Zoo theme park 'a circus' - National - theage.com.au The latest anti-Village Roadshow article. "African Safari World" seems destined to eventually open, but will it be a success?
Interdepartmental report lodged Hi All, just keeping y'all up to date with WORZ happenings - Interdepartmental committee set up in response to criticisms of process/ content when info was leaked, lodged its report on the proposal to the Brumby government as planned on 30th May - FOTZ are reported to be "cautiously optimistic" Hmm. See me shiver with anticip... - Several letter writers have been recieving generic letters in response to their quite specific concerns about the wellbeing of the animals under this proposed regime. The letters make a blanket statement akin to 'the animals will be fine'. ( I know this to be true, as I have acquired one. Makes for brief, uninteresting reading.) Understandably this isn't going down too well with some of these folk who take animal welfare quite seriously and sending these poorly considered, homogenous platitudes into the public arena might actually bite the governement on it's arse IF something like the RSPCA or PETA decide to conduct and publish their own evaluation of what life under the rollercoaster really would be like for your average zebra / rhino / pregnant hippo etc. If you've heard anything new about this or have some clout with animal welfare lobbyists and want to make sure that the animals there get a fair deal, post what you're doing about it and let us Melburnians especially know what you need. I know that there are a lot of local opponents to this, not necassarily FOTZ / ZV who are guest readers and who want to help in some way. Happy Agitating, Mole
I have also received this letter. Very unhelpful and rather condescending. To be honest I'm not holding out much hope. I'm rather cynical and pessimistic by nature and I beleive that the big money nearly always win. But I hope. I have done everything that I can, including sending letters to the RSPCA, the Humane Society and PETA (PETA is my nemesis so to speak but I am happy to use them on this occassion.) However I haven't really received many words of encouragement from them. PETA totally ignored me, which I find is typical of them, they are only concerned about animal welfare when it suits their agenda. As for the report, is it possible to read it?
Letter Could one of you who have got this generic letter post it on the forum ? It might get more people like myself to send them a response . I cant at the moment as I dont have an email address to write to the appropriate person , and I dont know the exact content of the letter
Hi Nigel - I don't have the means of de-identifying the recipient of the letter that I have acquired so I won't post it on here. Some ideas for letter content can be found at the FOTZ site - FOTZ - Werribee Open Range Zoo The reasons for opposing this are spelt out - you could even just cut and paste. Another couple of letters can be found by following the links here Letter writing - SaveOurZoos - it also gives the emails of people to whom to send your letters. I hope that that is helpful. Let us know how you go. Mole
G'Day Jay, Geez, for someone that describes themselves pessimistic, your flame burns right brightly! You've been doing a hell of a lot! Schade about PETA. As I understand, RSPCA has a stance of having no support for the principle of zoos, which makes engaging their support even by viewing WORZ as a harm reducing example of animal captivity a bit tricky. I suspect that PETA may have similarly polarised views that may render them immobile and in practice, seemingly ineffectual in this particular arena. The Report - well - not so far. But I will be chasing it and I suspect that FOTZ will be as well. Cheers - Mole
the next step could well be online petition from zoos victoria homepage. i think dave hancocks outlook is correct; with a larger city like sydney failing to sustain a theme park I dont see how Melbourne could expect to keep a similar venture viable for long with fewer international tourists and a smaller domestic population. what I would then hate to see is for Weribbe to close completely
The petition now has oiver 3000 signatures (mines in there somewhere) and lots of interesting comments. I wonder if there is a similar thing for people who it is a GREAT idea
is there an online petition yet? alot of interstate people with either a passion for zoos and wildlife or a hate of privitisation of state assets would probably like to put their name to it. the more signitatures the stronger the signal becomes that this is something that Victorians and potential tourists dont want. If the proposal moves forward after consideration then the next step in the argument will be to shoot holes through the flawed premise of job creation "Hi where an American company. We would like to acquire your state-owned zoo. You will pay us to do this, and in return well make jobs for you. But we cannot promise you that the venture will be a success. Just dont look at what happened in Sydney with wonderland and rest assured the zebras wont care about rollercoasters".
The petition I mentioned is online at FOTZ.org.au The promise of jobs is always a siren call. Motice that they vrow about thousands of jobs, then later, almost as an aside they mention that most of those are temporary while the place is being built, lasting a year at most. The actual number of permanent jobs quoted is something like 500. Still a large number but I wonder how many of those will be part time, ie only in weekends and holidays and so aimed at teenagers looking for spare cash, rather than an adult trying to make a living.
Well the Wyndham local Council is all for it, consistant on certain issues being solved, such as roads, access and local amenity, ie" noise disturbing and lights disturbing local residents. (though they don't seem too concerned that the noise and lights will disturb the animals). They have also had a go at a Greens Member who has spoken out against it, which is a bit much I think. Blast at MP on zoo park - Leader News: Melbourne community news
I am a firm beleiover in democracy but the only way it works is if people get involved. The reason that Govt and Big Business can get away with what they do is apathy from the general public. So though it often doesn't seem to work I will do all I can on the issues that matter to me.
idea Is it possible for one of you technowhizzes to set up a petition form on this forum where we can make an online petition from all of us ( not just Australians ) I have nothing against an amusement park , provided it is seperate from a zoo It needs to be sustainably viable /viably sustainable . There was a large amusement park out Sydney West ( near Eastern Creek ) complete with animal park , but that didnt last for too long -- I cant remember the name of the complex , but the Sydneysiders will know what I am referring to Why cant they put it on the other side of the road ( opposite the long entrance drive ) so it will be near the zoo but not actually part of it ?!?! Grrrr !!
How many of you have ever visited Disney's Animal Kingdom in Florida, where "rollercoasters" and other rides co-exist in wonderful harmony, with one of the best zoos I have ever visited? I have been there on numerous occasions since DAK opened, and it remains in my mind (and many others) as one of the better zoos in the world. It can happen, and it can happen really well, if there's large sums of money involved.
I have been thinking about all the jobs it is going to "create" and i don't think a number of them are going to be able to be filled because Werribee doesn't have a big enough population to have lots of part time school kids and parents aren't going to want to drive them out there two or three times a week because petrol costs too much.
Nigel - Wonderland was the amusment park and the wildlife park went very well there for many years. That park closed after a serious of hits (including getting busted for inappropriate housing for lions
You don't see school kids working at Disney's Animal Kingdom, or Sea World, or Dreamworld. Highly unlikely if you demand good customer service.
I really couldn't see any of the zoos staff being put off and if the zoo expands they would only hire qualified staff. You could almost garantee that there would be alot of young part timers hired, to work in retail outlets and food and beverage sections. but not in any real positions.
