Zion Wildlife Gardens Kamo Wildlife Sanctuary updates

driftaguy

driftaguy

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
Zion has passed away aged 17

From the Kamo Wildlife Sanctuary Facebook page:
R.I.P ZION
We are incredibly sad to announce the passing of our oldest male lion, Zion, at almost 18 years of age.
Zion’s age-related conditions had advanced rapidly, culminating in difficulty walking and excessive pain, so our vet and keeper teams made the incredibly sad but kindest decision to euthanise him.
We know that there will be a lot of people who miss our beautiful boy, and we want to reassure everyone that his life in our care has been as enriched and rewarding as possible.
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Kamo big cat park euthanises Zion the lion
Source: Kamo big cat park euthanises Zion the lion

Zion, the much-loved lion, has died.

Kamo Wildlife Sanctuary announced the big cat's death over the weekend.

"We are incredibly sad to announce the passing of our oldest male lion, Zion, at almost 18 years of age," a Facebook post said.

Zion's age-related conditions had advanced rapidly, culminating in difficulty walking and excessive pain, so the vet and keeper teams made the "incredibly sad but kindest decision to euthanise him".

"We know that there will be a lot of people who miss our beautiful boy, and we want to reassure everyone that his life in our care has been as enriched and rewarding as possible."

In 2005, the Northern Advocate reported the computer-generated lion in the movie The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was based on Zion.

Former park owner Craig Busch made no secret Zion was his favourite big cat at the wildlife park he started, and which was closed in 2014.

In May 2009 - when the park was known as Zion Wildlife Park - big cat handler Dalubuhle Ncube, also known as Clifford Dalu MnCube or Dalu, was mauled to death by a male tiger named Abu, after he and another handler had entered its enclosure.

The park, which is still closed, is owned by Bolton Equities and currently undergoing remedial and upgrade work.

The owners were not available to talk yesterday but another Facebook post said they were targeting a mid-2018 completion date. The difficulty estimating the work required in each enclosure has impacted the work schedule.

The Ministry of Primary Industries ordered the park closed in 2014 while the enclosures were upgraded to meet new standards.

The park had to build new enclosures to move the animals out of their current enclosures.

The post provided a "sneak peek" look at new enclosures and concrete dens.

"Rest assured that we are working as hard and as fast as we can to have the park upgraded and ready to open as soon as possible."

More than 100 people took to the post to express their sadness and send love to Zion the lion.
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There doesn't seem to be many cats left now (not surprising due to the age of a number of them). No breeding has occured for over a decade.

The youngest tiger is the tigeress Shanti (born 2005). There is also her mother, Rewa (born 2001) and at least one of the twins born in 2004 to Shikana. I'm not sure if males, Tygo and Jahdu are still alive. It's unlikely breeding of tigers will occur unless there are fresh imports.

The lions are in a similar situation, with there being only two lionesses of reproductive age, Cleo (born 2005/2006) and Sabili (born 2006/2007). There's probably around a further 7-8 lions at the park now.

I'm not sure if Kamo Wildlife Park will take the oppotunity to diversify into other species or seek accreditation and acquire Sumatran tigers etc. and contribute to the regional breeding programme.
 
driftaguy said:
As far as I know Indira and Gandor are still alive and doing well.
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So Kamo have four tigeress still in their collection then: Rewa (2001), Indira (2004), Kahli (2004) and Shanti (2005). They technically still own the triplets (2006) sent to Poukai Zoo in New Plymouth, as they were only loaned to their zoo, although I doubt the two surving tigresses will ever return #permanentloan.
 
Every so often I check the Facebook page for Kamo, to see if they have miraculously re-opened. The zoo was closed to the public in July 2014 (when it was still called Zion). It was supposed to re-open after a few months, after work to fix issues relating to enclosures, husbandry, etc. Then it was supposed to re-open in summer 2016/17. Then summer 2017/18. Now it is supposed to be opening in summer 2018/19. They have also had another change in management.

A post on their Facebook page this month: "We are new management since November. I'm trying to be realistic and can't comment on past projections. Next summer is our goal and it's a lot of work to achieve"

I'm kind of at a loss as to exactly what is taking so long to fix. Even if they were rebuilding every single enclosure from scratch, there aren't exactly a lot of them there.
 
Kawekaweau said:
I wonder if they're simply intending on having their animals die off before shutting down.
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If this is their intention, then they've made significant progress with it thus far.

