Media release – December 20, 2006 NZ’s only open range zoo Orana Wildlife Park begins new era with new home for tigers, more rhino and breeding lion Orana Wildlife Park, New Zealand’s only open range zoo, will start the next 30 years of its life in 2007 with a new home for tigers, more rhino and a breeding male lion. Orana Park is adding two massive female white rhino, a new breeding male lion and a male siamang gibbon ape to pair with its female, Peggy. Two rare tigers moved into their new $500,000 home just before Christmas. The state of the art tiger area is now housing two critically-endangered Sumatran tigers from the Western Plains Zoo in Dubbo, Australia. Tigers had been absent from Orana for seven years. The park needs a new breeding lion after Toby died suddenly this year. Toby was Orana’s sole breeding male so his loss was a tragedy for the park. Work on the lion’s den in 2007 will provide room to increase the size of the lion pride. The Christchurch wildlife park celebrated its 30th anniversary in November by re-introducing tigers, to an impressive new tiger area. The park has grown from six species and 20 odd animals in 1976 to 400 animals from more than 70 species today. More than four million visitors have been to Orana which has become an internationally recognised zoo and has reached many significant milestones since 1976. The park first established a reputation for having New Zealand’s only drive-through lion reserve from 1976 to 1995. ``Today visitors can hand feed giraffe, meet rhino “face-to-faceâ€Â, see the speed of the world’s fastest land mammal the cheetah and travel through the lion habitat on board a feeding wagon for very close views,’’ Orana chief executive Lynn Anderson says. They are one of only 20 captive institutions worldwide successfully breeding cheetah. In fact, Orana has received international recognition for achieving repeated breeding success with cheetah – a species notoriously difficult to breed in captivity. In total, 11 cheetahs have been bred at the park. ADVERTISEMENT They have been involved in the breeding programme for Rothschild’s giraffes for over 20 years and have bred 13 giraffes. Over 80 scimitar-horned oryx have been bred at the Park. This species was declared extinct in the wild (but captive management programmes have enabled them to be re-populated in some areas). Orana is the only major zoo in New Zealand that is not owned and operated by local government. Therefore its operational costs are not highly subsidised by the ratepayer and all capital developments are separately fundraised for from outside sources. ``Today, Christchurch has an internationally recognised zoo which has been developed without burden on the ratepayer. To date, less than $5 million has been spent constructing Orana Wildlife Park and this is significantly less than many major zoos currently spend on a single new exhibit for one species,’’ Anderson said. During the year the park won five awards including one for its design of the ape island. They produced two baby giraffes, two lemurs, a waterbuck and springbok. During the year Orana animal keepers fed nearly 30,000kg of meat to its animals. Orana offers more than imported wild animals. It has developed a habitat that plays a huge part in protecting native species. Since 2000, 52 endangered NZ species have been bred at the park and released to the wild. Twenty-three nationally endangered blue duck ducklings bred at the park during the last five breeding seasons have been released back to the wild near Mt Taranaki as part of the Department of Conservation (DoC) recovery programme. Since the programme started in 2000, more than 25 percent of all blue ducks released to the wild have been bred at the park. Twenty-seven brown teal have been successfully raised and all have been released to the wild in three different locations. A further twelve teal have been bred this season. The park also breeds North Island brown kiwi as part of the managed captive programme. Two Orana-bred kiwi have been released to the wild this year. The spotted skink, a lizard thought to be extinct in the Christchurch area, was recently confirmed to be living on the grounds at Orana Wildlife Park. Additional predator traps are in place so the spotted skink has a safe habitat in which to survive and hopefully multiply. Orana’s natural setting provides a habitat where more than 20 NZ native species live including: NZ scaup, shoveller, pukeko, pied stilt, grey teal, spotted skink, Australasian coot, oystercatchers, spur winged plovers, white faced herons, paradise shelduck, bellbirds, skinks, native stick insects and wetas. The majority of Park waste is recycled. Of particular note, animal faecal matter is processed into garden fertiliser that is sold in theSouth Island under the brand name “Zoo Dooâ€Â. The park received a Target Zero award for these efforts. Ends
hey nigel, thanks for that info. a few months ago i posted some info about orana's work that i thought was realy cool. they do seem to be doing a disproportianite (did i spell that right, um, no?) ammount of conservation work considering their level of financial independence.
its seems odd they do so much, i mean nealry 90 oryx, phew- thts alot of oryx, but if they are doing it on limited budget, tell every1 else how 2!!!
