Howletts Wild Animal Park Howletts Wild Animal Park News 2021

The Hedgehog said:
@Pertinax due too Djala living solitary in Gabon could he be transported back to England to reside at Port Lyme or Howeletts?
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What would that serve ?

It would cause tremendous stress to that animal and for what ?

His genes are well represented in the captive and now wild (or semi-wild) population and he has seemingly adapted to his current environment and with an apparent improvement in wellbeing.
 
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Onychorhynchus coronatus said:
In the article it was mentioned that Aspinall's field team were puzzled about what to do with the "serial killer" gorilla.

Surely if they are so certain about that theory then the best option would be to remove this individual ?
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I don't think they were at all certain about the 'rival' male 'Boumango' being the cause of the deaths. There was at least one clash between him and Djala but Djala seemed capable of successfully rebuffing him. It was as if Boumango seemed to be blamed as they had no other lead as to what happened. They were going to release Djala's group completely but instead took away the bridge to the island, that allowed Boumango to access them.

I believe Boumango is in fact a re-wilded male rather than a genuine wild one. However nowadays they seem to mention him in more affectionate terms- almost like they've forgotten the idea of him being a 'killer'.
 
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Pertinax said:
I don't think they were at all certain about the 'rival' male 'Boumango' being the cause of the deaths. There was at least one clash between him and Djala but Djala seemed capable of successfully rebuffing him. It was as if Boumango seemed to be blamed as they had no other lead as to what happened. They were going to release Djala's group completely but instead took away the bridge to the island, that allowed Boumango to access them.

I believe Boumango is in fact a re-wilded male rather than a genuine wild one. However nowadays they seem to mention him in more affectionate terms- almost like they've forgotten the idea of him being a 'killer'.
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I do wonder that till date the actual cause of death of the individual members of the Djala family group has never been properly resolved. Now, it is not exactly like the one dead individual found after months in the forest, it all happened within the month. It seems a bit fishy ....
 
Pertinax said:
I don't think they were at all certain about the 'rival' male 'Boumango' being the cause of the deaths. There was at least one clash between him and Djala but Djala seemed capable of successfully rebuffing him. It was as if Boumango seemed to be blamed as they had no other lead as to what happened. They were going to release Djala's group completely but instead took away the bridge to the island, that allowed Boumango to access them.

I believe Boumango is in fact a re-wilded male rather than a genuine wild one. However nowadays they seem to mention him in more affectionate terms- almost like they've forgotten the idea of him being a 'killer'.
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It's odd isn't it ?

There could have been human involvement but then I would have thought there would have been clearer evidence of that.

I wrote this in another thread on the topic :

Onychorhynchus coronatus said:
There could have been human involvement and the bodies when discovered had been for decomposing for quite some time due to the environmental conditions of the forest but if there had been human involvement then I would have thought they would have found shotgun shells, bullet casings or would have examined the morphology of the bones and found cut marks from a machete.

Of course they could have been poisoned first and then killed by blunt force trauma but I think that is quite an elaborate way for a human to kill a gorilla (and particularly when you consider the availability of firearms and bush knives in the Congo) and the dangers involved from the silverback Djala would have been considerable.

Then you have to consider what the motives of killing the animals would be and that is another rabbits hole with no clear answers.

From a quick glance on google there are existing land tenure disputes between farmers and the government agency responsible for conservation in the Congo in the Batéké Plateau region and this has lead to animosity that land believed by local communities to be suitable for agrarian use has been sold to "rich foreigners" for either conservation or development purposes (I wonder if the former refers to DA).

But would that lead to the killing of gorillas ?

It could happen but again I think there would be a lot of risks involved and I'm inclined to think that local communities would have left clear traces of human involvement if they had.

That said, I think you are right that ultimately what happened probably will always remain a mystery and personally I just hope something similar doesn't happen again in future rewilding efforts.
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But I think if they had found any human involvement they would have talked to the media about it by now.

It is all very strange indeed.
 
Issues with lifelong captivity, over aged, genetics mixed different sub groups, resident wild elephant herds, ability to adapt to natural rewilded state. Young elephants perhaps, older and aged is an absolute no go.

