wellington zoo furore » Wellington Zoo

24-03-2007

where they would have come into contact with the resident african elephants...
back to animal encounters and taronga is training its seals as stars of the new southern oceans exhibit. the seals are being conditioned to accept strange people in a variety of settings, including water, because a new encounter package will give up to 4 people the opportunity to swim with several seals.
there will also be dry encounters and the seals will continue both their show performances and being walked around the zoo, as already happens.
the article outlines all these issues, and the zoo is ramping up its fund-raising drive to meet the cost of the $57 million exhibit. CEO guy cooper took to the harbour in a big swim this month to rais efunds, and the zoo had some swank party in Bondi last weekend, which netted another significant load of cash to go towards the marine exhibit...

24-03-2007

just reviewing wellington zoo's strategic vision, leopard exhibits are nominated, and so too a mixed species exhibit, other than the african savannah display. any one got any ideas on which animals thats for?

25-03-2007

where are you getting all this info from glyn?

26-03-2007

Its one thing to have an on-site encounter within the cheetah enclosure, but its quite insane to bring a big cat to public areas, especially schools! I don't know how these off-site encounters are run, but taking cheetahs to schools is pushing it a bit far. Granted cheetahs are the least dangerous of big cats but they still can inflict serious injuries.

As for the cover-up allegation, its quite suicidal for the zoo to pass out gag orders. These NEVER work and someone's bound to leak it out. It will then be an even bigger mess to clean up.

more from Nigel
26-03-2007

I agree 100% , Zooish

The best thing for Wellington Zoo Management to do would be to say something in a press release statement . If they have nothing to hide , they can say it is all bunk
If there was some more issues , they should at least own up to it , say that accidents happen , and they are looking at prevention measures etc
( at the very LEAST )

I have already informed them that the issue is now outside of zoo boundaries ( my letter refers )

Leopards ...... as part of an earlier zoo plan there were plans to bring in leopards , as this was part of a large model that is ironically still available for view , just in from the zoo entrance .
I sent an email to the zoo about the whole idea of leopard ( and tapirs , and many other things ) . They told me that the model was out of date and no longer the long term plan for the zoo .
I cant fathom out why they would be still displaying this model as part of their long term plan if it was no longer valid . It only serves to confuse normal humans like us forum members !?!

I still have had no response from them , and I am getting more of the feeling that they cannot run a zoo any better than that character up in Cairns .
Grateful if all of you could help keep an ear to your sources of information about any more snippets about Wellington Zoo -- if it wasnt for Jai , I would be none the wiser .
I am sure an adolescent cheetah is capable of mauling a child in primary school , and if they are subjected to violence , this will only make them more unpredictable .

As a footnote ; Auckland Zoo walks their elephants around the zoo during public hours ( and this always generates huge crowds as you can imagine )
They have been doing so for several decades , and have no intention to stop , as there have been no incidents of conflict . The keepers find the crowds harder to control than the elephants

crowd control
27-03-2007

therein lies the problem. taronga is already the regions busiest zoo, and as there are realy no official figures about attendance in this financial period (during which the elephants arived) youll just have to go off my guesstimate which is that taronga is significantly busier no than ever before...
so walking the elephants along the boulevards packed with people mightnt be such a good option. walking two elephants around a quieter zoo like Auckland would be much easier than walking 5 elephants, including a stroppy bull around a zoo thats packed to the rafter.
i think a far better alternative would be to offer zoo encounters with the animals, which is on the cards. currently, visitors to taronga can pay an additional $16.95, which covers up to 4 people, and have encounters with giraffes and koalas. thats in addition to the behind-the-scenes tours offered to zoo friends, etc.
with taronga's commercial minded management i would say that it wont be long before a similar scheme for the eles is launched. australia zoo offers a feeding the elephants program and its really popular, apparently.
another alternative, and maybe a safer one, would be to maybe re-model the aldabran tortoise exhibit into an ampitheatre type arrangement where the elephants could come out of their exhibit and do presentations for a seated public. just an idea?

