Battersea Park Children's Zoo Battersea Park Childrens Zoo news thread

The zoo have welcomed Fea's flying frog to the collection.
 
Vera, a Violet Turaco hatched at the zoo in 1992, and presumed to be the oldest of her species in the UK, has died at the age of 28

Security Check Required
 
In awful news, the zoo was broken into overnight, taking on heavy damages. The police are launching an investigation.

Security Check Required
 
Longer statement from FB:

Tuesday 18th August Incident Statement:

Sadly, Battersea Park Children’s Zoo was broken into last night. The intruders caused significant damage across the site.

As well as breaking into our shop, cafe and offices, they attempted to release numerous animals from their enclosures, leaving the majority of our animals terrified by the ordeal.

We can confirm that all animals bar two yellow-crowned parakeets and an English old spot rabbit have been safely returned to their enclosures. We believe that the rabbit has been stolen from the zoo by the intruders, whilst the missing parakeets have been located to a nearby tree adjacent to their enclosure. We hope to have these back in their enclosure soon.

Apart from the rabbit, no animals left the perimeter of the zoo.

BPCZ will remain closed today (18th) and tomorrow (19th). We plan to reopen at 10:00am on Thursday 20th.

The whole team would like to thank everyone for their support at this distressing time.

I would personally like to thank our animal team for their professionalism during this incident.

Edward Heap
 
I visited yesterday for the first time in a long while and have a few notes to make:

In addition to the animals listed on ZTL, the zoo holds (al the below were seen and signed yesterday):
  • Mammals: Six-banded armadillo.
  • Birds: Swan goose, Common eider, Eastern grey-crowned crane, Orange-winged amazon, Turquoise-fronted amazon and Zebra finch.
  • Reptiles: Blue spiny lizard, Eastern casquehead iguana, Corn snake.
  • Inverts: Mexican redknee tarantula, Sun beetle and Madagascar hissing cockroach.
However, the zoo does not have the following species listed on ZTL:
  • Mammals: Northern Luzon giant cloud rat (not signed, not seen), Pallas's squirrel (not signed, not seen), Siberian chipmunk (not signed, not seen) and South American coati (not signed, not seen).
  • Birds: Violet turaco (not signed, not seen)
  • Reptiles: Common box turtle (not signed, not seen)
A net gain for the zoo on the whole I think, although I was disappointed not to see the squirrels or cloud rats as both are lovely species.

Otherwise, I found the zoo to be a lovely little place, with some really nice exhibits which were, at times, even too big. The hedgehog and owl mixed exhibit was great, with a simulated old barn house with a rusty tractor and other farmyard implements, but was just a bit too big with a few too many hiding places, making the animals very difficult to spot - it is however superb for the animals. The zoo appears to make a large breeding population of mynas and kakarikis, great news for both species, as well as a very active pair of wildcats, some very noisy squirrel monkeys, a couple of very shy polecats and a superb exhibit for at least 12 harvest mice.

Could someone with the sufficient status change the ZTL for the zoo? Much appreciated :)
 
amur leopard said:
I visited yesterday for the first time in a long while and have a few notes to make:

In addition to the animals listed on ZTL, the zoo holds (al the below were seen and signed yesterday):
  • Mammals: Six-banded armadillo.
  • Birds: Swan goose, Common eider, Eastern grey-crowned crane, Orange-winged amazon, Turquoise-fronted amazon and Zebra finch.
  • Reptiles: Blue spiny lizard, Eastern casquehead iguana, Corn snake.
  • Inverts: Mexican redknee tarantula, Sun beetle and Madagascar hissing cockroach.
However, the zoo does not have the following species listed on ZTL:
  • Mammals: Northern Luzon giant cloud rat (not signed, not seen), Pallas's squirrel (not signed, not seen), Siberian chipmunk (not signed, not seen) and South American coati (not signed, not seen).
  • Birds: Violet turaco (not signed, not seen)
  • Reptiles: Common box turtle (not signed, not seen)
A net gain for the zoo on the whole I think, although I was disappointed not to see the squirrels or cloud rats as both are lovely species.

Otherwise, I found the zoo to be a lovely little place, with some really nice exhibits which were, at times, even too big. The hedgehog and owl mixed exhibit was great, with a simulated old barn house with a rusty tractor and other farmyard implements, but was just a bit too big with a few too many hiding places, making the animals very difficult to spot - it is however superb for the animals. The zoo appears to make a large breeding population of mynas and kakarikis, great news for both species, as well as a very active pair of wildcats, some very noisy squirrel monkeys, a couple of very shy polecats and a superb exhibit for at least 12 harvest mice.

Could someone with the sufficient status change the ZTL for the zoo? Much appreciated :)
Click to expand...
Great report - thank you!
 
amur leopard said:
Pallas's squirrel (not signed, not seen), Siberian chipmunk (not signed, not seen) and South American coati (not signed, not seen).
Click to expand...

Not entirely a surprise given all three of these are on the banned list of invasives within EAZA, and therefore weren't being allowed to breed and wouldn't have been replaced.

A pity, though.
 
Interesting note about the cloud rats, and a shame. They were signed but not visible when I visited on July 26th.

There was a note on the former coati enclosure that the last elderly individual had recently passed away; the enclosure was temporarily housing Azara’s agouti.
 
Rajang21 said:
There was a note on the former coati enclosure that the last elderly individual had recently passed away; the enclosure was temporarily housing Azara’s agouti.
Click to expand...

Yes, I thought that exhibit was better suited to a more arboreal animal given the high electric fence, large trees etc. Any idea what they will replace them with? I'd personally love to see something like a North American porcupine in there.
 
TeaLovingDave said:
Not entirely a surprise given all three of these are on the banned list of invasives within EAZA, and therefore weren't being allowed to breed and wouldn't have been replaced.

A pity, though.
Click to expand...

Not quite. EAZA haven't deemed these invasive. The ruling is an EU-wide law that covers every institution (zoo, private keeper etc). If anything EAZA are seeking exemptions to the ban on breeding for some species on the schedule. The UK continues to impose a ban despite Brexit, however, I believe that there are moves afoot to remove some species from the schedule in the UK...
 
Paradoxurus said:
If anything EAZA are seeking exemptions to the ban on breeding for some species on the schedule.
Click to expand...

I knew the EAZA deer TAG have been opposing the inclusion of muntjak (with some success if I recall rightly) but had been under the impression they'd otherwise embraced it; very glad to hear I was incorrect!

But yes, my writing "EAZA" previously was a complete brainfart on my part :p
 
Fifty harvest mice born into a breeding programme run by Battersea Park Children's Zoo have been reintroduced to the wild at Horsenden Hill in Ealing, West London where habitat has been restored.

Information comes from the Battersea Park Children's Zoo Facebook page.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top