South Lakes Wild Animal Park South Lakes Safari Zoo News 2024
- Thread starter Baringogiraffe12
- Start date
- Status
South Lakes management hits the news again...
South Lakes Zoo faces animal welfare and bullying allegations - BBC News
Disgusting.
Just shut the place down and heavily prosecute those responsible
Strathmorezoo
Well-Known Member
Just read BBC news article, grim !,however ZIC stating that they have never interfered with the site is not true. ZIC /Yorkshire Wildlife Park were involved when the site was locked down and staff were locked out in June 2021. However, it does seem that news about this zoo seems to be adding fuel to the antis fire.
How do you mean?
Do you think the SL site will be sold? Personally(just my view) I'd like to see the site closed down, animals rehomed and eventually someone turn it into a reserve for African elephants and/or common hippos(I get that it's never going to happen) however it would be a big draw for the area and it wouldn't be challenging Knowsley or Chester as they would be completely different.
This is just my opinion with NO rumours circulating
Lafone
Well-Known Member
South Lakes management hits the news again...
South Lakes Zoo faces animal welfare and bullying allegations - BBC News
Dreadful and just fuels the fire for anti zoo campaigners. Seems long past the time it should be closed and the animals safely rehomed to other collections.
I do see some prominent UK anti-zoo groups having particular focus on this one.
And I do find it hard to disagree with the continued failings of this collection... but it doesn't sit right with me that the antis will use this to push their agenda of 'no zoos at all'.
ZooNews2024
Well-Known Member
I know nothing of the situation at South Lakes, either now or historically, and am not commenting on them - but if you dont either, and are basing that statement purely on pictures leaked to the press, then you should be calling for Jersey to be closed too, and also have its animals re-homed.
I’d be surprised if you didn’t know anything about the fiascos that happened in the zoo before the ownership of the zoo got transferred. You got tragedies from fire killing animals to the park destroying the European population of multiple macropods species, and many more. This park is truly a blemish in British zoo history.
Edit: the controversies literally made it to at least national headlines. Even non-zoo-nerd normies must have seen it.
Last edited:
Lafone
Well-Known Member
Don’t you? Google or this site can probably help you out. Given you have extensive historical knowledge of a lot of collections and post about that a lot I find it surprising you don’t know anything about this one.
I would say however that if you have more of an issue with the leaking of a picture than what it contains we can agree to differ on what constitutes a problem.
Lafone
Well-Known Member
I think anything poor fuels the agenda of interest groups. Pictures like those are often used in a wider agenda vs a specific one. I’d close it because of its historical issues which are not resolved however. It’s a specific issue which needs to be concluded no matter it’s wider implications.
If you look at the search results for a simple search for issues at this zoo the first page are all pressure groups (apart from the BBC article) - if you then look at the articles they are drawing universal not specific conclusions and I don’t find that surprising at all.
It’s not the main issue though.
I do think as an aside or secondary matter it makes it harder to defend captive collections when nothing is done about this sort of poor practice year after year. But that’s a so what compared to the problems the zoo obviously has.
Last edited:
ZooNews2024
Well-Known Member
No, I've never been to it personally - but am not sure it really matters if this surprises you or not.
I guess if you accept third-party opinion and comments on sites such as this as your source of information, then it is possible to be better 'informed' on any issue.
As you say, we probably can agree to differ. A leaked picture taken at Jersey, or South Lakes or anywhere else is just that, until it is explained properly. To call for the closure of one on such a basis, and not another on the same basis, is inconsistent, in my opinion.
Last edited by a moderator:
Think there has been enough information around regarding multiple issues about SL for people to make a well informed decision on the place. Just off top of my head the has been 2 giraffe deaths, 1 tiger death, a human death that either could have been prevented or better dealt with.
Neither Lafone nor I asked you if you visited the park. And one doesn’t have to visit the zoo to see if there are problems. We have many users here, myself included, who visit underwhelming zoos and upload footage. So are you insinuating that just because the footage we upload are third party footage, does that dismiss the fact that these zoos have problems?
Also in addition to Embu’s listing of casualties, the zoo had many animal escapes, including South American coatimundis which resulted in not just British, but also European zoos being forced to phase out the species.
Edit: dismissing the evidence as leaks when the animals are clearly bleeding doesn’t change the validity of the problem that there are animals in great medical condition.
Afaik Jersey had complaints on just two situations regarding actual animal husbandry/housing;
1. The sloth with lack of climbing facilities and being within reach of the public in the First Impressions (ex Spectacled Bears) building.
2. The Aardvark enclosure being unsuitable.
I've never seen any comments anywhere relating to poor treatment of animals at Jersey. While most of the other points in the recent furore related mainly to the choice of species being held, direction being taken, personell issues etc.
They pale into insignificance compared with the list of historical problems relating to animal husbandry at South Lakes, which are manyfold and almost too numerous to list..
Last edited:
ZooNews2024
Well-Known Member
European zoos were not forced to stop keeping Coatis because of escapes from one British zoo (South Lakes)
The species was added to the invasive species list not because of escapes in Cumbria, where the population was self-limited by the climate and habitat, and died out - but because of a self-supporting and increasing population in Spain.
So you are wrong.
Many many mainland zoos are still allowed to keep and exhibit the species, because various dispensations and exemptions are given to them by their Governments, whereas UK zoos are not.
The result is not that European zoos have been forced to phase out the species because of one British zoo; but that British zoos have been forced to phase out the species because of the Spanish.
Last edited by a moderator:
ZooNews2024
Well-Known Member
Is this really true?
I'm sure we all were treated to pictures of a bleeding aardvark, somewhere on here; and the sloth housing was described as 'poor treatment'.
cornu aspersum
Well-Known Member
Those are both things Pertinax mentioned in the post you quoted. He also said that those are the only notable complaints Jersey has had about their welfare compared to South Lake who has had a lot more.
Lafone
Well-Known Member
The whataboutery doesn’t alter the issue at South Lakes which given your comment about Coatis you do appear to know the history of after all.
A history of poor management doesn’t need excusing here and the images being posted isn’t the core issue.
- Status