Yes it will unfortunately. There are no others onshow in the UK either
Howletts Wild Animal Park Howletts Wild Animal Park news 2020
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Yes it will unfortunately. There are no others onshow in the UK either
It will indeed, sadly - and the UK as a whole.
Shame. Ratel used to be one of the many highlights on a trip to Howletts. I’m surprised they’ve never become more popular in UK collections. Surely there’s some collections that could house them?
So more grandiose statements from Damo whilst everything around him burns? Seems that, whilst emperor Nero played the fiddle, Aspinall Jr would much rather do it through social media!
I think Howletts may have had an unbroken(?) tradition of keeping Ratels ever since the park first opened. For many years there was a male called Thurston. It will be strange to pay a visit there and see that small circular enclosure by the entrance drive without this species.
Very disappointing to lose the Ratel, another reason less to bother visiting an Aspinall zoo!The breeding pair of Honey Badger (Tyson and Bee-Bee) moved to Safari Dvur Kralove in the Czech Republic last week.
Their daughter (Tembe) will also leave soon. She's being sent to Africa before eventually being released into the wild. Being a hybrid of course this is not a sensible idea, but of course this is Damian Aspinall we are talking about...
I believe there was an early Ratel that Aspinall used to take for walks with a Tiger, and had to stop because the Tiger was scared of it.
Onychorhynchus coronatus
Well-Known Member
I've had a look at his instagram page and he doesn't seem to be doing too badly in terms of galvanising support for his actions with the public which doesn't really suprise me considering the anti-zoo bias that many people have.
Personally, while I used to see some modicum of logic to some of his arguments (or at least what I heard of them on that Mongabay podcast) I think he is currently really not thinking through these "reintroduction" programs of his and is actually compromising his late father's legacy.
You only need to mention simplistic phrases like 'wildlife conservation' or 'reintroduction back to the wild' and many folk will applaud those sentiments unreservedly. They will never look at the detail though.
Pity really, when what is actually happening is ‘random turning out of untrained and often genetically unsuited animals’
Onychorhynchus coronatus
Well-Known Member
Yes, unfortunately I agree. For a lot of people it is just a feel good buzzword that gives them the "Awwws", a chance to virtue signal and a dopamine hit on social media.
The actual reality of any reintroduction effort is actually extremely gritty and unpredictable, often disappointing, frequently ends in failure and only now and then if you get it right successful.
Onychorhynchus coronatus
Well-Known Member
Am I missing something here or wasn't one of the main points of DA's whole argument against zoos that captive animals are often genetically unsuitable for captive breeding programs?
What I find odd is the fact the two parks between them house a higher percentage of animals that have never been, and are never likely to be, subject of any form of reintroduction scheme. Yet they go unremarked on. If closure is really his longeterm aim, what will happen to all of those?
Onychorhynchus coronatus
Well-Known Member
Perhaps the meerkats are being prepared for a high octane "do or die" reintroduction program in the Kalahari deserts of Namibia ?
You never know...
Meerkats aren't the only ones. There are herds of deer and antelope, giraffe, zebra, wildebeest, many primate and carnivore species, five gorilla groups + two of surplus males (gorillas have been the subject of reintroduction with mixed success), african elephants- I could go on...Perhaps the meerkats are being prepared for a high octane "do or die" reintroduction program in the Kalahari deserts of Namibia ?
You never know...
Onychorhynchus coronatus
Well-Known Member
So he is planning to "reintroduce" basically everything kept at his parks ?
Ermmm, ok...
yeah, what a wonderful idea , what could possibly go wrong ? 
That isn't stated. Only the species which have been or are actually the subject of reintroductions get mentioned. That's understandable perhaps as these are 'news' but there seems a big silence about everything else as to what is proposed for them if the parks were ever to close.
Onychorhynchus coronatus
Well-Known Member
Hmmmm, well I don't want to be overcritical of him, I think his heart is in the right place (whether his brain is would be another question entirely) I would just recommend people to shift their support to a zoo like Jersey zoo and the work of the Durrell Trust over the Aspinall parks.
The rumour for many years has been that his (significant) inheritance when his father passed away came with a codicil obligating him to manage his father's collections for as long as they remain open in order to retain access to this money.
There's a loophole there, if true.
Well, a good few other species have been "managed into extinction" or are in the process of same, through a combination of putting a breeding halt on individuals held, calling animals owned by the collection elsewhere back and then ceasing to breed them, or refusing to co-operate with any attempts to import new blood.
Onychorhynchus coronatus
Well-Known Member
If there is any truth to that rumour (and it might just be a malicious one) then that is actually quite heartbreaking / depressing.
Its a strange one isn't it- 'for as long as they remain open' To what purpose exactly? And I guess there's only one person who has the power to close them, or is there some form of governing trust of Aspinall Snr's friends in the background?