Orana Wildlife Park Orana News 2013

zooboy28 · 14 Sep 2013

Orana Park remains closed, with no reopening date yet. The Park suffered worse damage than it has done in the recent earthquakes and snowstorms, with many fallen trees downing fences (including of the lion reserve) and power still not restored, five days after the wild weather.

From Orana's facebook page:

PROGRESS UPDATE ? SATURDAY, 14 SEPTEMBER

The wind storm last Tuesday has been the most damaging event in the history of the Park causing more damage than the earthquakes or the snow events over the last three years. The McLeans Island area, where the Park is located, also suffered extensive damage that caused the closure of the road (now open as at late Friday). Multiple trees fell along the road shredding electricity and communication lines.

Within the Park, many large trees came down causing damage to most fences. Luck was on the Park?s side as no animal houses or key buildings were severely damaged due to falling trees. A large gum tree took out a section of the lion reserve fence, but the lions were safely tucked up in their secure night house as we take safety very seriously.

Incredible progress has been made in the last few days towards the clean-up. We have had some incredible help from contractors for which we are very grateful. Large trees have been moved out of the way and strong temporary repairs have been completed to the damaged fences.

All animals are well and there have been no instances where animals have been out of their enclosures. I am incredibly proud of our dedicated team of staff and volunteers who have worked tirelessly to care for the animals in extremely trying conditions.

What we urgently need is the reinstatement of the severely damaged electricity lines to the Park. The 4 pm Orion release today says that electricity has now been restored to over 90% of the 28,000 customers affected. Again, no work on the damaged lines happened today so it seems the Park will be one of the last to be reconnected.

Four generators are running at the Park, but this is only enough to provide basic emergency infrastructure to enable us to care for the animals. A temporary communications centre has been set up at a staff member?s home to enable us to organise what we need to get the job done.

We will get the Park open again as soon as we possibly can. In the meantime, we would like to express our sincere thanks to the following companies:
* Gardiner Excavating - For removing all fallen trees off fences and making short work of the dangerous trees. Kevin and team have been amazing!
* Noel Preen Contracting - For speedy repairs to damaged fences and great suggestions for generator sources!
* Smith?s Cranes ? For loan of generator powering animal food preparation room.
* Total Power Services ? For loan of large generator powering one well pump which provides essential limited water supply.
* GT Construction ? For loan of generator powering food chiller and freezer.
* Protranz ? For loan of generator powering the electric fencing systems, plus the loan of a water tanker for enclosure cleaning.
* Melray Electrical ? For helping source two of the generators and hooking them up.

We thank you all for your support and assure you we are working very hard to re-open, so you can all enjoy our special Park once again. Once this latest set-back is behind us we will be working hard on the new Gorilla enclosure and now have some amazing big trees we are saving for enclosure furniture!!!
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zooboy28 · 15 Sep 2013

Article on the siamang escape, with a few little updates, and a lot of other rubbish:

Story here: The escape of Orana Park's gibbons - national | Stuff.co.nz

The escape began promptly after morning tea.

The father went first. He headed into the green murk, likely for the first time in his life. He used reeds for balance while slowly floating across the moat that had enclosed him for seven years. His two sons quickly followed, leaping from a rope over the small expanse of water. Within minutes, the trio were on the outside. They were free.

They tipped over wheelie bins. They sat on picnic benches and swung from roof gutterings. They appeared calm as they peered through glass windows at the animals now locked in small enclosures around the park.

The call came through: The gibbons were loose. About 200 humans were shut in safe houses. The message was simple: Get the apes back.

Christchurch's Orana Wildlife Park has a containment manual for each of the 70 species in its care. There are risk profiles of each animal and how best to recapture them if they happen to escape from their respective enclosures. They could be frightened or aggressive. They could lash out.

The emergency plan was implemented as soon as the three Siamang gibbons were seen on the wrong side of their monkey island last Saturday: Get visitors in lockdown. Lure the animals back into a safe enclosure. Recapture. Have a tranquiliser gun on standby. Along with big cats, baboons and chimpanzees, gibbons are high on the shoot-to-kill list. So if humans are at risk, or it's probable the apes might escape from the park, replace that tranquiliser gun with a real one.

