Belfast Zoo Belfast Zoo News 2024

Apparently it’s costing Belfast City Council £65,000 to move their two elderly Elephants to the Netherlands. I'm wondering why the Netherlands, couldn't they have made suitable companions for single Anne at Longleat, but maybe her house is not large enough for three?
Longleat currently hasn’t the space available to house two more Elephants alongside with Anne.
 
Longleat currently hasn’t the space available to house two more Elephants alongside with Anne.
i remember on animal park them saying the facility could hold 4 elephants or maybe I'm mistaken?
i would presume that because Anne is so old they maybe wouldn't want to risk any potential injury or stress?
 
Apparently its costing Belfast City Council £65,000 to move their two elderly Elephants to the Netherlands. I'm wondering why the Netherlands, couldn't they have made suitable companions for single Anne at Longleat, but maybe her house is not large enough for three?
Anne's house is specifically catered for her, theoretically there's enough room for 3 elderly elephants but that's not the approach Longleat has the intention of taking and it would certainly be very cramped by modern standards. Both Longleat and a collection of vets (including I believe from Whipsnade) concluded she's too old and physically unwell to be safely kept with other elephants, which is the main thing stopping any companionship.

Once she passes I believe the intention is to either expand or completely rebuild the elephant complex to house multiple rescued elderlies, but that'll be too late for the Belfast pair.
 
Does anyone know how many Francois Langurs are kept at the zoo?
Belfast Zoo currently holds 9 individuals with 2 births in the last year 2023/24.

Anne has been on her own for decades, that would be a bad idea.

Are Belfast going out of Elephants completely?
It seems that way and it is not invariably a bad thing.

ATM: This older part of the zoo is a bit of a financial headache right now. With the elephants transferred to an elderly non-reproductive group, it will be interesting to learn what zoo management wants to do with the entire area. The Elephant House and the Giraffe Paddocks are in good need of some GLT.

Awhile back, I seem to remember that zoo management was in the process of creating a new masterplan. Has any progress been made with a future vision for the Belfast Zoo?
 
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Does anyone know what happened to the pair of red howler monkeys? They came to Belfast from my home zoo in 2015 but according to ZTL they would no longer be in the collection, but there is no mention anywhere of what happened to them.
 
What a balls-up...
Why are you always so negative?
The loss of one animal from a pair could be for any number of reasons, and the decision not to replace it and move the widowed animal on, perfectly justified. Some species 'fit' into some collections, some dont...
 
Why are you always so negative?
The loss of one animal from a pair could be for any number of reasons, and the decision not to replace it and move the widowed animal on, perfectly justified. Some species 'fit' into some collections, some dont...
Red howler monkeys are rather rare in Europe, with 9 holders according to Zootierliste. Surely you're not aware of the fact?
 
Red howler monkeys are rather rare in Europe, with 9 holders according to Zootierliste. Surely you're not aware of the fact?
Yes I am, and although I dont have the studbook to hand, it would appear from ZIMs that the male was sent to Beauval and paired with a single female from GaiaZoo, who do not now have the spp either.
 
Had a nice day at Belfast today enjoying the reptile house, bears, otter, bird park and rainforest house especially. Saw the baby gorilla (Kofi?) rolling around, baby sloth and a tree kangaroo joey in its mother's pouch along with the blesbok calf and red footed tortoise babies. There was work going on the sea lion pool, but the animals were using it at the end of the day. On a curious note there were no rockhoppers in the penguin enclosure with gentoos being the only species present.
 
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Enjoyable first visit last week. Lots of infants; sloth, tree kangaroo, pudu, colobus etc. The single female Andean bear looked content in her huge enclosure (I assumed a former polar bear exhibit?). Rohin - I saw a lone rockhopper amongst all the gentoos. Disappointed that they’re choosing to tell visitors that Barbary lions are extinct in the wild, I appreciate lions are locally extirpated from that range but the Panthera leo leo subspecies is very much not extinct. The male also has a very noticeable wound on his leg. Had a chuckle at the capybara enclosure, assume this is an old lion or tiger enclosure? Shame they don’t have the sifaka, fossa or red howlers anymore but I had a good day and enjoyed the zoo perhaps more than I was expecting.
 
Enjoyable first visit last week. Lots of infants; sloth, tree kangaroo, pudu, colobus etc. The single female Andean bear looked content in her huge enclosure (I assumed a former polar bear exhibit?). Rohin - I saw a lone rockhopper amongst all the gentoos. Disappointed that they’re choosing to tell visitors that Barbary lions are extinct in the wild, I appreciate lions are locally extirpated from that range but the Panthera leo leo subspecies is very much not extinct. The male also has a very noticeable wound on his leg. Had a chuckle at the capybara enclosure, assume this is an old lion or tiger enclosure? Shame they don’t have the sifaka, fossa or red howlers anymore but I had a good day and enjoyed the zoo perhaps more than I was expecting.
The capybara exhibit is the old lion exhibit. I would feel the opposite towards your views on Barbary lions, I’m not a fan of the recent taxonomic revisions of cats!
 
The single female Andean bear looked content in her huge enclosure (I assumed a former polar bear exhibit?).
It is indeed the former polar bear enclosure, although there should be a male there as well.
I saw a lone rockhopper amongst all the gentoos.
Good to hear. I was worried they had left the zoo or something had happened to them although it is still weird that there's only one.
 
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Sadly the time has come:(

Join us for a week-long celebration as we say farewell to our majestic Asian elephants, Dhunja and Yhetto. Don’t miss out on the chance for one last look at these gentle giants.
Dhunja & Yhetto, the Asian Elephants have been a huge part of the zoo family for over fifteen years and now they are to begin their move to their new home in Burgers’ Zoo in Arnhem, Netherlands.
At Burger’s Zoo, the elephants, now in their senior years, will have the opportunity to join a herd of two other compatible, older female elephants, ensuring them the structure of companionship female elephants need, throughout the later stages of their life; and being EEP accredited, they will continue to receive the highest standard of veterinary and animal care that they are accustomed to at Belfast Zoo.
Starting on the 8th of July we will be hosting trunkloads of fun. Elephant themed activities, memory cards, elephant talks and daily screenings of "The Zoo" movie. Come along and say goodbye to our iconic mammals.
 
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