Giant Pandas » Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary

02-06-2007

Indeed they were.

Correct again - US$ 1 million per year for each animal, I believe. And it would be almost impossible for any zoo in this region to ever raise an additonal US$ 2 million per year from increased visitation.

and I must agree with Patrick ......
02-06-2007

.... that they were not the most megafaunic of animals that have been exhibited at the zoo -- even kangaroos and wallabies are alot more popular in NZ zoos than those big sleepy pandas that showed as much life as lethargic koalas .

03-06-2007

the whole things a croc of ****. its about as likely to happen as john oward is to commiting to kyoto.
but if they had to come to australia, and taronga ended up with a pair, id put them back where they originally lived, in the gorilla enclosure (who would of course be relocated to a congo forest elsewhere )
but im sure queensland would be a great place for pandas. after all, they keep an arctic ursid up there too

03-06-2007

Every zoo I can think of has animals from somewhere that has a different climate from the area the zoo is situated. Queensland's polar bears may be at the extreme of opposite climates but is it any worse that snow leopards in summer time at Sydney or Gorillas in New York's winter. I thought the aim of zoos was to display different animals from around the world to compare the way these animals have adapted to their environment. Thats why meerkats are kept in exhibits that mimic their arid home range for example. To show the way they have evolved to survive in their eco system.
If zoos only displayed animals suitable the exact environment of the area around the zoo, all Taronga would have would be blue tongues and sea gulls.
I do agree that Currumbin may have bitten off more than it can chew by trying to get pandas, but I wish them all the luck in the world and hope that it does happen. It might turn out to be the wrong place for them but it isn't any worse than the touring pandas of 1988. I reackon that was pretty ordinary having pandas displayed for 3 months in one zoo and then moved to another zoo for another 3 months. I guess it's a matter of sitting back and waiting to see what happens.
Without being rude, sometimes it sounds like people like it when plans like these fail so they can say "I told you so!!"

04-06-2007

thats a fair enough point, but summer temperatures in the snow leopards range can get pretty warm too. my comment about the polar bears was more tongue in cheek.
as for the plan failing and i told you so, i hope i wont still be on this forum debating it if it does, as i dont see it happening for at least 5 years. 'i told you so' in advance.
honestly, i dont care whether its white lions, giant pandas, or blue whales, i think that for now our regions zoos would all be much better off focusing on managed species. if currrumbin wanted to embark on a foray into exotic species i could think of stacks of chaismatic, exotic species we already have right here in the country which would make far better candidates. even if zoos roles were simply limite dto displaying a representative selection of the world's fauna, then again i can think of far more species that currumbin would be better for. i mean, if its so hell bent on displaying chinese type fauna then why not develop a greats now leopard exhibit, with langur and red panda etc around it?
and if you consider the giant pandas as a kind of 'user pays' system with a massive fee, i just cant see how currumbin could both balance its books and find resources to plough back into ground-breaking research that cant be carried out in either china or the usa.
seaworld has/had the money to import a non-recommended species into the region. im not currumbins accountant but unless this whole operation is sunbsidised by the QLD government then i cant see it going ahead.
i mean, were still talking about it 3 weeks after it was announced, but theres been no more news

04-06-2007

no, not really. as you know i frequently pay out on zoos about the climate thing. but its not that i have a problem with them keeping tropicals in cold temperate climates per se (or vice versa).

for me its about wether or not a zoo can provide for the animal and that includes taking ito account the climate of the area and the housing the zoo provides.

if the animal must spend extended periods of time inside to protect it from severe weather - then the question is wether the zoo can provide the appropriate evironment indoors. generally there is no problem adequately housing a meerkat or monkey indoors - elephants and giraffes are another story...

so i don't believe that henry doorly zoo should close down "lied jungle" but neither do i believe that elephants in a "barn" in alaska or rhino in the czech republic have a great quality of life for much of the year.

polar bears at seaworld - well do they adequately provide for them? i think they do. the zoo has come up with a way to keep them cool outdoors.

well now be fair - thats not exactly true. and are we talking environment or climate here? i would describe sydney's climate as a one that actually falls within a comfortable range for many species worldwide. native animals aside (and their are many more species native to nsw than seagulls and blue toungues!) i think the climate is very similar to that experienced in northern india, southern africa, the himalayan foothills or the middle section of south america. the topography does not lend itself well to elephants or many hoofstock - but i for one (and i'm not saying you ever said i did) have no recollection of ever being pro-elephants at taronga...

and i'de call that an understatement

well its a bit of a trade off betwen the feeling of proving you were right and the negative repercussions of whatever the failed "plans" were...

but yes - i generally like being right!

08-06-2007

ha ha ha!

a few years ago melbourne zoo dug up some records that appeared to indicate they had bred some thylacines in the early days!

08-10-2007

anyhow, agree to it or not heres the woman who thinks she can get some pandas...

http://www.goldcoast.com.au/article/...ssip-news.html

personally i think she's still on crack!!!!!!

11-10-2007

Sorry patrick your wrong... it's ICE... not crack she's mental

1 Day Ago

I spent the morning at Currumbin yesterday. I havn't visited the santuary for a fews years and i haveto say that it has deteriotated since my last visit. The whole area, apart from a new wombat exhibit and a new tassie devil exhibit, looks run down and it needs a good clean up.
I did get to see a double eyed fig parrot, which was aa highlight for me.
As i was leaving I asked about the rumors of pandas coming there. I was told that they sent some koalas over to China and a loan was discussed but the park has new owners now and the plans have been dropped.
Hopefully the new owners plan to spend a bit of money to get the park back to being a good little collection of natives.

P.S Going to Australia Zoo tomorrow. I'll say hello to Bindi for you Glyn, I know you are a fan.