But the Siamang family did not terrorise any visitors. Instead, park spokesman Nathan Hawke said, they seemed to be relatively content.

"They behaved very calmly but you never know how they are going to react in a certain situation."

Seeing an animal escapade seems to trigger an excitement in humans; they almost long for the critters to continue their journey - to jump the fence and live out their lives in the wild as nature intended.

"There is a real desire in today's modern concrete jungle to be in touch with nature and see those species out and about," says renowned animal behaviour expert Mark Vette. "But obviously that is not suitable."

EVERY ANIMAL escape and attack in New Zealand is reported to the Environmental Protection Agency. There is a long list of animal escapes from enclosures since records began in 2004-2005.

In 2006, a red panda escaped Hamilton Zoo. It was run over by a car on the outside. In 2007, a male capuchin monkey escaped Franklin Zoo in Auckland and was on the run for nine days before being found under a shed.

Ring-tailed lemurs, spider monkeys, antelopes, otters and cotton top tamarins have all thwarted the supposedly rigorous containment procedures for New Zealand's captive animals.

In 2004-2005, only three incidents of attack or escape were reported. In the 2012 financial year there were 22.

For all zoo keepers the worst scenario is one of those escapes turning into a serious attack on a person. So why do we have so many of them?

"We are dealing with living, clever critters," says national manager of the Zoo and Aquarium Association Stephanie Jervis.

"We can put everything into place and work thoroughly through every eventuality but things can happen."

Even with the Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI) regularly monitoring animal containment practices, the unforeseen can occur.

Earthquakes, snowstorms and human error can all contribute to an animal escape, says Jervis, who heads the representative group that most zoos in the country belong to.

In the case of the Orana gibbons, however, she says the unforeseen was more straightforward.

"We didn't know that Siamangs are able to swim."

It was a similar situation in 2010 when three of Orana's normally water-averse cheetahs escaped their enclosure, also by swimming a moat, and roamed the public area for 30 minutes before being recaptured.

In some cases, all the procedures, regulations and ever-modernising facilities count for nought. Life, it seems, will find a way.

However, Safe director Hans Kriek says the effort to give animals "modern" enclosures has created zoos that look better for people but are not necessarily better for animals. Kriek, a former zoo worker turned animal welfare advocate, says animals like gibbons used to be kept in square metal cages.

"It gave the animals a three-dimensional environment. But humans don't like seeing animals behind heavy looking bars."

So the idea of islands came in, which, Kriek says, "looks a hell of a lot better". But when you looked at the amount of space in such enclosures there was less room to move than the old cages. Often there was more ability for them to escape.

While Kriek is against the enclosure of animals in general, he says the move to modernised environments is actually a factor in why so many animals - particularly apes - seem to get loose. And when that happens, he says, the biggest risk is to the animal themselves.

"It is well recorded that when they escape they often end up dead. [Zoos] can't afford to take the risk."

The most well-known case of that occurring was in 1967 when two tigers, Napoleon and Josephine, escaped from their Wellington Zoo enclosure after a keeper failed to properly close their door.

Just after 1am on March 19, Paul Russell saw Napoleon padding down a Newtown street.

"I thought I was seeing things," he told the Dominion newspaper the next day.

The two tigers were shot by police.

The MPI says New Zealand's containment standards are international best practice and informed by international standards.

"It would be unwise to state that containment breaches are completely preventable, as mistakes can happen," a ministry spokesperson says. "However, MPI's guidelines and requirements are designed to ensure that breaches happen rarely and that there are plans in place to mitigate any breaches with no harm to either the public or any animals."

Wellington Zoo general operations manager Mauritz Dasson says it tends to go above those minimum standards.

"On a normal good day, with all things equal, a lion will be content and happy but then comes something- a bizarre explosion or a fight breaks out in the group or a storm and that is when they show how agile and how amazingly keen they will be to get out."

But some smaller zoos around the country are known to be more relaxed with their interpretation of the rules, he says. Animals will always do something that surprises you.

"We are not arrogant enough to say we are smarter than them and say they won't get out. We will look after them but if they want to show how smart they are your jaw will hang open," Dasson says.

