Yes, I have noticed some of this attrition at work on recent visits- single sex herds of Asian deer/antelope such as Nilgai & Blackbuck, castrated Lions, apparently reduced(contracepted?) breeding in the gorilla groups to name a few. Diana Monkeys at PL now down to 0.1 apparently. GB Mangabeys non-breeders etc. What is the pattern in the Small Cat department? But it still leaves an awful lot of animals there which will never see their homelands...
Howletts Wild Animal Park Howletts Wild Animal Park news 2020
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Yes, I have noticed some of this attrition at work on recent visits- single sex herds of Asian deer/antelope such as Nilgai & Blackbuck, castrated Lions, apparently reduced(contracepted?) breeding in the gorilla groups to name a few. Diana Monkeys at PL now down to 0.1 apparently. GB Mangabeys non-breeders etc. What is the pattern in the Small Cat department? But it still leaves an awful lot of animals there which will never see their homelands...
Onychorhynchus coronatus
Well-Known Member
What is the point in this ? I mean what on earth do these kind of actions actually achieve for ex-situ conservation ?
To put the brake on breeding some of these species as they have no chance of reintroduction- so breeding anymore of them is pointless...
Onychorhynchus coronatus
Well-Known Member
Frankly I dont really care about a lot of the species that the Aspinall park's keep as they are not of conservation concern. However, there is more than one species kept by those parks that is and what a shame if they are prevented from breeding.
Perhaps, considering that many of these will have valuable genetics for breeding programes, they should actually be sent to institutions that do take ex-situ seriously?
An even greater shame that this may be all due to some ridiculously high expectation of "reintroducing" them back to the wild in an impossibly unrealistic time frame due to the whim of a single man. It is a shame that DA has taken this direction but it seems one that he is unwilling to change course on.
Again, I would strongly encourage people to shift their support to Jersey zoo and the Durrell Trust who evidently take both ex-situ and in-situ conservation very seriously.
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I'm not sure which species you are referring to. Most of the more endangered species are still the subject of breeding programmes afaik, at least those that are not being quietly phased out. However Howletts have always acted very independently of the mainstream zoo world in regard to their management.
Onychorhynchus coronatus
Well-Known Member
Namely : meerkats, Bennett's wallaby, ring tailed lemur, blackbuck, axis deer, roan antelope, ostrich, lechwe, blue wildebeest, eland, waterbuck, hybrid giraffe, water buffalo and capybara.
I couldn't care less if they were to phase these species out as what are they doing there to begin with ?
It is the more endangered species that they hold that I personally feel concerned about and what a time to consider reintroducing some of these animals back into the wild !
Reintroduction efforts always require a necessary leap of faith and entail risks but I do worry that some of these intitiatives are more akin to leaps off a cliff.
Nevertheless, given how entrenched DA seems to be I doubt they will turn back from this direction so for the sake of the animals I do wish them luck in attempting these quixotic "reintroductions" and fingers crossed that they succeed and do not end in disaster.
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On this note, does anyone know how the gorilla reintroduction involving Djala’s group fared? The last news I heard wasn’t good, to put diplomatically!
Onychorhynchus coronatus
Well-Known Member
Unfortunately I have no idea about that other than it went badly in the beginning but I'm sure someone else will be up to date with what happened in that particular case.
I was actually referring to which endangered species you were referring to that they may have stopped breeding from, not to the more common species you list above. But as to why the 'commons' are there, they are mainly either from 1. John Aspinall's original earliest collection (Blackbuck, Axis Deer, Nilgai etc) or 2. were obtained to fill the 'safari drive-in' experience at Port Lympne with more African species when it first opened (some being initially 'rescued' from a defunct Safari park in Austria) or 3. more recent 'fill-in' additions known to be popular with visitors such as (presumably) Meerkats, Ring-tailed Lemurs etc. Guinea baboons were also taken on a temporary basis from Edinburgh/Paris Zoo but have stayed and mushroomed into an impressive sized troop!
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You probably know that most of his group died under mysterious circumstances and I won't speculate further on the cause here. Djala was then left with a black-backed son(Djongo?) and a younger daughter(Mwamba) as the remnant of his group. As they matured the two offspring were later moved seperately to form pairings with other rescued gorillas. Both afaik were successful moves, but this has left Djala living by himself from what I can see, though he is not mentioned frequently anymore.
The Hedgehog
Well-Known Member
Never. One of the reasons they sent him back to Africa was his stress levels and dislike of visitors, particularly children. More likely they might add a female or two for him where he his.
The Hedgehog
Well-Known Member
@Pertinax at least there was animal welfare kind of involved with Djala’s realease. Were any of the other members of Djala’s family unkeen on children or guests in general? I vaguely remember hearing that Djala tried to throw rocks,sticks and even excrement at dark skinned people predominantly men.
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Nor would it be advisable given his age I’d imagine. Makes you wonder what the hit to Damian’s ego would be were it to though!
The Hedgehog
Well-Known Member
@Pertinax and @Panthera1981 I hope that Damian Aspinall has learned a lesson from Djala’s group,and he does not send another family group back to the wild. Djala lives with Djongo. I believe that Djongo’s realise failed last year and he returned to the protected island.Could Djongo possibly be brought back Howeletts or Port Lyme? Gorillas Land | Gorilla Protection Project Batéké Plateau
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Djala lives by himself. Djongo is living with Mayombe, a female that Beauval sent to the reserve.
The Hedgehog
Well-Known Member
@ShonenJake13 @Pertinax or @Gigit Is there any chance that Djala,Djongo Or Mayombe could be be brought to live in the Aspinall parks or even another English Zoo?
As mentioned above by multiple other users, no.
Regardless of what happens once they’re out there, if there’s one thing you can rely on it’s Damian Aspinall refusing to bring a ‘wild’ animal back into captivity.
How is this place still in EAZA?
Onychorhynchus coronatus
Well-Known Member
So basically it was a total disaster ? Well, somehow I'm not really very suprised and I don't think it will be the last one either.
On the Mongabay podcast interview I posted on this forum DA mentioned that he was contemplating reintroducing black rhino to a protected area in either Somalia or Sudan (I can't really remember which though).
These are both countries with enormous internal issues with food and water insecurity, poverty, armed conflict, terrorism, corruption and political instability and these problems will likely be terribly and irreversibly compounded with climate change in the near future.
Do these sound like ideal locations to reintroduce an animal whose horn is worth $300,000 on the black market?