Status of giraffes in UK Zoos & Safari Parks.

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Pertinax

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
Apart from Whipsnade which has a small group of Pure Reticulated Giraffe, all the other Zoos & Safari Parks in the UK seem to exhibit either Rothschild's, animals believed to be 'pure' Rothschilds, or racial crossbreds. But there seems a lot of confusion over how many animals are pure and which are not. some zoos like Chester & Marwell currently seem to hold both pure and crossbred specimens but are in the proces of phasing out the crossbreeds by sending them elsewhere. Does anyone have a list of the current status(numbers and locations) of both pure and crossbred animals which is both accurate and up to date?
 
Pertinax,

I do have all data up to 31/12/2006 (for the entire EEP). For 2007-2009 I lack full details and have to add on ... which could take another few weeks.

Next week I am off to Jersey for a 3-week course, so if you can hang in there awhile ....?

The most complex zoos are:
Belfast (hybrids + ? - ask Al), Longleat (pure R.), Marwell (some pure R. + majority hybrids) and Woburn (pure R.) Some questionmarks also over Chester and Dudley individuals.

So far, that is it ... for us.

K.B.
 
Only Thorn and Aofie are pure Rothschild's at Chester Zoo. Pure bred females are expected before the end of the year, and Margaret and Molly will be leaving. Kelly will stay for the time being as she is pregnant.
 
bongorob said:
Pure bred females are expected before the end of the year, and Margaret and Molly will be leaving. Kelly will stay for the time being as she is pregnant.
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Maybe the two hybrid females will join one of the 'hybrid female' groups at either Blackpool or London?

I wonder where pure females will come from- Longleat or Woburn perhaps?
 
Pertinax said:
Maybe the two hybrid females will join one of the 'hybrid female' groups at either Blackpool or London?

I wonder where pure females will come from- Longleat or Woburn perhaps?
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I hope they don't go to Blackpool, as they don't have room for the animals they currently have!
 
Pertinax said:
This seems to be an error, as in the later section they are listed as hybrids also.
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Ah yes, I see. That makes more sense.

I did think it odd, espeically as Banham has hybrids. I did think I would have noticed by now if they were Rothschilds.
 
One notable absentee from the EEP list seems to be Blair Drummond safari park with its breeding group of Rothschilds giraffe, or at least i thought were pure bred Rothschild's until looking at ISIS, which are showing just a pair of hybrids.
 
Dudley has 3 females (1 of which is keyah the baby) only 1 female which isn't being bred from is hybrid keyah's mother+father is pure
 
bongorob said:
Only Thorn and Aofie are pure Rothschild's at Chester Zoo. Pure bred females are expected before the end of the year, and Margaret and Molly will be leaving. Kelly will stay for the time being as she is pregnant.
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For the EEP it has been a priority to provide the committed giraffe keeping fraternity with pure-bred stock in the shortest possible time. However, this will only happen when spaces can be found within the EEP hybrid giraffes or unknowns. The latter groups are then kept as single sex groups (so allowing the exhibiting zoos still the illussion of a group of giraffe. This to me is the closest one can get to a sound breeding and management policy for conservation breeding of endangered species.

Keeping all the hybrids and the unknowns within EAZA/Giraffe EEP zoos allows for close monitoring of those populations and ensures that over time more spaces will be available for pure-bred giraffes within the EEP. We have quite a few past and present examples of generic exotic wildlilfe that take up space and are of no conservation value whatsoever. To allow those to disappear would mean, leaving open to chance of re-emergence into the EEP as pure-breds and all.
 
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