Dudley Zoological Gardens Personnal opinions on Dudley

Im just wondering about this coz some people seem negative others seem postive.

 

I like the zoo but they need to Bring back elephants!
Ovbiously not in their old enclosure but they could knock down the indoor-sand pit and build an elephant house and there's plenty of space behind the indoor-sand pit to build an elephant paddock.

 

No, they really dont. Elephants would possibly be the worst species to add to the collection at dudley, with a lack of funds, space and ultimatley what would be a rather basic enclosure elephants can not / should not be acomodated for at dudley. There are plenty of other rare species dudley could get.

Anyway back to opinions: I Think some of the enclosures look absolutle fine but alot of it still looks run-down (the ex polar bear enclosure and the orangutan enclosure notably) there is little dudley can do to some of it (due to listed status of some enclosures). Whilst Dudley continues to improve they should bring in some smaller rarities which would up their status in the zoo world. For example i would add: fossas and a guenon species to start with. until the orangutan enclosure is improved i cannot see this collection shedding its past. other than that it is fine

 

Not a chance of this ever happening the zoo does not have enough space and where it does have the space it`s on the side of a hill and too steep for an Elephant enclosure.Also the money they would need to build an Elephant enclosure would be to great of a sum for the zoo to find,they would be bettter off re-building some of the old enclosure look at what they can do with £100,000 which i believe is what the Lemur enclosure cost to build,so for me thats what the zoo needs to do instead of wasting money on Elephants!

 

hmm where would they put the rarer smaller species, a couple that spring to mind is dik-diks etc..

 

I've been going to the zoo for years now and must admit some of the zoo still looks like it's still in the 1960's this is due to the fact that some of the buildings are listed and can not be altered but surely they could put a bit of paint on them (in the original colour) this would make the zoo appear much more public friendly.
On the subject of animals we would like to see in the zoo how about scottish wildcats,
european wolves, zebra's, racoon's and how about turning the castle courtyard into a birds of prey avery with owls, falcons. eagles ect. ect
anymore idea's please

 

ive just been looking at the map, they could use the overflow car park as a European themed area :O

 

Or use it as a space for extra cars once the main car pak fills up

Anyway I found this on the dudley website (which I do not rate very highly) : Dudley Zoological Gardens :

plans for penguins with underwater viewing, orang housing etc this looks hopeful and they have planning permission...I just hope it isn't just talk.

 

true foz, but never it fills up maybe a good 5-7 rows of cars but rarely its goes all the way, so they could use some of the land

 

also, underwater penguin viewing, how?

since its like a valley unless they are gonna make a tunnel going for the back fo the path to the front of the pool.

 

A tunnel could work, although how you would manage that without A) blocking off the path round there and B) not damaging the castle (since I would prresume construction like that might damage the foundations r cause instability), I have no idea.

 

they could try do it so it goes on the visitor side of the penguins so closest to the path so it doesn't hurt the castle

 

I think you will find that has been on their website for a long time. The bit about outline planning permission having been obtained in June- I'm not sure which year that was, it could be 2005/6 as easily as now.

Unless I'm wrong(I wish I was) I fear there is still NO multimillion improvement package in place for Dudley and until there is it will always struggle to come up to standard.

 

true, but i think it might take a long while, lets hope they dont change owners and decide to change everything out of their plans (unless its good XD)

 

I voted average. However on my last visit there seemed to be an effort to build better enclosures.

 

This is my "local" Zoo and Im reasonably ashamed of it if Im honest. Its very run down in a lot of areas, the Tiger and Bear "pits" are just that, and have been unchanged in about 40 yrs or more. The Orang section is a disgrace. I visit regularly though, and I do admit some improvements have been made, but seemingly in the less "needy" areas. It does have good points, Im not condemning it, but much work is needed.

The food is rubbish, expensive and most of the time is not available or they have run out!

Dawn.

 

The new lynx enclosure was 'needy' and is a good enclosure.
Nothing can be done about the bear and tiger pits, but they are perfectly liveable for the animals in there.
The only thing I and many others can agree on is the orang section.

 

Hi Chizlit.

I agree about the Lynx enclosure, however thats how I feel about most of the enclosures there (needy.) The Giraffe enclosure is miserable, I think they have a pathetic existence, likewise the Bears and the Tiger. These animals look at concrete walls all day, the Bears are in poor condition, overweight and lethargic.

I think the Red Pandas are OK, but I used to feel sorry for the one with the deformed leg, thankfully he is in a much better environment now, and is like a totally different animal, much happier.

I think the Lemur walkthrough is really good, no complaints there, but the Sealions and Penguins stink, never smelled anything like that in any other Zoo for those animals.

The avaries are fine, except some of the Lemur ones would be better suited to Birds than Primates.

The Chimps are fine too, lots of space but a lack of new things to do and explore. The Orangs, I agree with you too, awful, awful place for such intelligent creatures to live. They desperately need helping.

Maybe Im just being harsh, but of course I can only compare my experience with that of other Zoos and animal parks Ive been to.

Dawn.

 

Yep, certainly agree with what you have said. Have you been to paradise wildlife park? Worth a visit, also Bristol.

Twycross Giraffes are similar to Dudley I agree, I guess the look and feel of Twycross is so much better though.

Chester is good, but would like to see the black Leopard ouside!!

Incidently, do all photos have to go into the gallery? Or can we post via photobucket on our threads? Cant find out in the help section, unless Im looking in the wrong palce of course!!