Alma Park Zoo (Closed) No bigcats..?

NZ Jeremy

NZ Jeremy

Well-Known Member
Does Alma Park Zoo have no big cats..?

Whats the deal here..?
 
Alma used to have a leopard called Pussy. He (or she can't remember) was a very old cat and lived in a terrible iron bar and concrete cage for all of its life. (The old sort of menagerie cage). When Pussy died they kept the cage as a memorial to it.
 
Any plans for a new development..?

A zoo with no big cats, is well, not a real zoo..!
 
The problem is that Alma Park is a tiny zoo, privately owned, not much room to expand (it is now almost totally surrounded by new housing estates, ina an area that was once rural) and without a big cashflow to allow for new redevelopments ( I was suprised to hear that the lemurs were going there.) It is also a 'stones throw' from a major developing zoo known to all of us for it's eccentric owning family
 
That all sounds plausible, but surely somewhere on their property they could demolish a few old/aging exhibits and plan to have at least Sumatran Tigers or Snow Leopards as the main drawcard in the zoo...

Or at least make plans for it...
 
Maybe they could hold some of the smaller cat species such as Fishing cats and others
 
That very true Mark and would be a great start but don't they have 15 or acres..?

With this space acquiring Snowleopards or Sumatran Tigers would be the least they could do for SSP's and attendance...
 
Ohh.. I had 14.5 in my head for some reason...:confused: Well space is even less of an issue then..! Must be money...
 
The zoo is also known for it's gardens, NAtional Zoo and aquarium has done a great job of using the little space they had available to display a reasonable collection however it does not have the same lovely open picnic areas that Alma Park Can boast, from the pictures I've seen it is quite a bueatiufl place.
 
Would you agree that while having a great botanical display is desirable, a zoo should focus first on exhibting wildlife..?
 
Yeah I would, but with limited land available I think Alma park should be coservative with what they give space to. I agree that something like a sumatran or two would be great but (and sorry to bring Canberra back to this) as Mark said Alma Park is surrounded by residential development where canberra has a giant dam and spare paddocks, which they were successful in obtaining to expand the zoo, Alma Park Doesn't have this option.
 
Mark also said they have 40 acres...

Auckland Zoo has 50 acres and exhibits 3 species of big cat, 1 small cat species on exhibit and one small cat species off exhibit... Its seems to me to be a money, rather than space issue...
 
I think you may be right . . . why go to a small inner city zoo when there's a big shiny (in terms of exhibits) new one not too far down the road
 
It just seems to me to be a bit of under used space it could be a great few hours out and vital to SSP management... Is it ARAZPA accredited..?
 
Greetings

Ironically it is the small cats I miss at Chester. We have Asiatic lions, 2 types of tiger and a large house just for jaguars. Cheetahs will return soon. But no small stuff. Strange.

Cheers, Paul M.
 
Chester just didn't have the space for small cats any more once the old cat house was demolished.

Servals were the only ones which remained for any serious amount of time, but yes, I would love to see small cats back at Chester.
 
Zoo_Boy said:
sorry, but we dont need another thread turned into a european thread- stay on track!....please!
Click to expand...

OK you uk guys, zoo boys quite right, please keep your Chester zoo comments in that thread please, this thread is about Alma park zoo, Cheers :)
 
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