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Cairns Wildlife Safari Reserve staff going without pay so lions don't go hungry

Discussion in 'Australia' started by jay, 20 May 2010.

  1. jay

    jay Well-Known Member 20+ year member

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  2. Jarkari

    Jarkari Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    I wonder what the future holds for this place now.
     
  3. Baldur

    Baldur Well-Known Member

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    Zookeepers are special people (at least those I know) but not so special that they can go hungry for long or skip paying their own bills. Shame, been there, a nice park and the only place in the FNQ where you can see exotic animals.
     
  4. CGSwans

    CGSwans Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    This must be a bit of a headache for ASMP species coordinators. I believe Cairns is due to receive giraffes, zebras and more rhinos later this year. That would certainly get them out of this current hole through repeat visits to see the new animals. But... Can coordinators responsibly approve transfers to a zoo in immediate financial distress?
     
  5. Jarkari

    Jarkari Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    There are 7 or more other animal attractions within an hour of the Reserve also. I wonder how they are all fairing.
     
  6. jay

    jay Well-Known Member 20+ year member

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    They are all in an area with a small resident population and which relies heavily on tourism for the local economy. Between the weather and the man made financial crisis all of NQ must be feeling the pinch.
     
  7. Jarkari

    Jarkari Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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  8. CGSwans

    CGSwans Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    That small difference seems crazy when you consider that Dubbo has five elephants, a couple of dozen rhinos, about half a dozen hippos, about a dozen giraffes and more equids, bovids and cervids than I can be bothered to count to feed. Sure, Cairns has a lot of carnivores - but Dubbo still has something like 19 big cats and 18 canids to provide for.

    I don't understand how location can explain such a huge feed bill for Cairns. It should be half that.

    Also - Cairns' bank can't be *too* confident in them. I would have thought that with giraffes and zebras on the way they'd be able to find some short term cash to pay the bills, if the underlying business is viable.
     
  9. Jarkari

    Jarkari Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    TWPZ is in farming country, I'm not totally sure what crops they grow up north but TWPZ has contracts with farmers. Because the zoo will be there they are a guaranteed income. But that food bill makes me think they are feeding their lions steaks. TWPZ actualy has close to 10 times the number of animals.I to am unsure why the bills are so close.
     
  10. Chlidonias

    Chlidonias Moderator Staff Member 15+ year member

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    does anyone else feel uncomfortable with the owners statements, basically saying that if the staff aren't willing to sacrifice their own basic living needs then they don't care about the animals?
     
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  11. Jarkari

    Jarkari Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    I also noticed that. I think it is a way of covering herself. The anti private zoo brigade has already attacked this place a few times. But it is not right. You can't expect staff to work without pay. I'd have expected more community support.
     
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  12. snowleopard

    snowleopard Well-Known Member 15+ year member Premium Member

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    This establishment might be on its last legs, and even if it survives the economic crisis what does the future hold? With only around 100 animals it is much smaller than I imagined, as that is an insignificant number of creatures in comparison to most other wildlife parks.
     
  13. CGSwans

    CGSwans Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    That's really got nothing to do with it. Werribee only has a few hundred animals and they're doing over 200,000 a year fairly comfortably (they're not really viable without cross-subsidy from Melbourne, but that's because of the problems caused by the buses).

    Cairns WSR's selling point is that it's the only place in Far North Queensland to see big exotic mammals. They're the only place in the region with big cats and ungulates, and they have more primates than anywhere else as well. If you want to see a fairly broad collection of native mammals, birds and reptiles you'd go to Cairns Tropical Zoo instead.

    A low number of species, as there's only 20 odd there, is probably hurting their repeat visitor numbers at the moment. I don't think they need to adopt a postage stamp approach to expansion though - the steady introduction of the right species should get people coming back.

    The thing that I can't fathom is the $8000 a week feed bill. It simply doesn't make sense, and is surely where the problem lies.
     
  14. Jarkari

    Jarkari Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    For Australia it is a very decent collection for a private zoo. I'd say $2,000 would feed the carnivores for a week. I cant see them spending $6,000 a week on hay, fruits and vegetables... maybe they meant it costs $8,000 to run the place.
     
  15. CGSwans

    CGSwans Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    $8000 *could* be the weekly wages bill if a couple of the 15 staff are part-time.
     
  16. jay

    jay Well-Known Member 20+ year member

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    Maybe there is a scarcity problem with the food bill. Remember when banana prices skyrockted after a cyclone. Weather could have damaged or destroyed farmers crops around the area.
     
  17. FriendOfTheZoo

    FriendOfTheZoo Well-Known Member

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    $8000 a week? Do they buy their big cats prime cuts of meat from the local organic meat butcher?
     
  18. FriendOfTheZoo

    FriendOfTheZoo Well-Known Member

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    I don't know if the same owners own the place, but there was an article in Thats Life quite a number of years ago now, where it was bought by a family that had like 5 kids or so. I wonder if parents, and kids are employed by the zoo?
     
  19. zooman

    zooman Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    I am curious,

    any recent news on how Cairns Wildlife Safari Reserve is progressing financially ?
     
  20. gretak25

    gretak25 Member

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    Was there last week. They have 24 lions!!! Still struggling I think.