Wellington Zoo update » Wellington Zoo

Sustainable Zoo
12-02-2007

I have just found this on the zoo website !
The zoo will be very pleased to recieve a grant of $20,0000 from Shell New Zealand for its environmental system to reduce waste .
The zoo is committed to sending no solid waste to the landfill .

I dont have permission to cut/paste the article , but it is in the zoo news section of the website .

Wellington Zoo -- Otago skinks
12-02-2007

Wellington Zoo is celebrating the birth of three Otago skinks, a lizard species thought to be one of the rarest in the country.

The three babies were born this week and will remain at the zoo, under the watchful eye of herpetologist Megan Thomas.

Classified as "critically endangered", fewer than 5000 of the lizards remain in the wild.

The lizards normally live in rocky outcrops and crevasses in North Otago.

Their numbers are dwindling as humans take over their habitat.

The zoo acquired four adults - two males and two females - in 2005 and the babies are the first to be born at the zoo.

Since their birth on Monday and Tuesday, they have been living under heat lamps in a nursery.

The skinks feed on insects and adults grow to 30 centimetres in length.

Photos of Wellington zoo
12-02-2007

Flickr: Search
Wellington Zoo | anjackson.net


heaps of photos in these links . I dont know how to download the actual photos in a way that doesnt take up so much time .....

interesting website of Wellington Zoo
12-02-2007

Wotzon.com - Wellington Zoo

I hope you can get this -- There is some good panoramic views of various aspects of the zoo .

12-02-2007

if wellington zoo's involvement with maned wolves could restore this species to a viable regional population than im all for it. but if australia's zoos have decided to phase maned wolves out then i cant see the sense in wellington persevering with this animal, similarly leopards.
on artiodactyls, new zealands zoos may be positioning themselves as the regional interface in terms of import and quarantine, but again, the most sensible approach would be to restore populations of species we already have, like bongo.

12-02-2007

of course! antelopes like bongo and springbok are a species many zoos have expressed interest in keeping. it seems utterly rediculous to bring in new antelope species when our stocks of these are suffering from inbreeding. personally, i think we can do with the current range of antelopes we have (even minus a few...). its a reasonably diverse little collection and the focus should be on getting reasonably diverse stocks at every open range zoo we have.

12-02-2007

I can really see the problem with the Antelope species in our region, we are over run with them, just look at our zoos open range exhibits they are running alive with to many of them. not.

13-02-2007

I have just sent an email to Wellington Zoo asking them to respond .

13-02-2007

Wellington have indicated that they want to hold four maned wolves, but not until after 2008. Things change rapidly with zoo collection plans, so that doesn't mean that it's a gaurantee.

That means six zoos showing interest: Altina Zoo, Western Plains, Hamilton, Melbourne, Monarto, and wellington, with a total of 23 animals planned. That may make a difference when the Carnivore TAG next discusses the issue.

Altina Zoo
14-02-2007

Where is this one ?

14-02-2007

altina zoo is actually a cattle property that has some exotic species too, like bison, barbary sheep, blackbuck and maybe??? przewalksi horse????
its in griffith, in nsw.
it would be amazing if maned wolves could be move dup to viable category. i love them, in fact i love all the canid species our zoos have. fennec foxes are another species that seem to have slipped under the radar so to speak, in fact only taronga and i think adelaide seem to have them. is this species a goner??? it would be a shame, besides being so cute they are one nocturnal species that is always active by day. :\

14-02-2007

melbourne still had fennecs up until recently, they built them a new enclosure, which was a prime example of poor research and planning. it was also far too small, in fact it looked even smaller than their old enclosure. the fennecs escaped and now they don't have them anymore. instead a few outcast meerkats reside in there. mogo have fennecs still. they may have ex-melbourne animals but its pure speculation...

i'm not a huuuuge fan of canids. i do love the maned wolves though. i was pretty dismayed that taronga and adelaide decided to go out there with dhole when neither was prepared to take on maned wolves. melbourne have committed spaces to dhole also, fortunately not at the expense of the wolves...

14-02-2007

i know of the melbourne zoo exhibit youre talking about. i remember you were sp pissed off about it, so i kept an eye out for it deliberately and ive gotta say, it was pretty pathetic, although i liked the cave at the front.
perth zoo has an awesome exhibit of hunting dogs, with multiple viewing points. probably the best other exhibits ive seen for hunting dogs were at the mind-blowing barcelona zoo, and also edinburgh zoo. Artis in the Netherlands has a good display for maned wolves, working around a whole SouthAmerican theme, with guanaco, ant-eater, rheas, tapir, capybarra and flamingoes.

letter from Wellington zoo
15-02-2007

Dear Nigel,

As I am sure you understand a zoo - just like any
other business - is a
flowing continuum and plans made in the past may
or may not be fulfilled
in the presence or future. Often funding has a
major part to play in
these decisions, others are availability of
resources and incorporation
of the strategic goals.

Melbourne and Dubbo have Maned wolves and we will
contribute to that
population should we ever get Maned wolves to
Wellington. At this point
there are no plans to get leopards. We are the
only zoo which is able to
breed Agoutis at the moment as we have the only
intact male in the
region. We will need to breed with this male
until we have the permits
to import new animals from overseas. So the
number of animals will
slowly increase. Saying that, some animals are
already earmarked to go
to facilities in Australia, so we will free up
spaces which will be
filled again.

The very obvious reason for scattered reptile
enclosures is that we
don't have the funding at this stage to build a
reptile house (other
projects have priority). We will include mixed
exhibits where possible
and keep improving enclosures as and when
possible.

As far as I know there is no intact male peccary
in the region. Combined
with an import stop for suidae peccaries will be
phased out from the
region.
I am sure Auckland will be able to comment on
their importation of
flamingos much better then I could.

Have a great day,
Kind regards,

20-02-2007

looks like its slowly developing into a little "safari" park...