ZSL London Zoo ZSL London Zoo News 2018

NigeW said:
ZSL London Zoo. Friday 2nd November, 2018.
Although I haven’t been for years, I do follow goings on at ZSL and nothing I saw should’ve come as a surprise. It was noticeable that although this was a half term visit for us, the holiday had been and gone in London and most visitors on the day were tourists from overseas. Visiting one of the world’s great capital cities I guess what they’d be expecting was the UK’s national zoo. Oh dear! We know its small, but its also rather tatty and dog-eared, there are swathes of wasted space and although there is much history there it isn’t incorporated, and featured, the way it is in say, Artis. It boils down to money of course, but I see Chester so apparently cash-rich and wonder why ZSL are where they are. Yes, its small, and constrained, but its punching well below its weight.
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I have a theory (I have plenty of zoo theories ;) ) that in this age of near-universal car usage people want to travel "out" to an attraction (be it a zoo or other such attraction) rather than "in" ... Hence the success of Chester and (in the past) Twycross and the failure or difficulties of Belle Vue, Dudley and ... Regent's Park.

Appreciate London is something of a special case but they must be mighty grateful for their overseas visitors ...
 
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Does anyone know why the Casson is closed? I’m hoping this isn’t permanent, it’s been like this since my visit in August. I went back yesterday and the Mappins looked pretty barren as well, the zoo was in quite a sorry state with closed/empty exhibits everywhere.
 
Balalaika said:
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Does anyone know why the Casson is closed? I’m hoping this isn’t permanent, it’s been like this since my visit in August. I went back yesterday and the Mappins looked pretty barren as well, the zoo was in quite a sorry state with closed/empty exhibits everywhere.
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As has been discussed frequently, this is a major problem at London: it is possible to visit (and it’s not inexpensive to do so!) and to feel as if you’re visiting a place that time has forgotten. A number of years ago, a manager at Spain’s Fuengirola Zoo told me that they always remembered that on any given day, any visitor could be coming to the zoo for the first time, so it always had to look immaculate. One might quibble about the size of some of the Fuengirola enclosures, but, as a place to visit, it is a delight. London? Not so much. A whole shift in attitude is required, I think. At the moment, there seems to be indifference towards, or contempt for, the visiting public.
 
Pertinax said:
I think this photo rather sums up ZSL at present...
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Sadly, I believe that the Casson House needs extensive building work to ensure that animals and visitors are in a safe environment. London Zoo is facing some difficult issues at the moment but hopefully there is a strategy in place which will restore the zoo as a major attraction
 
SHAVINGTONZOO said:
I have a theory (I have plenty of zoo theories ;) ) that in this age of near-universal car usage people want to travel "out" to an attraction (be it a zoo or other such attraction) rather than "in" ... Hence the success of Chester and (in the past) Twycross and the failure or difficulties of Belle Vue, Dudley and ... Regent's Park.

Appreciate London is something of a special case but they must be mighty grateful for their overseas visitors ...
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I was so excited when I went to London Zoo in 09' because I got to see where history happened! I got to see where Jumbo used to be as well as well as Jackson the Sumatran Rhino and all the other famous individuals that called this zoo home.
 
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