Orana Wildlife Park Orana Park -- Dec 2006 news

yes, even guy cooper donates a substantial ammount of his wage every year to the recovery of, i think, a bettong or some other obscure marsupial species. that guy gets a bit of a bad wrap, alot of the time desservedly so, but i would agree with zoo pro that most ppl working in zoos would be animal lovers.
has anyone ever seen fierce creatures?
 
yea they are dedicated, working at mog showed me that, when i was talking to a keeper, she nearly broke down in tears talking about her cats, she was the most amzing woman i ever meet, yea every1 knows dianne, she is the most amazing woman, she knows her stuff, but is so dedecated to her cats, and wow, she was jst so kool, i really carnt descibe it.
 
well i think he should, i mean if he earns more than nay1 on the property when zookeepers and other staff are on minimum wage, some should go back in to conservation.

hes an alright bloke i think, maybe jis public image has been hurt a bit, in those interviews, where he looses the battle on answering some questions, though he gives it a good go
 
Zoopro ,
I did not mean that any other zoo in NZ , Australia or elsewhere does not have staff totally committed to the animals . I had just finished reading the threads about that fiasco up in Cairns and I am frustrated about that . I have edited my previous post to eliminate any misunderstandings , and thanks for pointing out the issue to me
I see Orana Park as being somewhat similar to Australia Zoo , and they ( Aust Zoo ) must be the most committed keepers around
Also , as Zoo NSW appears very much to be a commercial venture as well as a couple of ( I believe very good ) zoos , there must be times when there is conflict between commercial interests vs animal interests , which Orana park will have less to deal with . Even Wellington Zoo has to deal with more bureaucracy than it would prefer .
I have only been to one Australian Zoo which I could consider as not very good and that is Alma park . All other ones get very high marks from me .

New Zealand is unique in the fact that it is so isolated from other countries , and has such strict ( though neccessarry ) biosecurity measures , which are alot stricter than Australias .
Not only does a zoo have to work through MAF red tape , but also through ERMA ( which is similar , but deals more with biodiversity )
We are lucky to have what we do have . 30 years ago we didnt have rhinos anywhere -- now 3 zoos display them .
NZ zoos also know that a huge chunk of their income comes from foreign visitors , and they are usually more interested to see kiwis more than anything else . The zoos have tried to portray NZ fauna , which is often difficult to spot even in the wild .
Australian zoos have also wised up to that with all the Americans wanting to see a " koala bear "

If Wellington zoo can get a better image for itself , I am sure it could be successful in breeding more different types of primates . Most of its infrastructure is still trying to work , despite being 100 years old .

However there are animals that I wish the zoos here could display -- more larger lizards , armadillos ,cus cus , camels , sloths ( wombats are coming soon -- yippee !! ) legless lizards , large lizards .......
 
actually, i think he's a mixe bag. i think his hearts in the right place, and he led the team that won the funding bid for the overhaul of the zoos, but his leadership has also been marred by ongoing staff disputes, up and down attendances and of course controversy surrounding the elephants. at the end of the day i suppose he is a figure head, one that would feel pressure from the state govt to move the zoos into a more cash flow positive, financially viabel and independent market position, but at times i feel the commercial imperatives rising to the top.
i know its a small start, but i would be alot less cynical at times about guy cooper's commitment to conservation if he unleashed a raft of environmentally friendly procedures accross the zoo-carbon neautralising the zoo's vehicle fleet (H-SPHERE it out-links to www.zoo.org.au), introducing organic food and maybe more water rainwater collection and solar panels. i think when it comes to wholistic envionmental education perth and monarto probably lead the field.
 
Nigel said:
Another thing which is surprising , is that for the most part , Orana Park is just a holding zoo for the region , and is not REALLY big on breeding exotics. However , if animals get pregnant during their stay at Orana , everyone does their best to ensure that the young have a long and healthy life
( perhaps it is the spacious enclosures which encourages the animals to breed ? -- who knows ? )
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hi Nigel,

where did you get the idea that Orana is only a holding zoo (or transit zoo as you wrote somewhere else)? If it was from the volunteers, then I wouldn't put too much faith in them, most seem to have their own special views on the world. :)
Orana holds same-sex groups of a few species (eg small-clawed otters) for the regional programmes but almost all their animals are used for breeding (giraffes, rhinos, sable, zebra, etc etc etc).

Israel
 
Transit/holding zoo

When I last went to Orana Park all the keepers were very busy . The volunteers on the other hand were very eager to try and answer all my questions , and talk about the zoo .
I had no choice but to believe people who work at the zoo , whether they are volunteers or not .

As I do not work for any zoo , but am just a very keen enthusiast , I cannot garuntee that my information is accurate -- it is only what I am told . The views of Orana Park are those which I have gleaned from written material , websites , or what zoofolk have told me ( as well as my personal observations from visits )
 
hey Nigel,

its all good. No offence was intended against you :)

even zoo-keepers only know what they're told lol
 
No offense taken . And its great to have you two from Christchurch join the forum -- any questions from the others about Orana Park can now be answered quicker and more accurately !!
 
plus the website, as per the hunting dog post does allude to this aspect of orana's role. no that its a bad thing at all
 
do orana park still have springbok and sable antelope with hoofstock dwindling in the region what are there chances of surviving in the region, where did they originally come from.
 
Springbok and Sable.

Orana has both species still and is in negotiation with the US and possibly Africa to import plus other species. Management has been working with the government department on one large import of Springbok, Sable and Oryx for the regional programs.
 
Interesting to see the sumatran tiger exhibit on zoolex, and I love the idea of rotating the big cats through the 3 different enclosures several times a day. The enrichment ideas sound terrific, although the photos make the exhibits seem a little bare. Where is the lush, jungle imagery that they are talking about in the review?
 
Falco said:
Orana has both species still and is in negotiation with the US and possibly Africa to import plus other species. Management has been working with the government department on one large import of Springbok, Sable and Oryx for the regional programs.
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Falco,

What is the current status of the planned mega herbivore import. Any new developments or indication when it is going forward? Which zoos apart from Orana itself stand to benefit or are onward destinations for the import stock?
 
not currently possible, but its australian zoos best angle at getting hoofstock through.

its the same reversed for primates, new zealand can only import them via australia. hence all primates destined for new zealand have to have to do a stint in quarantine at an australian host zoo.
 
snowleopard said:
Where is the lush, jungle imagery that they are talking about in the review?
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This has been a real problem, the first planting was killed off by a bad frost during the winter months and the Hort team have not been back to replace the jungle they have quoted on the Zoolex web site. There has also been major problems with the pools in both enclosures leaking, so there has been some teething problems with the concept of the the three enclosures for the two boys. Both Tigers now regularly climb the six meter pole in the South Habitat or leap five meters between stumps in the North Habitat during the morning public encounter.
The Tiger Habitat concept has been designed to be completed over the next several years so the cats have a forever changing environment.
 
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