IZES - Zoo Grapevine Magazine

The latest issue of Zoo Grapevine & International Zoo News (Issue 55, Summer 2020) has been published and it contains a jam-packed 46 glossy, full-colour pages and includes the following:

- 4 pages of Zoo News from around the world
- 2 pages on "high-level attendances at European zoos in 2019" (full of statistics from 5 nations)
- 5 pages on Barcelona Zoo
- 5 pages on Alpenzoo Innsbruck
- 7 pages on 'Zoos of South Africa - Part Two' (4 establishments are discussed)
- 4 pages titled 'The Bird Man of Prague Zoo'
- 4 pages that take a look at the historical status of the Raven's Aviary at London Zoo
- plus a few other bits and bobs, including 4 pages of book reviews and other delights.

The Autumn 2020 edition of the magazine will have a review of Shanghai Zoo, a peek at some zoos on Cyprus, plus an article looking at the 50th anniversary of Geoffrey Schomberg's classic book The Penguin Guide to British Zoos (1970)
 
snowleopard said:
3 pages devoted to a review of Izmir Wildlife Park in Turkey
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My college's library is subscribed to zoo grapevine but I wasn't able to read the last two editions due to the library being closed. Is it possible to summarize the review here? I really wonder what westerner zoo visitors think of any Turkish collection.

Edit I checked the IZES website for past issues and I was only able to find issues between summer 2016 until spring 2018. There isn't any issues from 2019 nor 2020.
 
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PossumRoach said:
My college's library is subscribed to zoo grapevine but I wasn't able to read the last two editions due to the library being closed. Is it possible to summarize the review here? I really wonder what westerner zoo visitors think of any Turkish collection.

Edit I checked the IZES website for past issues and I was only able to find issues between summer 2016 until spring 2018. There isn't any issues from 2019 nor 2020.
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Nayer Youakim, who is a regular contributor to Zoo Grapevine, wrote the article on Turkey's Izmir Wildlife Park and said that "on the whole, I was impressed. Although there is much more that could be done here, this is undoubtedly a very good zoo, which is much more than I had expected". Nayer praised the friendliness of the staff, the aesthetically pleasing landscaping, an enormous herd of 70+ Goitered Gazelles and other aspects of the collection. The review is worth a read if you can get your hands on a copy (or if you order a subscription) as it is 17 paragraphs and 7 colour photos in total.
 
Will the IZES ever have an online archive for paying members who weren't able to get the first issues of zoo grapevine?
 
Today I found out that my college library has canceled their subscription and still wasn’t able to find the article on izmir.
 
The latest issue of Zoo Grapevine & International Zoo News (Issue 56, Autumn 2020) has been published and it contains 46 glossy, full-colour pages and includes the following:

- 4 pages of Zoo News from around the world
- 4 pages on "high-level attendances at European zoos in 2019" (statistics from 3 nations)
- 5 pages on Shanghai Zoo in China
- 6 pages on Pafos Zoo and Limassol Zoo in Cyprus
- 6 pages on a brand-new French zoo called Parrot World (almost all South American fauna)
- 5 pages looking at the 50th anniversary of Geoffrey Schomberg's classic guide to British zoos
- plus a few other bits and bobs, including book reviews and other delights.

The next edition of the magazine will have a look at some zoos in Costa Rica, "the rise of women in American zoos", plus some "smaller zoos of the English midlands".
 
It is a pity that this magazine is not available as a pdf unlike e.g. Zooquaria. Younger generation generally reads on a screen, and often has no physical space to keep paper magazines or books.
 
Jurek7 said:
It is a pity that this magazine is not available as a pdf unlike e.g. Zooquaria. Younger generation generally reads on a screen, and often has no physical space to keep paper magazines or books.
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I agree. But but isn't it easier for a pdf file to be pirated?
 
I think a balance has to be struck between idealism and pragmatism between what you personally think is nice as a publisher and what your readership actually wants.