As for Oscar and the other Siamangs, the whole family is under house arrest and unable to get back to their island until the moat has been deepened and widened. That, says Hawke, will ensure they can never escape never again. After all, gibbons don't like water and they certainly can't swim that far. Right?
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zooboy28 · 15 Sep 2013

CLOSURE PROGRESS UPDATE ? SUNDAY, 15 SEPTEMBER

The latest from the Orana facebook page, including news on the siamang enclosure and the reopening date (or current lack of).

The team continues to work incredibly hard caring for the animals. Most of the animals are getting to enjoy the warmth of the outdoors during the day. Loaned large generators provided by extremely caring companies (see yesterday?s update for a list) have made all the difference! Only a few animals still have ?cabin fever? as back-up generators can only provide enough electricity for the basics, like minimal water supply, food storage and electric fencing systems. We have directed our total limited generation capacity towards ensuring animal welfare needs are met to the best of our ability.

A huge milestone has been achieved today! The modifications to the Siamang enclosure are complete and this will mean they will get to enjoy the great outdoors on their island again tomorrow. Attached is a photo of the new electric failsafe system that runs under their transfer ropes to the island along with the extended moat. The moat was widened and deepened on Tuesday. The modifications would have been completed by Wednesday had it not been for the storm. I would like to give a huge vote of thanks to the team who have worked tirelessly over the weekend to complete the Siamang modifications. They were completed at 4 pm today and the animals will be in the outdoors again tomorrow!!! We never take any chances, so there will be a dedicated ?ape watch? team rostered on even though the moat size is hugely increased.

The clean-up has progressed to an extent that the only matter preventing us from announcing a firm date to re-open is continued uncertainty around the restoration of electricity supply and communication lines to the Park.

Orion (as per their communications and restoration map on their website), informed us on Friday that the power would be restored Saturday. Sunday has come and gone and still no work has commenced on restoring the shredded electricity lines leading to the Park. The latest announcement from Orion (as at 4:30 pm today with a map showing we should be connected) is that there are only 2,000 customers left to restore. Sadly, it now definitely seems the Park will be one of the very last and is not considered a priority. We know it has been a huge job since 28,000 customers were initially without electricity, however, this does not ease our heavy hearts in that we cannot provide heating for over 400 precious animals tonight when the weather forecast is for a -2 degrees Celsius night.

Thank you for your continued support. We will keep you updated on progress and we can?t wait to get back to developing your special Park once again. Brand new five year animal and development plans have just been completed and we absolutely assure you there are very exciting times ahead!!!

I am so incredibly proud of our team who continue to do such an amazing job!
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zooboy28 · 16 Sep 2013

CLOSURE PROGRESS UPDATE – MONDAY, 16 SEPTEMBER

Latest update from Orana's facebook - the Siamangs have been let out, but the Park still have no power and have been told that it will not be restored until Friday at the earliest.

Update includes link to video on situation:

The team continues to work incredibly hard caring for the animals. Most importantly, the Siamangs were let out again today following their major containment modifications. Oscar, Peggy, Jasper, Cian and the baby sure did enjoy the sunshine after 9 days in lock-down! Our dedicated volunteers were rostered on “Siamang watch” throughout the day, so a huge vote of thanks you to you all.

This morning heralded good news in that the first small crew arrived to start working on the shredded power lines leading towards the Park after 6 full days without electricity. We were told we could expect electricity to be restored tomorrow (Tuesday). Sadly, this is not going to happen and Orion’s latest update is that it could be Friday at the earliest or it may not even be restored for the weekend. Orion, you have a big job, but we implore you to give us some firm answers so we can plan to care from our animals. We would have got in more generators if we knew it was going to take this long.

Check out that the animals are doing ok on Campbell Live tonight ... see link: Orana Park struggling with power outage - Story - Campbell Live - TV Shows - 3 News

Thank you to all for your support. The clean-up has gone so well that we could open by Thursday, but we simply cannot without electricity. We are relying on Orion to come through.

I continue to be extremely proud of our incredible team!!!
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driftaguy · 17 Sep 2013

Orana's 'gentle giant' giraffe dies

Orana Wildlife Park's oldest giraffe has died.

A statement from the zoo this afternoon said staff and volunteers were mourning the loss of 25-year-old Nathalie, who died overnight.

Nathalie was the second giraffe to be born at Orana and gave birth to six calves, making a valuable contribution to the zoo-based giraffe breeding programme.