I had actually wondered myself if they didn't plan to replace any of their animals as no cubs have been bred for over a decade and all tigeresses and most lionesses held at the facility are now post reproductive so if they did want to sustain their numbers, fresh imports will be required.

Alternatively, maybe they're hoping to open a park similar to Paradise Valley or Poukai Zoo, where they only have a small number of big cats in one or two enclosures, with the bulk of the park comprising of 'filler species' like deer, pigs, goats etc.
 
An article in the news earlier this month:

Zion's big cat pride set for a public revival

The most interesting information in it is an update on the numbers of big cats held there:

"Four tigers; two cheetahs; seventeen lions and one black leopard. That's the full inventory remaining at what is now called Kamo Wildlife Sanctuary. Where the park once had almost 40 animals a decade ago, there are now only 24 left."

The four tigers mentioned above are white Bengal tigresses Rewa (2001) and Shanti (2005) and orange Bengal tigresses Indira (2004) and Kahli (2004).
 
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Chlidonias said:
Every so often I check the Facebook page for Kamo, to see if they have miraculously re-opened. The zoo was closed to the public in July 2014 (when it was still called Zion). It was supposed to re-open after a few months, after work to fix issues relating to enclosures, husbandry, etc. Then it was supposed to re-open in summer 2016/17. Then summer 2017/18. Now it is supposed to be opening in summer 2018/19.
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On their Facebook page they are now saying "next summer" (i.e. the 2019/2020 summer)...
 
Chlidonias said:
On their Facebook page they are now saying "next summer" (i.e. the 2019/2020 summer)...
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I'll believe it when I see it. By the time they get their act together and open, the number of big cats would have dwindled to single figures.
 
Nisha said:
They are currently advertising for a lead/senior keeper vacancy. Advert mentions they are now down to 20 cats on site. Still claiming to be reopening soon....
Zoo Jobs: Lead/Senior Keeper
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Interesting. I wonder what happened to the previous head keepers. I know at one point a former tiger keeper from Hamilton Zoo was working at Kamo. Disappointing to hear there are only 20 big cats remaining.
 
driftaguy said:
Interesting. I wonder what happened to the previous head keepers. I know at one point a former tiger keeper from Hamilton Zoo was working at Kamo. Disappointing to hear there are only 20 big cats remaining.
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According to Wikipedia they have the following cats:

Lions:

Shikira
Abdullah
Cleo
Cora
Jabu
Savannah
Shumba
Zamba
Gandor
Laduma
Amafu
Imvula
Moya
Sabie
Sibili
Timba
Themba

Tigers:

Indira
Kahli
Rewa
Shanti

Leopard:

Mandla - black leopard

Cheetah:

Thabo

Since the single cheetah and leopard are mentioned in the job listing; and I believe the tigresses are all still alive; three of the lions have apparently died recently. The youngest were born in 2006, so new imports will be needed to sustain numbers if that's there intention. It's more likely they will just allow these populations to die out though as evidenced by their inability to open and lack of breeding during the past 14 years.
 
Zoofan15 said:
According to Wikipedia they have the following cats:

Lions:

Shikira
Abdullah
Cleo
Cora
Jabu
Savannah
Shumba
Zamba
Gandor
Laduma
Amafu
Imvula
Moya
Sabie
Sibili
Timba
Themba

Tigers:

Indira
Kahli
Rewa
Shanti

Leopard:

Mandla - black leopard

Cheetah:

Thabo

Since the single cheetah and leopard are mentioned in the job listing; and I believe the tigresses are all still alive; three of the lions have apparently died recently. The youngest were born in 2006, so new imports will be needed to sustain numbers if that's there intention. It's more likely they will just allow these populations to die out though as evidenced by their inability to open and lack of breeding during the past 14 years.
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They did have a list of animals on their website but that seems to have been removed since I last checked. A while ago someone pointed out on the KWS Facebook page that Gandor and Kahli were missing from the list, to which they didn't respond.
 
driftaguy said:
They did have a list of animals on their website but that seems to have been removed since I last checked. A while ago someone pointed out on the KWS Facebook page that Gandor and Kahli were missing from the list, to which they didn't respond.
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Sounds like a typical zoo response. Considering all their cats are all middle aged or elderly, losses will be as frequent as they are inevitable over the next decade.

Their male cheetah is enjoying an unusually long life however. It's a shame he couldn't have gone to Orana and joined the breeding programme. I'm guessing they would have refused an animal from a facility not participating in the breeding programme/accredited.
 
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