Howletts Wild Animal Park Howletts Wild Animal Park News 2023

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Alwaysevergreen

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The last Honey Badger that they had at Howletts is now offshow awaiting to move to the reserve “love Africa”, so she is in quarantine ahead of being sent out to Africa.

Signs are now around Howletts highlighting that the elephants will be moving this year and heading back to Kenya, with crates all around the exhibit.

Coco is moving to West Midlands in the next few weeks, whilst the remaining Elephants are expected to depart in the Summer.

One Capybara has passed away leaving 4.

Khari and Grace the African Lions are mixed and have been mating, so there is hope of them breeding.

Whilst the 2 Sumatran Tigers have been mixed for the last few weeks with a lot of mating going on this last week or so, so they are hopeful that the pair will produce offspring as well.

6 Bongo are now back at the park, with 4 females mixed and two young males mixed.

An exhibit the other side of the Dwarf Mongoose is being completed to bring in another unnamed species this year.
 
From Earlier on when Alwaysevergreen said Coco the Bull Elephant is going to West Midland Safari Park question is has he been trained to go into the crate for the journey to his new home in the Midlands ?
 
Jedd Cullinan said:
From Earlier on when Alwaysevergreen said Coco the Bull Elephant is going to West Midland Safari Park question is has he been trained to go into the crate for the journey to his new home in the Midlands ?
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What an odd thing to say..... I would have thought if crates have been seen situated around the enclosure and that there is now confirmation that Coco is moving to WMSP "within the next few weeks" that he is and has been in regular training for quite some time.
 
Quick question, when I was at Howletts, I decided to buy the souvenir guide book. I have to say it's probably the most informative and well designed guide book I've seen and it's very good quality. I know it was produced in 2019, and therefore around 4 years old, but it sells at £1.50, although I suspect in the past it cost more.

In the book it states Ocelots and African Wild Cat, which obviously are no longer at Howletts, but I can't even recall seeing these in 17/18 when I visited, or early 19 for that matter, so when did Howletts last have these species, where were they housed and does anyone know why they went out of African Wild Cat?, because as far as I know, nowhere else has them in the UK? Many thanks in advance.
 
Embu said:
What an odd thing to say..... I would have thought if crates have been seen situated around the enclosure and that there is now confirmation that Coco is moving to WMSP "within the next few weeks" that he is and has been in regular training for quite some time.
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Tell you what it will be really good for him once he's at his new home he might be able to breed with the females at West Midland Safari Park and they'll have elephant calves
 
Keelan said:
Female. Five is the only remaining female at WMSP. I would have preferred if they acquired more females but obviously not.
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That might still come at some point, obviously if they plan to breed they still would have always needed a bull anyway, and it's better than the rumours of Tembo (Colchester) going to WMSP, as he is no longer breeding so would have been a dead end for their breeding programme. Obviously with Five as the sole breeding female is a lot better situation than Colchester having Tanya (the only female keepers consider still an option to potentially breed from) because Five is still quite a good age and has had offspring fairly recently in comparison, and of course with acquiring more females in Europe there is a high demand and a low supply, so at least there will still be possibility for breeding between Five and Coco, though possibility of breeding with elephants hasn't exactly seemed to work out at Blackpool so far...
 
Rajang-GOAT said:
That might still come at some point, obviously if they plan to breed they still would have always needed a bull anyway, and it's better than the rumours of Tembo (Colchester) going to WMSP, as he is no longer breeding so would have been a dead end for their breeding programme. Obviously with Five as the sole breeding female is a lot better situation than Colchester having Tanya (the only female keepers consider still an option to potentially breed from) because Five is still quite a good age and has had offspring fairly recently in comparison, and of course with acquiring more females in Europe there is a high demand and a low supply, so at least there will still be possibility for breeding between Five and Coco, though possibility of breeding with elephants hasn't exactly seemed to work out at Blackpool so far...
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I get this totally but I think the chances of five breeding with coco at the minute I think would be very slim. She has no herd members for company which might make her feel vulnerable. I don't entirely agree with howletts elephants going to Africa but a more realistic move could be sending some of there females to WMSP and keeping some at howletts. We will have to see how the situation plays out.
 
Keelan said:
I don't entirely agree with howletts elephants going to Africa but a more realistic move could be sending some of there females to WMSP and keeping some at howletts. We will have to see how the situation plays out.
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I think you'll find Howletts fully intend to send their whole group back to Africa, whatever the rights or wrongs. Coco is moving presumably because he's not owned by them. Perhaps WMSP can at least get one or more cows somehow to make his move more worthwhile.
 
I'm aware that the whole herd is intended to move to Africa. I was purely thinking out loud. As for blackpool I don't think they would announce pregnancies incase of any complications.
 
Keelan said:
I get this totally but I think the chances of five breeding with coco at the minute I think would be very slim. She has no herd members for company which might make her feel vulnerable. I don't entirely agree with howletts elephants going to Africa but a more realistic move could be sending some of there females to WMSP and keeping some at howletts. We will have to see how the situation plays out.
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Obviously that would be a better suited move to the situation especially with the lack of young breeding cows available in Europe, but as @Pertinax said, Howletts are unlikely to change their plans anyway. Hopefully, in time (months or years down the line), females may become available for places like WMSP and Colchester, e.g. Bioparc Valencia have just had their first calf in a group with 6 adult females, where there may be possibilities for tension to build and splits to happen in the future.
 
Like a lot of people on this site I would like to see the elephant herd relocate to WMSP.
This is clearly wishful thinking and would have its own challenges(integrating a mature female into an already established herd) but personally (this is just my personal opinion) I think move the Howletts herd(Coco & the females) to WMSP and hopefully integrate Five. Shame that Aspinall thinks Africa is the best place for them
 
Spoken to 3 colleagues who works at Howletts and they have sent me some photos of Coco the Bull Elephant and see how much he's grown. I wonder if he's going to be the breeeding bull for West Midland Safari Park like he did at Howletts.
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Pertinax said:
Do you know where the female Grace came from? Is she supposed to be Barbary or have they dropped the idea of having Barbary Lions nowadays?
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She came from kolmarden wildlife park in Sweden no mention of if she is Barbary or not, have a pic of there coming some board, will load in to gallery as I can’t load here
 

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J C said:
She came from kolmarden wildlife park in Sweden no mention of if she is Barbary or not, have a pic of there coming some board, will load in to gallery as I can’t load here
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Thanks. Kolmarden are not listed as a 'Barbary' holder so I guess she is not. Her partner, the male Khari's mother isn't either so perhaps they just treat them all as generic 'lions' now.
 
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