as well as being the owner of the Great British Circus, is also a director of Linctrek."

hmmm. what does this suggest?
I didn't think you could have large animals like that in circuses anymore in the UK. And why would they not be worried about the tiger if they needed them for the circus?

Eurgh and the tiger webcam is still on this second!

Quote from their website that i've just found:

We are members of BIAZA: the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums, South West Tourism, Destination Bristol, Tourism Attractions Alliance, the National Farmers Union, Country Land and Business Association, Nailsea Chamber of Trade, British Camelid Association, Avon Farming and the Wildlife Advisory
Group.

 

"I didn't think you could have large animals like that in circuses anymore in the UK. And why would they not be worried about the tiger if they needed them for the circus?"

You can still keep animals in circus in the UK, GB circus have just finished touring with 3 elephants. I don't understand the second part of your question though, could you explain please?

 

I think it is still legal to have animals in circuses in the UK but over the last 10 years animal circuses have become less and less popular until recently when the Great British Circus started to exhibit performing animals again. I think I read somewhere that the members of BIAZA are not allowed to breed animals for commercial profit or to pass them on to commercial organizations who make profit from them and this is where the problem lies for Noah’s Ark if they are members of BIAZA and passing animals on to a circus (commercial organization) it would be breaking the rules of BIAZA.

 

Just to add, the biggest reason as to why zoos nowadays do not pay for animals or receive payment for animals themselves is that it then gives the animals a value, one of the things that drives illegal animal poaching in the wild. This applies to zoos the world over in BIAZA, EAZA and WAZA.

 

It's not illegal for circus' to use large exotic animals. The government stopped it going through right at the last minute as "There are only a couple of such circus' in the UK".

 

DEFRA also came to the conclusion, after a great deal of evidence was presented to it, that the extravagant, dishonest and emotive claims put to it by the antis about circus training and husbandry could not be substantiated.

 

Noah's Ark Zoo Farm hits back at animal cull claim

in todays bristol post

Noah's Ark Zoo Farm hits back at animal cull claim

Bosses at a Wraxall zoo farm have denied killing some of their animals during the winter closed season to save money – and hit out at the group that has made the claim.

Noah's Ark Zoo Farm hits back at animal cull claim | Bristol News

 

More nonsense. As I've said before, I don't think the husbandry at NAZF is up to scratch but the antis are really clutching at straws here. Another non-issue.

What's wrong with breeding and culling domestic livestock to feed to carnivores? They've to get their sustenance from somewhere. Somewhere along the line an animal will have to be killed to provide food for the Tigers etc what difference does it make whether this is done onsite or elsewhere?

Does the offer of rehoming otherwise tiger-fodder only extend to the stock at NAZF? If not then we could see some rather overpopulated 'sanctuaries' and some rather malnourished tigers around the uk.

 

Food for carnivores

Thanks for your opinion but I can not agree with you. I feel that it is the place of Zoos and similar organizations to encourage respect to all animals even the small ones, carnivores of course have to have meat, but I don’t think it should come from with in the Zoo, it does not encourage respect for animal life it children see for example a rabbit in a petting zoo one week and then when the rabbit is “past its prime” or there is not as much money coming in it is killed and used as food for an other animal, it is being viewed as a resource not a living creature.

 

Unfortunately for NAZF, these 'revelations' have opened a whole 'can of worms' and they are now being pilloried from all sides, some of it justified, some less so.

 

Well they are not the only collection to do this with domestic stock as long as its done humanely I`ve got no problem with it,as it makes good financial sense to me and you also know exactly what the animal has been fed with before you feed it to your Big Cats etc.

 

Exactly. Means you can keep a good eye on the supply chain!

I'd normally be happy to put the boot into Noah's, as there's a lot of things I disagree with about the place, but I really don't think they're doing anything wrong on this point.

 

I think I'm right in saying that this happens in a LOT of zoos. Also, NAZF is also a working farm, so they have even more of a "right" to do this. I'd agree it'd be hard explaining it to kids and I for one could never kill something, but I see why it happens and I'm ok with it.