27-03-2007

the other day my mother returned from the zoo very excited because after a long conversation with a keeper about how much she loved the elephants she was invited into the barn, much to the jealousy of all the other visitors, to give dokoon some apples and a hug!

27-03-2007

lol so its whole-family thing with you
its those kinds of encounters the zoo neeeds more of, spontatnous, intimate and quite moving for little children.
at the very least those who are on the encounters should have to cough up a donation for an in-situ project, or that should be factored into the price.

27-03-2007

a family thing? yeah pretty much.
last time i visited the zoo (always on a quiet weekday to reward myself if i worked all weekend or pulled a late-nighter) a keeper arriving in the "elephant research station" wandered over to me and told me to hold out my hand. when i did he placed a baby elongate tortoise in my palm whilst he continued to put the rest of its siblings into an enclosure.

like you said glyn, a spontaneous, varied sort of encounter is the sort of thing that makes a your day on a trip to the zoo. the simple act of holding a tortoise can be your favorite memeory and you forget all about viewing the lions.

i think melbourne zoo are doing a good job of introducing more of this sort of thing. there is a public handwashing station built into the new orangutan exhibit - the sign above indicates the idea is for kids/visitors to have some sort of contact with the orangs eventually?

i think feeding of the elephants and giraffes is something melbourne could definately get more actively involved in. though personally i'll never pay extra. i hate paying EXTRA for anything.

werribee introduced giraffe feeding - for a fee! what a waste, as great as werribee is, its only interesting for about 2 hours and then you wanna go home, i kinda think its cheap to provide just two hrs of entertainment and then charge extra for something that other zoos provide for free..

27-03-2007

I think taronga could charge people to go up the lookout thing that goes over the elephant enclosure. It would need to be closely monitored so that no one drops anything down on to the elephants. The volunteers could run it and charge people a few dollars.

27-03-2007

can't visitors already go up there? if not why on earth was it built?

27-03-2007

and again, i wouldn't pay anyway..

27-03-2007

It was built as a last minute "special request" for VIP visitors. It's actually a crap view from up there, unless you like looking down on elephants' backs. I'm hoping it eventually gets pulled out of there, but some how, I doubt it.

You can of course jump on the cable car, which gives much the same view, and do a round trip

27-03-2007

That's interesting. Singapore used to allow full contact with orangs, allowing them to even sit on visitors' laps, or hug them. About 2, 3 years back all physical contact was ceased - first as a safety precaution, second to prevent transmission of disease. Orangs and humans share many many diseases, so allowing any kind of contact would have to be carried out carefully (such as monitoring visitors/apes for any sign of illness). Now not even petting of orangs is allowed.

letter and response to/from city councillor
28-03-2007

Dear Nigel
Thanks for the info. The email was also sent to
Denise Church (chair)
and myself. The trustees all take animal welfare
very seriously and
will investigate the allegations. I do appreciate
you letting me know.
Regards.

At 12:01 p.m. 21/03/2007, you wrote:
> Hello Celia ,
>
> As you may recall , I am supportive of
>Wellington retaining and upgrading its zoo .
> I thank you for all your unseen efforts in
>securing the $$s to upgrade this facility .
>
> I belong to an internet forum group called
>Zoobeat Forum . This is usually pro zoo and
>conservation .
> However there was a recent press release ( I
>missed it ) that has allegations of attacks on
>staff by cheetahs , cruelty to cheetahs by
animal
>trainer , and zoo management gagging staff from
>speaking about the incident .
>
> These allegations have been made by an animal
>advocacy group SAFE .
> I say that these are allegations , as I do not
>always agree with what this group believes .
> However ; if these allegations are true , I am
>disappointed with the actions ( or lack of ) by
>zoo management and staff
> if these allegations are false , it could
cause
>major damage for the reputation of the zoo .
> But I would like to know the TRUTH
>
> SAFE has written to Stephen butcher in MAF
about
>this incident .
>
> As you are the councillor for the Zoo , I felt
>it
> is important to inform you -- if you already
>know about it , it is now already out in the
open
>further beyond what the zoo management would
wish
>it to be .
> I am happy to fax you the press release and
>letter if you wish -- I just need your fax
>number
>
> Yours sincerely ,