Werribee to Disneyland » Werribee Open Range Zoo

14-06-2008

i think you are spot on about that zoo boy

Agree with ZooPro (& Walt Disney)
01-07-2008

ZooPro is right -- Disney's Animal Kingdom is quite simply one of the best zoos in America, if not the world! If Werribee is destined to become another DAK, then you folks in Australia are in for a treat!

Don't listen to the puritans who, for some reason, don't want any "fun" mixed in with zoos' educational message. Quite honestly, it was Walt Disney himself who said, "I would rather entertain and hope that people learned something than educate people and hope they were entertained." His point: If all you try to do is educate, your audience will always be small, and relatively few people will learn anything. But if you mix in some entertainment, your crowds will be big, and more people will be exposed to the conservation message.

01-07-2008

I do not agree with the last posting at all. It is an over-simplification of the current status. Werribee Zoo is a well respected ARAZPA facility with a good conservation track record.

The opposing bidders want the current Victoria zoo management out and take in the Werribee collection + AUS$ 100 mio from federal coffers to make it into a Disney styled fun fare.

Now the choice is clear, either a conservation zoo or fun fare rides with some animals ... Any well informed member of the public would always go for the former! It is simply more fun ...

For all Aussie readers it must come as a relief that the presented plan has been stalled over major issues in application and extra govt. cash required to put in place the Disney style park. This is on top of Werribee's, Victoria zoo management and ARAZPA's opposition to the plan. Besides more and more MPs' are mumbling their opposition to the Tourism Minister.

Here is the link: www.theage.com.au - Red flag over zoo theme park.

Feel free to comment and take it further,

Cheers,

Jelle

01-07-2008

I'm not sure where you got your information about ARAZPA being opposed to this plan. As far as I know, ARAZPA remains quite neutral on the plans, and has not raised any concerns. I think like most sensible organisations, ARAZPA is awaiting a formally distributed plan for the proposal (rather than what is reported in various media).

ARAZPA will no doubt continue to work with professional zoos in the region to ensure the best outcome for the industry in the future, and this can only be decided once the complete plans for the proposal are known.

01-07-2008

Correct, everyone must wait for final plan details, especially respected institutions such as arazpa who can not just throw there support, or non support aorund without official jurastriction to what the final plan entails.

And also, unless you have visited the zoo (i assume Jelle has with their remarks) Werribee is a zoo you have to visit to understand the opposition. It is built on a lowland flood plan, and the lower savannah is surrounded by great clay walls, and a river. The whole atmosphere really is undesrcibale of how much it actually does represent africa, and how beautiful it is, without going and seeing it for your self.

It is the opposition to possibly destrying this people are against. I am even yet to see comfirmation that Zoos Vic is 100% against. Their main concern is animal welfare.

01-07-2008

Zoo theme park axed | theage.com.au

Bye Bye theme park... Hello common sense

01-07-2008

thrill rides, shops and restaurants do not represent conservation education to me, so I am thrilled, as a puritan with perhaps a little intellectual depth to hear the news about the plans being canned, as they should have for reasons only a puritan would understand.

02-07-2008

Well my Aussie friends,

The Melbourne Herald Sun has put the word out. Sense and sensibilities at last have prevailed ...

What I do wish is that public concern for Werribee Zoo's future as a serious conservation facility was not PR-ed more effectively by the zoo community at large. And my goodness ... is it not a wonderful place outback!!!

It was obvious from the start that the backers behind this project had the Werribee Zoo only as a backdrop in mind, and at no time did they ever reveal what they would actually have planned for the zoo and how that would affect its management, collection and staff.

But at the end of the day ... sense!

Cheers and take a few pints on me!

Jelle

02-07-2008

A great big sigh of relief!!!

Herald sun opinion poll
02-07-2008

Hi All,

I had woken up this morning with the intention of saying 'Thanks, Zoobeat folk' for supporting this thing, thinking 'now it's resolved I can put the Mole to rest and re join without cloak n dagger'

Vox populi vox deus, I thought.

Ye-eah.

Well, I'm not too sure how common this sense is - I checked the poll at 1430 AEST and 54% of voters thought that it should go ahead.

It's a little disappointing and surprising.

Opinion | Herald Sun

So, I'm wary of cracking open the pints or the bubbles until the proposal is actually scrapped, not just blocked.

So, Village and Brumby, eyes are still upon you.

But it's still a good outcome.

The Mole.

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03-07-2008

My guess, and it really is only a guess, is that the majority of people who supported the idea really just wanted a theme park with roller coasters etc, not specifically an African theme park with animals. So my question then is - why not leave Werrribee as it is and let Village Roadshow create a roller coaster park elsewhere?

Sorry you missed out
03-07-2008

As a non-Australian, I've never seen Werribee, but I have seen it's attendance numbers, and they are not so impressive. IF you've just missed your chance to have a "Disney-style" animal theme park, then you've truly missed a treat.

I wasn't implying that you had to choose between a "conservation zoo" or a theme park -- it didn't have to be an "either/or" choice. My point is that you CAN have both!! Here in Florida, USA -- we have 2 of these parks with both: Busch Gardens and Disney's Animal Kingdom. Both are tremendous zoos (with solid credentials in conservation and education) and both are incredibly fun theme parks with lots of great rides.

When I used the word "puritan", I didn't mean to offend. I was referring to the 17th Century puritans who can to America to escape religious persecution in their native England. They were called "puritans" because they wanted their religious experience to be "pure" - pure from any FUN! I am submitting the idea that zoological puritans want the conservation and education experience at zoos to be similarly "pure" -- again, pure from any fun! Hope I made that clear.

03-07-2008

they still want to build a park, it's just not gonna be at werribee.

03-07-2008

The newspaper reports said the GOVERNMENT still wanted a theme park, just not at werribee. I haven't yet seen anything syaing this is the case for village, but then I haven't read every single news report on this.

04-07-2008

considering how much money Village Roadshow donates to the Labour Party the outcome does at least restore in my mind some sense of democracy.
im prepared to forgoe the treat of a disney style animal theme park at Weribee, and the fun factor, because I find wildlife doesnt need to be prostituted and commercialised and packaged into fun to make it interesting.
and I believe, that whilst Weribee's attendance may not be that impressive (though i think you need to remember Australia only has a population of 20 million people altogether) that the tens of thousands of people who already go to Weribee just to see animals would agree that this place doesnt need sexing up to make zebras and eland 'cool'.