Mogo Zoo
16-12-2003
Back in about 1999, we did a trip to Batemans Bay for a long weekend and discovered Mogo Zoo, a small family run zoo with mostly retired animals (retired from the larger, busier zoos). There wasn't terribly much there, but you did get to be really close to the animals, which you usually don't in a larger zoo. Especially good was the tiger feeding, where they feed their Sumatran and Bengal Tigers - with the keeper feeding assorted meat to the animals through the cage while talking to the audience about them.
You got to get a great view of the tigers up really close - and they had a good sized pride of lions and several other large cats too, plus quite a few primates and a couple of bears which had been rescued from a circus a few years ago.
We went there this time on our way back to Adelaide for Christmas (the long way !), and we were expecting to see much of the same, and indeed the bears, lions, tigers, leopards and jaguars were as we remembered them.
However, there were a few surprises too - for starters, they had removed some Koalas and replaced them with more Red Pandas. A special surprise was a pair of beautiful snow leopard cubs - which the keepers had out for a short period to play and get used to being around the other leopards.
In the 4 or so years since we had been there, the people at Mogo Zoo had been very busy. They have taken a large tract of nearby land and created an open-range style zoo area with primates, deer, buffalo, giraffes, kangaroos, zebras, oryx, tapirs and more. There is plenty of spare space and they have already drawn up plans for more exhibits. We were very impressed with what they have done - Mogo Zoo has become much more than the small backwater zoo it once was, and is well on its way to becoming a world class open range zoo.
I'll upload some photos when I get a chance.
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