The zoo's head keeper of exotic mammals, Rob Clifford, said everyone was ''very upset'' by the sudden loss.

''She was a grand old lady and one of the nicest giraffes I have worked with. We were very fortunate that Nathalie was such a genuine gentle giant; she had a fantastic nature."

Thousands of visitors had been given the chance to handfeed Nathalie over the years and she had been a ''fabulous'' ambassador for large animals, Clifford said.

''[She] would have enthused many children to have a love of wildlife. She will be sadly missed," he said.

The zoo was waiting for the results of an autopsy carried out this afternoon to determine the cause of her death.

Orana's giraffe herd now stood at four animals, including one-year-old Fanana, who arrived at the park last month from Australia's Taronga Western Plains Zoo.
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Source: Orana Park's 'Gentle Giant' Giraffe Dies | Stuff.co.nz

zooboy28 · 17 Sep 2013

CLOSURE PROGRESS UPDATE – TUESDAY, 17 SEPTEMBER

And they now have power! I suspect the segment on Campbell Live helped with that. From Orana's facebook:

The photo shows the linesmen working close to the Park’s main gate late this afternoon!!!

The entire team is devastated by the loss of our special giraffe, Nathalie, during the night. She certainly was a very special grand old lady and we will sadly miss her. Thank you to all for your huge support at this very sad time.

On such a sad day, the high point is that electricity was restored to Orana Wildlife Park at 7 pm this evening. I would like to express my sincere thanks to Orion who spurred into action this morning in many incredible ways. By mid-morning a mobile generator truck was on-site. This enabled the full powering of the water pumping systems that hugely eased the load of our hard working keepers today, who have been bucketing water from a tanker around large parts of the zoo.

The best was yet to come in that Orion directed a large team of linesmen onto the electricity lines leading to the Park. Getting electricity restored today was more that we could have hoped for and we are extremely grateful for this grand effort.

With the restoration of electricity we will be in a position to do a full safety survey of the zoo tomorrow (Wednesday). All remaining dangerous trees will be dealt to in the next couple of days. We will be in a position to provide you all with a firm date for re-opening within the next 48 hours.

Most importantly, all animal will have their heating on again tonight!!!

Thank you to all for your most valued support.
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zooboy28 · 18 Sep 2013

CLOSURE PROGRESS UPDATE – WEDNESDAY, 18 SEPTEMBER

Latest Orana facebook update is a mix of good and bad news:

Restoration of electricity last night at 7 pm was a total highlight after a very hard week and such a sad time with the loss of our beautiful Nathalie, our grand lady yesterday.

Today has brought some lows and highs as we work very hard towards getting Orana Wildlife Park open again for all of our community to enjoy.

The biggest low this morning was the decision to put our oldest female Kangaroo, Felicity, to sleep. Felicity has had poor health for some time and her medication was not improving her condition.

A further set-back followed in that although we have power restored, all communications have been lost again. With so much work going on in the area to deal with dangerous trees, we expect that an underground communication line has been severed. Telecom will be working on the fault in the morning. In the meantime, the telephones have been diverted to a staff member’s house again!!!

The high point of the day is that we did a full safety survey of the Park and have set a tentative date for re-opening. We identified all remaining hazards and have amazing teams working on making the Park safe. I would like to give a particular vote of thanks to Gardiner Excavating and Protranz who have worked tirelessly with a full team and large equipment for the last week. The picture shows one of the last few unsafe trees being pushed over near the adventure playground. Please check back for an update tomorrow when we will confirm this re-opening date for certain.

Again, this has been the most damaging event for the Park in our 35+ year history. All animals remain well and cared for so that is our most important duty, followed very closely by being able to invite you all back to our special place. I am incredibly proud of our amazing team and what has been achieved. We have wonderful dedicated people at Orana Wildlife Park, who have worked extremely hard in very trying conditions.

Thank you again to all Park supporters. We look forward to seeing you again soon!!!!
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driftaguy · 18 Sep 2013

I must say this has been a very bad month for animal deaths in NZ zoos.

Nisha · 18 Dec 2013

2.0 Cheetah have been born and are currently being handreared. If they continue to do well then in 2014 a transfer to Wellington is on the cards for them both
Cute Cheetah Cubs at Orana | Scoop News

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