I am very supportive of science based reintroduction efforts and projects, but have some serious reservations on the rationale and project design of this particular initiative. Too much emotive and PR talk up.
 
Kifaru Bwana said:
Issues with lifelong captivity, over aged, genetics mixed different sub groups, resident wild elephant herds, ability to adapt to natural rewilded state. Young elephants perhaps, older and aged is an absolute no go.

I am very supportive of science based reintroduction efforts and projects, but have some serious reservations on the rationale and project design of this particular initiative. Too much emotive and PR talk up.
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I think we all back these, but these seem to be just be PR compaigns to push his ultimate goal.

Its a real shame as they do some incredible in-situ work.
 
taun said:
I think we all back these, but these seem to be just be PR compaigns to push his ultimate goal.

Its a real shame as they do some incredible in-situ work.
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Yes, I assume so most Zoochatters do. Just this ain't anything like near it and for what it is worth it is roundly suspect. I also feel let down by the journalist from the Guardian who seems to have no clue to what real and effective conservation and reintroductions would conform too. No mention of IUCN guidelines, no science (what they do well in other newspaper articles), no ... (Exasperated). Equally flawed like the gorilla project with Djala family. I am ashamed to have to say so.

The good in situ work they do is Java - langurs and lemurs on Madagascar. All that I have been very supportive about in the past where JAF was concerned. The black rhino programs they have been running with Mkomazi, Grumeti, Akagera and South Africa have had a bunch of mixed results with some avoidable release issues. AND: I do think release of Zambezi was a huge miscalculation - too old, a serious candidate for failure and it did.

It is all clear that the main reason for putting so much emphasis on release projects and shove out a major part of the collection might be interpreted as relinquishing it and disbanding the zoo operation. I feel sad for some of the workforce and animal keeping staff with all the dedication put in and it is a sad epitaph to John Aspinall's life's work to create both zoos and set up large breeding populations of selected and often viewed as difficult to breed threatened animal species (along with those not deemed sexy enough ...).
 
Kifaru Bwana said:
Yes, I assume so most Zoochatters do. Just this ain't anything like near it and for what it is worth it is roundly suspect. I also feel let down by the journalist from the Guardian who seems to have no clue to what real and effective conservation and reintroductions would conform too. No mention of IUCN guidelines, no science (what they do well in other newspaper articles), no ... (Exasperated). Equally flawed like the gorilla project with Djala family. I am ashamed to have to say so.

The good in situ work they do is Java - langurs and lemurs on Madagascar. All that I have been very supportive about in the past where JAF was concerned. The black rhino programs they have been running with Mkomazi, Grumeti, Akagera and South Africa have had a bunch of mixed results with some avoidable release issues. AND: I do think release of Zambezi was a huge miscalculation - too old, a serious candidate for failure and it did.

It is all clear that the main reason for putting so much emphasis on release projects and shove out a major part of the collection might be interpreted as relinquishing it and disbanding the zoo operation. I feel sad for some of the workforce and animal keeping staff with all the dedication put in and it is a sad epitaph to John Aspinall's life's work to create both zoos and set up large breeding populations of selected and often viewed as difficult to breed threatened animal species (along with those not deemed sexy enough ...).
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I should clarify that I'm not saying the gorilla reintroduction was a success or defending Damian in anyway.

I'm merely stating that if people feel that data in the report / paper was twisted to suit a particular narrative then the obvious answer is to read the paper and dissect it and demonstrate it.

Based on what I read and have heard I agree with you about the work with lemurs in Madagascar but don't know about langurs in Java.

Don't know if I agree with you about that last part about John Aspinall and his parks doing anything for "unsexy" species and quite the opposite actually.

From what I understand apart from some small cat species and the dhole the overwhelming majority of species kept were / are megafauna and / or charismatic.
 
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Onychorhynchus coronatus said:
I should clarify that I'm not saying the gorilla reintroduction was a success or defending Damian in anyway.

I'm merely stating that if people feel that data in the report / paper was twisted to suit a particular narrative then the obvious answer is to read the paper and dissect it and demonstrate it.

