Whyalla Fauna Park re-opening This park in Whyalla has now permanently closed: Wildlife park shuts its gates just looked at their photos on Google Maps and notice they displayed Sambar Deer (probably their most interesting exotic) blue & Gold Macaws, Red-tailed Black and Major Mitchell cockatoos, a few snakes and then mostly domestics, goats, horses, pigs, camels etc.
There’s a new zoo opening on the Central Coast of NSW - Named the Central Coast Zoo. They’re not open completely yet but are doing encounters with Meerkats, Marmosets and reptiles and you can Jake a train ride and see some of the other exhibits. They have six Lions (The Stardust Circus pride, looks like 3.3 from their Facebook page), Ostriches and Camels and have stated they’ve got more coming. Interesting location given Taronga, Sydney Zoo and the Hunter Valley Zoo are all within 1/1.5 hours of the central coast but excited to see how it goes!
The Macadamia Castle in the Ballina region, New South Wales was renamed Byron Bay Wildlife Sanctuary in 2022 with a more centralised focus on animals. The park has gradually begun completing several new animal exhibits: About - Byron Bay Wildlife Sanctuary
Downfall Creek Bushland Centre in the northern suburbs of Brisbane (at the entrance of Raven Street Bushland Reserve) has a small permanent captive collection inside the centre which opens on weekdays. A walled tank with rainbowfish, Australian bass, gudgeons, freshwater mussels etc. and a set of invertebrate tanks for water scorpion, freshwater prawns, stick insects and rainforest scorpion.
The Cairns Wildlife Dome (aka zoo on top of a casino) will permanently close on 8th October. Infrastructure upkeep is the main reason for the closure apparently: END OF AN ERA: Iconic Cairns kids' adventure attraction to permanently close the doors
Ah yeah, I'd heard about that. Disappointing of course, but I think it's for the best for the animals - some of the exhibits were incredibly poor. Hopefully they will receive better conditions wherever they are relocated to.
The Briars, while the main part of it is a fenced sanctuary, there is a small nature centre with displays of local fish and herps. Species include Peron’s Tree Frog, Shortfin Eel, Southern Water Skink, Common Galaxias and Eastern Longneck Turtle. https://www.mornpen.vic.gov.au/Environment/The-Briars
