Leopard and Goat Farm Private Collection in Cornwall
- Thread starter Marcellus
- Start date
To add up to Dave’s reply the instagram account has alot of food and ingredient pictures
Good luck on ever getting to visit!
Indeed...can't imagine that someone who from what I've heard is notoriously private will be particularly thrilled to welcome a group of people who a) follow his every move on social media like a hawk, b) (in some cases) claim that his animals are pets, and c) (in some cases) even go so far as to admitting attempting to peek into his private property by driving past or trying to catch a train that might offer them a brief glimpse...
I find it interesting to note that no other private collections spoken about on this forum (Wisbroek, ACTP etc.) get nearly as much (unwanted?) attention! And they have a pretty similar output on social media, plus their physical location are known. Perhaps birds are boring...?
I don't know the man personally, but if I was in his shoes I'd be feeling pretty intruded upon...instead of running speculation and waiting and waiting and waiting for a possible open day that has apparently been on the cards for close to four years now and has never come, why don't we just talk about any animals he posts about on his socials (as I'm sure these are species he doesn't mind folks knowing about), and not go delving into job ads, import documents and licensing to try and speculate what he's going to get? From what friends of mine have said about the RSCC days, half the time he brought something in none of us were expecting...even if some of those people were in the know!
I want to visit his site just as much as the rest of you, but I can't imagine that all 12 pages of this thread will help him want to open to the public in any shape or form. In fact, he privated his Instagram when this thread first started SPECIFICALLY because he felt intruded upon...
I'm sure I'll be shouted down for bullying or for being mean, but to be completely honest this isn't a public zoo with a ton of visitors and social media activity we're talking about, it's someone's private land and their own life. Let the man live it.
Whilst I can understand some of your comments @ShonenJake13, I would suggest that if someone posts information about their collection publicly on social media, they are giving up the right to a certain amount of privacy surely?!
Couldn't have put it better myself Jake 
particularly:
...and given I famously would dearly love to see Marbled Cat someday, this hopefully speaks volumes
particularly:...and given I famously would dearly love to see Marbled Cat someday, this hopefully speaks volumes
I agree with this wholeheartedly, and am not suggesting all speculation has to stop...I'm more pointing the finger at people who are deliberately attempting to have a sneaky peek into his land, who are going through god knows how many other avenues to find out what he has/what he's going to get, and who (whether deliberately or indirectly) are criticising his collection decisions/lack of open days...none of these seem like things that would make me, in his shoes, throw open the doors and say come on in!
Half of the stuff he has he hasn't posted about on social media, probably for good reason. Most of the species he has/had/is potentially going to have that this forum knows about have been discovered after going to places other than his Instagram.
I can imagine that the species he does post about, he doesn't mind people knowing/talking about. But if one is going to come at him from all angles to find out what the story is, given his past decisions based on posts made on this forum I wouldn't be surprised if he just never does an open day.
I dearly hope you don't genuinely believe that people don't deserve privacy if they choose to disclose carefully curated levels of information on social media?
I agree.
We must remember that animals from this private collection have been passed on to several public collections in the UK and on the Continent. We can hope that this pioneering work will continue, so that we can all have more opportunities to see these rare and interesting species eventually.
Indeed...to be perfectly honest, the only species he has that are massively unique and can't be seen onshow anywhere in Europe that have been disclosed on this thread and his Instagram are the marbled cats, Javan binturongs (seems all of the ones that Hamerton etc imported are actually Sumatran) and Javan yellow-throated martens...everything else is available to be seen at at least one zoo somewhere in Western Europe!
This I agree with. 'Leaking' things on this forum has never done anyone any favours, as some people have mentioned countless times on here, so it's best to just leave the chat to what he posts on socials and not go snooping anywhere else I say
If you don't want people to know something, you don't publicise it- it is that simple yes!
But snooping around the perimeter of the private collection or posting inaccurate information or criticism is not acceptable obviously.
He still has a website. On that website it STILL says that open days and feasts are ‘coming soon’. When he publicly campaigned for charity funds in the first lockdown he again stated that those who donated a certain amount would be able to join a tour when the site was fit for visiting and lockdowns are over. There is nothing wrong with me or any other forum member being excited at this prospect. If he closes the website & cancels the planned open days so be it. Until then I will look forward to booking a ticket & contributing to his project. I also agree it is completely wrong to sneak around his property if that has been happening?
You may remember some members openly saying that they weren’t intending on donating to get a tour because they were aware how long open days had been on the cards for?
But that aside, I’m not criticising you getting excited for the species he has and the potential of an open day, but I’m sure when the time eventually comes he’ll mention it on social media platforms. I’ve been clear with what specifically is the issue here above - it’s people attempting to mine information through other avenues, not through his Instagram and website.
Andrew Swales
Well-Known Member
I would have thought that posting details on the internet and soliciting public donations, crosses the line and invites interest from those reading the posts and making the donations.
Andrew Swales
Well-Known Member
With regard to the Binturongs - we used the common and scientific names given by the source of the animals, in good faith.
Young have been parent reared from two pairs of animals imported from that source - all are under our control, and none have been mixed with 'generic' animals from the old UK stock.
If you know more about them than our source does, then it would be helpful to have the details...
I’m going by what ZTL and the Instagram account of said private collection have to say...I was under the impression the binturongs were under review to determine if they are indeed Javan or not...? Crossed wires possibly
If you are referencing my comments on this at the time what I actually said was that I would prefer to support (the many) collections who actively wanted to engage with me under 'normal' circumstances - it had nothing to do with whether or not future tours would take place. I am still of the same opinion - although I would very much like to see a marbled cat, the spare funds I have will continue go towards collections that I have a personal interest in due to previous visits. Fact is - the website has had open days coming soon since at least 2018. They have not occured yet so I have not been able to make that personal connection with the collection as yet.
Agree. Of course there are lines that should not be crossed - if anyone is actually snooping around their private land for instance although I'm not sure anyone actually is doing that. Otherwise I think it is natural for people to chat about what they might see on these tours if they have donated. I would like to think that the promise of tours for donations will be honoured regardless of a few people here chatting about dwa licences or noting that you get a half second glimpse of the site from a train. This is hardly high level espionage. MI5 is not on the case.