Based on what I read and have heard I agree with you about the work with lemurs in Madagascar but don't know about langurs in Java.

Don't know if I agree with you about that last part about John Aspinall and his parks doing anything for "unsexy" species and quite the opposite actually.

From what I understand apart from some small cat species and the dhole the overwhelming majority of species kept were / are megafauna and / or charismatic.
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I know and I got that perfectly clear. I do agree that some of the narrative on the issues at hand is probably less valid. My interventions are concerned with the reintroduction process where this relates to captive to wild and how to proceed, so more technical by nature.

Re unsexy species: I was thinking of clouded leopard, Malayan tapir, anoa and the surilis and douc langur amongst others.
 
Kifaru Bwana said:
Re unsexy species: I was thinking of clouded leopard, Malayan tapir, anoa and the surilis and douc langur amongst others.
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I suppose it's subjective and I know most of the public outside of South East Asia would struggle to identify those species but I tend to think those would be charismatics too.

When I think of "unsexy species" I sort of think of the really obscure ones like olms and giant jumping rat and banded ground cuckoo etc.
 
Onychorhynchus coronatus said:
I suppose it's subjective and I know most of the public outside of South East Asia would struggle to identify those species but I tend to think those would be charismatics too.

When I think of "unsexy species" I sort of think of the really obscure ones like olms and giant jumping rat and banded ground cuckoo etc.
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I'd class all those mentioned above as pretty charismatic too. The 'unsexy' ones at the Aspinall Parks to my mind are things like the ungulates- antelope, deer etc. They have a number of herds which have never featured in any planned reintroduction.
 
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How are the Aspinall parks still in the EAZA? How do they get away with doing unapproved releases? I know that months ago, Giant Panda stated that:
"BIAZA have formally complained to EAZA over Damian Aspinall's comments. Decision pending."

But GP did not show any evidence and updates since then(if it is confidential then why bring that up?).
 
This post may be a bit off topic but it’s something that does actually puzzle me about Aspinall’s whole ‘we’re gradually closing the parks’ schtick.

If you go on the website, you can see some extremely lavish accommodation, Tiger Lodge etc, that looks like an incredible experience but also VERY pricey. Also available for Lions, Wolves, giraffes and others I believe. Presumably all that high quality accommodation came at a high build cost (Maybe someone here knows when they built these). It must be a pretty little earner for Damian.

My question is, if they really are gradually emptying the collection, then surely these money spinners will be rendered obsolete in the near future? Or will there be some reason found not to send these animals back to the wild? It always struck me as somehow contradictory that they are espousing the negative aspects of zoos whilst literally hitching a premium ‘glamping’ experience on to the side of one of their sites.

If this observation is misguided in any way please feel free to shoot me down. I just struggle to reconcile Damian’s philosophy with what I knew about these experiences through visiting their website a while ago.
 
scottie31 said:
This post may be a bit off topic but it’s something that does actually puzzle me about Aspinall’s whole ‘we’re gradually closing the parks’ schtick.
If you go on the website, you can see some extremely lavish accommodation, Tiger Lodge etc, that looks like an incredible experience but also VERY pricey.
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A couple of years ago, I made a rather tongue in cheek prediction that zoos might go this way eventually.
 
PossumRoach said:
How are the Aspinall parks still in the EAZA? How do they get away with doing unapproved releases? I know that months ago, Giant Panda stated that:
"BIAZA have formally complained to EAZA over Damian Aspinall's comments. Decision pending."

But GP did not show any evidence and updates since then(if it is confidential then why bring that up?).
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I don't think they are in either EAZA or BIAZA anymore or at least that was the impression I got.
 
Pertinax said:
I'd class all those mentioned above as pretty charismatic too. The 'unsexy' ones at the Aspinall Parks to my mind are things like the ungulates- antelope, deer etc. They have a number of herds which have never featured in any planned reintroduction.
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Maybe "unsexy" but still megafauna and it seems that John Aspinall definitely had a thing about megafauna (unfortunately IMO).

I suppose they will remain that way too as I don't think it would be possible to reintroduce chital or nilgai back to India right ?
 
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