ZSL London Zoo ZSL London Zoo News 2018

[sooty mangabey]

It would be interesting to know where the Aquarium ranks on the zoo exit surveys for visitors. Would it be missed by the general public? The many times I’ve visited it’s been nothing more than a meeting spot for rowdy/unruly school parties and visitors complaining about the absence of sharks.

One would think that, given the current plastics debate and ZSL’s Chagos links, it would be a prime candidate for renovation/reinterpretation. However, management have probably taken a look at the figures and decided the cheaper option would be to let it rot (which it has been for many years now).

I agree that management and the London authorities should be held to account with letting it come to this. Where would the collection go? Whipsnade can’t house it because its drainage infrastructure is archaic.

Maybe the aquarium and the Mappins should have been the first area to be renovated, but money talks.

A fair point, but the aquarium, excellent in many ways, has not been an attractive destination for the unobsessed for a long while. A well-designed, intelligent aquarium would be an enormous lure - good aquariums are inundated with visitors. Fish have the distinct advantage of being often colourful, and usually active. They therefore win hands down for the casual visitor!

 

[sooty mangabey]

Where would the collection go?

As I understand it, the collection has already started moving out to other UK aquaria. Which is very sad.

 

[Ned]

Also, the City of London has nothing to do with Regents Park. The park is crown property and the zoo straddles Camden and the City of Westminster.

 

[DavidBrown]

A fair point, but the aquarium, excellent in many ways, has not been an attractive destination for the unobsessed for a long while. A well-designed, intelligent aquarium would be an enormous lure - good aquariums are inundated with visitors. Fish have the distinct advantage of being often colourful, and usually active. They therefore win hands down for the casual visitor!

When was the last time the aquarium had crowd-pullers like sharks? I think that they still had black-tipped reef sharks when I visited in 2001?

Did the London Zoo aquarium ever have marine mammals like manatees?

 

[Tim May]

When was the last time the aquarium had crowd-pullers like sharks? I think that they still had black-tipped reef sharks when I visited in 2001?

The current London Zoo Animal Inventory lists an epaulette shark in the collection as at 1st January 2018.

Did the London Zoo aquarium ever have marine mammals like manatees?

Yes, there was a manatee in the London Zoo aquarium in the early 1960s.

 

[gentle lemur]

As I see it, ZSL is caught between a rock and a hard place. As the owner of several listed buildings it is responsible for their conservation and maintenance. But these buildings can no longer be used for their original functions because of modern safety and husbandry standards, which are required by the Zoo Licensing Act (although of course ZSL would want to meet these standards even if there were no such Act).
How can these buildings generate the money to pay for their maintenance? I am not particularly impressed by the plan to put colobus in the refurbished Snowdon aviary, but it is an imaginative solution for the problem of the aviary. I hope that it might be possible to find a solution for the bigger problem of the Casson building, if funds could be found somehow. However I think the Mappins are the biggest problem because the structure is so old that repairs would cost a fortune and even then it is hard to see how they could be of any real use to the Zoo.

 

[Ned]

I don't why they allowed Frank Carson to design a building in the first place, he should have stuck to comedy.

 

[Kifaru Bwana]

Also, the City of London has nothing to do with Regents Park. The park is crown property and the zoo straddles Camden and the City of Westminster.

I know the technicalities and the actual judicial ownership of RP. My quip was to hightlight that it should not just be felt as a disgrace for ZSL London Zoo as a world reknowned institution, but also on the entire Municipality where the institution is based, so London as a city.

Early 1990's sold off, privatised, allowed to go down the drains ... and only saved at the last call by foreign donors from extinction. Officialdom at the time knew full well the amounts of investment needed to rekindle the spirit of ZSL London Zoo and do something about deferred maintenance of Mappins and Casson Building (et cetera). And this solely, so the City need not dwell any more and could somehow pretend the possible demise of London Zoo would have nothing to do with them. But to me it remains so ... a public disgrace and reflecting very badly on the City, even today.

