Pouakai Zoo has sold, with the new owners, who have been in-training at the zoo since late last year, taking over next week. They will become the fourth owners of the zoo since it opened in the 1970s. Full story here: Zoo's New Owners Make Dream a Reality | Stuff.co.nz All the best to Fiona and Bart, and I wish the new owners the best of luck too - hopefully they will let us know how they get on through Facebook or even ZooChat!
The EPA has released details of incidents at NZ zoos over the past financial year (April 2013 - March 2014), and has revealed that: From this article: Zoo subjected to escapes galore | Stuff.co.nz
Pouakai has obtained three more meerkats, which are now living with their singleton. I'm not sure where they came from, but their Facebook page indicates that Wellington Zoo was involved in some way. Odd that this was only reported on Facebook, surely could have made the local newspapers?
This zoo should have been closed rather than sold to private owners. Privately owned zoos have a dismal record of animals welfare and safety. There have been a number of serious incidents in Australasia and around the world with private zoos, and some very disturbing cases of animal neglect. At the very least the permit to display big cats should be withdrawn.
on what basis are you making your comments? A large percentage of zoological collections in Australasia are privately-owned. Pouakai itself has always been privately-owned. Are you suggesting all privately-owned zoo collections should be closed down? And why should they have had their big cats removed?
And Pouakai Zoo is for sale again, only five (and a bit) years after the last time it was sold/bought. There is an article here, although it is pretty superficial: Lions and tigers and land: The $795,000 Kiwi zoo that didn't sell