My housing situation hasn’t been stable in over a decade. That means books in storage, occasionally all in one place, then back in storage or partly in storage, partly at work, partly at wherever I’m living. Back in storage in another country, partly with family in yet another country. We don’t all have the luxury of shelf space or even shelves. I sold lots of my maps and guidebooks as I had to think very carefully about what I had space for and what I just had to let go.

Inevitably things go missing when you’re constantly moving and my copies of the magazine are all over the place. And I’m often changing my subscription address which in itself has not been straightforward.

Yes it’s nice to have a commitment to the printed format and I understand this. I love books and much prefer to read a physical magazine.

But the reality for me and I’m sure many others is that it would be hugely more convenient to have a digital subscription and downloadable pdfs. I cannot stress this enough.
 
PossumRoach said:
I agree. But but isn't it easier for a pdf file to be pirated?
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I thought that IZES is a kind of hobby project aimed for people who collect zoo-related gadgets. So it would make little difference to make pdf available for people who are not into collecting physical gadgets. Some people like to have a nice magazine to hold, others simply don't get it.
 
PossumRoach said:
I agree. But but isn't it easier for a pdf file to be pirated?
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Theoretically yes. But is there really a market for illicit copies of a niche publication like this? You have to balance the possibility of that happening with the convenience a pdf version would mean and how it might even encourage people to subscribe who are put off by the inconvenience of having a physical copy sent to them.
 
Its probably worth recounting the full story(in brief) here. i started the Independent Zoo Enthusiasts Society in 1995..partly to counter a growing anti-zoo faction in the UK of the time,partly to start a vehicle for those of us that believed that there didnt need to be a plethora of politically correct reasons for good zoos to exist(even International Zoo News was beginning to become a little timid on the matter). Initially our publication was ZOO! - a letterset printed fanzine in effect. This was before there was any conception in life in general of anything called the internet. About ten years later our publication became Zoo Grapevine,and eleven years later we absorbed International Zoo News into our publication...which was a failed publication about to go under(started in 1951) Myself,and the folks who run the magazine..Mike,Alan and Rob, always said that we would be paper-only. We are all committed bibliophiles who are rather dismayed by the encroachment of the internet into the world of print and decided that would be our policy.Its a non-profit hobby situation and when we ever make money we give it to wildlife conservation.,but for all the work,and there is lots of it,we want to do it OUR way,..with all due respect.
 
Tim Brown said:
,we want to do it OUR way,..with all due respect.
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With all due respect I’m tempted to cancel my subscription.

Even if it’s not for profit, we do pay for this, it isn’t for free. It might be a hobby for you but it still costs us money to subscribe and it just feels very arrogant to be so dismissive of people's thoughts on how best to access the magazine.

I’ve been considered cancelling my subscription because of the fact that firstly, it’s a hassle getting the magazine sent to the right place and secondly, once I do get them I don’t really have somewhere to put them and have them all together.

It shouldn’t be taken for granted that people are just happy to be told that this is the situation, take it or leave it. Frankly I'm tempted to leave it.

I find the absolute refusal to consider doing a digital version frustrating and dismissive. I hesitate to use the word Luddite but it’s not far off.
 
Understandable. It probably isn't nice to tell people how to do their job. But I do have some inquiries. The society's website only has editions between summer 2016-spring 2018. If I were to pursue after any other edition (including the 2019) would it be a lost cause?

I wouldn't even have wished for a virtual copy if it wasn't for my college's library (probably the only one in the county to have these magazines) unsubscribing and not giving people access to books because of covid.
 
Yes we are in the process of updating the website..i think all other back issues are in stock. And , to Shirokuma..,we wouldnt want to lose any subscriber but the thought of having to do something I dont want to do after contributing A LOT of my own money over 25 years rather grates a little. This thing was always supposed to be fun..but with a purpose. And if it is Luddite-ism then so be it I`m afraid. The world can`t always beat to Bill Gates` drum.
 