thats what im talking about too!!! the stuff with the native animals is really worth applauding too. and they also demonstrate that it can be done as an independent business not restricted to or limited by govt handouts. did anyone read that last year ARAZPA members donated $7+ million to in-situ conservation work. thats alot, but im thinking it may be more. that figure might just be straight out cash donations, and not contra like staff exchanges, equipment donations technical support and the like etc.
yea we do some good mate, and as u said, everyone donates after they see the taronga elephants, maybe there was some good in importing to taronga!!!
i honestly believe that. hey Zoo_Boy, have you actually seen the new elephants yet? besides being gorgeous, they put on the best show in the zoo, better than the seal show, or the bird show. they are just amazing creatures, and yep. lots of ppl are donating to the cause
i havnt which is shitting me, i am so broke it not funny, i really want to see em, and meet them, maybe if we both go see mr miller, and miss melo, maybe they will let us!
yea i know they were imported as well, wonder what there salary is, there was mr miller, and a keeper and head of eles for melb as well.
actually maybe im just jealous, what a dream job. a posting to an exotic location thailand, a major and succesful legal case, 8 gorgeous animals, fanastic team of people and a new life in australia. and working with eles every day
sounds very hard to me, i am jealous, but i dnt no whtehr i want to work with eles yet, i mean i want a few years on everything else, where i can roate around the diff dept. eles is a full time job, i like the variety.
i dont know, id like to go straight to the elephant dept. i have a fascination with elephants, they are so beautiful and intelligent, and you can develop bonds with them. other keepers ive envied were that german chick, who worked with melbournes gorillas
o yea, um bloody hell carnt gacth her name, i know her off tv, bugga o well, yea im now facinated with gorrillas after seeing the movie gorrillas in the mist tonight. wow was that moving, yes im abloke and im not afarid to cry
its ulli something. i have the zoo company video and she was on that, she has a very special relationship with rigo
back to Orana Park ....... My only guess as to its (reasonable) "success" for raising enough $$s to do all that they do , would be because it is the only place in the South Island that could accurately be considered as a zoo , rather than a small menagerie . It therefore capitilises on its uniqueness to the tourism agencies , who then milk the concept for all its worth . Its also the only open range zoo in NZ , so even visitors from Auckland go there , just to see what the fuss is all about . It used to be the first ( and longest running ) drive through lion safari in NZ , but there were too many near misses from risks taken by stupid people -- the concept of the drive through was ditched before someone got killed or injured They then decided to turn it into an Open range zoo in order to keep its unique character . Like most zoos , the staff are totally devoted to the animals -- thats their first love and priority . They also have the advantage of space -- there is still 900 acres of room still available to be developed . Unfortunately they will refuse to house elephants unless they can be garunteed of the finances that will be needed . Perhaps Zooboy can give his lotto earnings to Orana Park so they can have elephants in a 796 acre enclosure ? Why some zoos are successful and not others in breeding various species is probably only a question that the individual animalsd can answer , but to be able to breed/raise 90 orynx that were destined for extinction certainly attests to the fact that they are doing something right ..... I know that the place is hot and dry in summer , but it can get pretty chilly in winter !! Another thing which is surprising , is that for the most part , Orana Park is just a holding zoo for the region , and is not REALLY big on breeding exotics. However , if animals get pregnant during their stay at Orana , everyone does their best to ensure that the young have a long and healthy life ( perhaps it is the spacious enclosures which encourages the animals to breed ? -- who knows ? )
as in the case of the hunting dogs? new zealand zoos are actually 'worse off' than australian zoos when it comes to exotic animals. its funny to think of zoos with no gorillas, hardly any orangutans and alot fewer primate and small cat species, elephants (except auckland), bears (except wellington), snakes, crocodiles, etc. nigel, do you feel this strengthens the position of new zealand zoos by allowing them to concentrate more effectively on a smaller range of species, or do you wish for a broader range of species to dsiplay. and what species would you like to see turn up in new zealand zoos in the future, either from the australian collection, or in the case of some antelopes with import approval?
The current CEO of the Park has had amazing success at working with the local Christchurch community to have many products, supplies and services donated to the Park. She and her staff plan their own exhibits, build them, and manage them, with the resources they have, and the support of the local community. They don't have the ovehead of all the bureaucracy and contract tendering processes that government organisations do. In many of the larger zoos, this accounts for a huge amount of the total cost of exhibit developments. I'm sure you didn't mean it Nigel, but the implication of this statement is that none of the saff in other zoos are dedicated to their animals. This couldn't be further from the truth. With one or two exceptions (see threads elsewhere on this forum), you'll find that most animal management staff - curators, animal managers and keepers) are TOTALLY dedicated to their animals, and it is working with these animals, and their potential contributions to conservation that leads them to careers in zoos and animal management. It certainly isn't for the money