 

[Mo Hassan]

Hi, I was wondering if anyone knows whether the Panay cloudrunner is still on display in Moonlight World? Zootierliste shows it as "former".

 

[TeaLovingDave]

Hi, I was wondering if anyone knows whether the Panay cloudrunner is still on display in Moonlight World? Zootierliste shows it as "former".

The last individual passed away some months ago.

 

[Mo Hassan]

The last individual passed away some months ago.

Thanks, that is sad.

 

[robert everett]

A fair point, but the aquarium, excellent in many ways, has not been an attractive destination for the unobsessed for a long while. A well-designed, intelligent aquarium would be an enormous lure - good aquariums are inundated with visitors. Fish have the distinct advantage of being often colourful, and usually active. They therefore win hands down for the casual visitor!

I’ve been told in an email that the large majority of the aquariums inhabitants will remain at ZSL either in London or Whipsnade plus there will be space made for them in BUGS apparently

 

[Shorts]

I’ve been told in an email that the large majority of the aquariums inhabitants will remain at ZSL either in London or Whipsnade plus there will be space made for them in BUGS apparently

Assuming the e-mail's from ZSL that would seen to imply that the vast majority of the aquarium's inhabitants will remain in the aquarium which would be closed to the public which, to my mind, would be a very unsatisfactory "solution". The remainder of London and Whipsnade (BUGS included) doesn't have anywhere near the capacity, without very significant (unrealistic levels of) investment, to house even a significant fraction of the aquarium's inhabitants.

 

[sooty mangabey]

Assuming the e-mail's from ZSL that would seen to imply that the vast majority of the aquarium's inhabitants will remain in the aquarium which would be closed to the public which, to my mind, would be a very unsatisfactory "solution". The remainder of London and Whipsnade (BUGS included) doesn't have anywhere near the capacity, without very significant (unrealistic levels of) investment, to house even a significant fraction of the aquarium's inhabitants.

And given up on that one of the major issues with the aquarium is its safety, for staff working there, it seems somewhat unlikely that staff would continue to look after a now-behind-the-scenes collection.

 

[kiang]

Interesting times ahead then, focusing on the 200th anniversary in 2026, which I hope will see facelifts for the Mappins, Casson, North bank and Cotton terraces.
As well as a rethink of the Snowdon aviary, keep it as an aviary, keep the diversity

 

[sooty mangabey]

I appreciate that this may sound rather cynical, but I'll adopt a "believe it when I see it" approach here!

In order to fit in any significant part of the fish collection into "Bugs!" would take fundamental rebuilding and re-engineering - at a cost to the integrity of that exhibit as well.

 

[robert everett]

I appreciate that this may sound rather cynical, but I'll adopt a "believe it when I see it" approach here!

In order to fit in any significant part of the fish collection into "Bugs!" would take fundamental rebuilding and re-engineering - at a cost to the integrity of that exhibit as well.

It’s all money money money

 

[Shorts]

It’s all money money money

How's quoting Abba songs a retort to Sooty's point?

I'm with Sooty on the cynical wing on this one. The amount of money it'd take to retrofit BUGS (and "rehouse a majority of the collections over ZSL premises), whilst simultaneously revamping the Snowden, is on such a different scale to the level of funds ZSL's typically has access to I can't see it happening.

And if they did have that level of funds part of me might question whether rehousing a vast collection of mostly small fishes was the best thing they could do with the money.

 

[robert everett]

How's quoting Abba songs a retort to Sooty's point?

I'm with Sooty on the cynical wing on this one. The amount of money it'd take to retrofit BUGS (and "rehouse a majority of the collections over ZSL premises), whilst simultaneously revamping the Snowden, is on such a different scale to the level of funds ZSL's typically has access to I can't see it happening.

And if they did have that level of funds part of me might question whether rehousing a vast collection of mostly small fishes was the best thing they could do with the money.

Because they need a enormous amount of money to progress

 

[Shorts]

Because they need a enormous amount of money to progress

Sorry, I should have added a smiley to highlight the jest.

My point still stands though, it just seems like the message you received is writing cheques that it's arse can't cash.