Tim Brown said:
Yes we are in the process of updating the website..i think all other back issues are in stock. And , to Shirokuma..,we wouldnt want to lose any subscriber but the thought of having to do something I dont want to do after contributing A LOT of my own money over 25 years rather grates a little. This thing was always supposed to be fun..but with a purpose. And if it is Luddite-ism then so be it I`m afraid. The world can`t always beat to Bill Gates` drum.
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So in that case my point is, if it’s all about what you want to do then why publicise it? Why invite people to subscribe? Why have snowleopard plugging each new issue here?

I find your hostility to more people being able to access the magazine and to existing subscribers having more convenient access utterly, utterly baffling. Saddening in fact. I'm sorry if it grates a little but your response grates more than a little for me.

We don’t all have the luxury of a stable life where everything is organised in one place. As I said in my earlier post, I love books. I have boxes and boxes of them. But my housing situation has meant that for much of the last decade or more they have only been in boxes where I can’t get at them because I’ve had nowhere to put them. This year I have lived in four addresses in three countries. Getting my stuff forwarded, keeping up to date with making sure things get to me at the right address is stressful and anxiety inducing.

I would be happy to get a printed magazine except for the fact that my circumstances mean this is simply incredibly inconvenient. Even more so when they are sent to the wrong address. More than once.

So as things stand, no, I won't be renewing my subscription.
 
Tim, the discussion got a bit heated, and I don't want to annoy you or push you to do something.

But why not be like Zooquaria? It is sent paid to subscribers, but it makes the content available on the website. I understand you already produce pdfs for printing, you have the website with the list of issues, what is the problem of linking the pdfs on the website? With half year delay if you fear losing subscribers, like National Geographic does nowadays. You said it is not for profit, you care about spreading awareness, this way Zoo Grapevine will open itself to a whole new category of members: children who have little money and don't want to pay upfront for something they don't know, people living in the USA or Asia where the post is slow, expensive and not reliable, people who have no shelf space and must throw away old stuff to get new ones. I just don't get it.
 
This has got rather ridiculous to be honest...its a policy we decided to adopt years ago and have decided to stick with, if you have little or no room for physical artifacts then i can understand your frustration and a non-renewal might be wise, but not everything suits everybody,or,rather more accurately, NOTHING suits everybody.On a labour of love it is important that we love the labour and we just dont fancy any more work than we currently do(which is substantial). As for promoting Zoo Grapevine..what is wrong with inviting people to join our journey? And what is wrong with inviting zoo enthusiasts to obtain a magazine for zoo enthusiasts?For sure i have never asked Snow Leopard to post about Zoo Grapevine,yes he`s a good friend,but he`s just posting a relevant topic off his own bat. We are quite clear that it is a paper product,as far as I know they are not redundant on this particular internet chatroom. Not too many books/magazines will dedicate themselves to sending money out for Saola conservation either(the situation is pending due to world events).
 
Tim Brown said:
As for promoting Zoo Grapevine..what is wrong with inviting people to join our journey? And what is wrong with inviting zoo enthusiasts to obtain a magazine for zoo enthusiasts?
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What's wrong with inviting people to join your journey?

You have made it very clear that this is a personal project to be taken on your own terms and you regard constructive feedback from your customers - and even if it’s not for profit, when people are paying for a service they are indeed customers - as grating .

Which suggests you do not welcome a wider reach for the publication.

Tim Brown said:
We are quite clear that it is a paper product,as far as I know they are not redundant on this particular internet chatroom.
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As I said, I have no problem with a paper product and by no means think that books are redundant. Quite the contrary. Nevertheless, I still regard your hostility to a pdf alternative as baffling.

Tim Brown said:
. Not too many books/magazines will dedicate themselves to sending money out for Saola conservation either
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I will give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that you didn't mean this to sound like emotional blackmail. Have you considered that by potentially expanding your reach by offering a digital option in addition to the print copy you might actually make more money for conservation?
 
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