XMAS AT ZOOS

adrian1963

adrian1963

Well-Known Member
I was just wondering with christmas just around the corner, which zoos or parks actually get involved in the celebrations and if so how

My local zoo Dudley usally have a train ride to the castle where they have a santa grotto for the children to visit, they also have a paddock fenced out with the rienhdeer inside it so the children can see and get up close to them

I would like to know which other zoos/park get invilved and make a attraction for the christmas holiday
 
Chester has a 'frost fair' with a santa's grotto, ice skating rink, all of the jollies. However (and I don't know if this is true) but I heard somewhere that zoos are always very careful with christmas stuff incase it drives away people who don't celebrate it. I highly doubt it is true (and hope it isn't), but with todays PC world it wouldn't suprise me.

http://www.chesterzoo.org/plan-your-visit/whats-on/frost-fair - link to frost fair

P.S. No, I didn't mean the computer shop :p
 
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From Paignton's website:

Santa's Wild Winter

Join us for some festive fun at the Zoo this Christmas and get in touch with your wild side.

Get creative at Paignton Zoo this Christmas and learn about local wildlife as well as exotic species, and most of all have fun! Discover the importance of nesting boxes and decorate your very own to take home for the garden birds to enjoy.

Children will meet Santa in our Wild Winter Wonderland and choose a very special present to keep. It’s Christmas for the animals as well - watch them being given their environmental enrichment gifts in the Zoo grounds. Continue the journey in Jungle Fun by throwing snowballs and colouring in and end with a festive train ride listening to global Christmas music – all included in the ticket price.

Santa’s Wild Winter has the generous support of two companies. Johnstone’s Paint is providing high quality quick drying opaque wood stain for the nest boxes free of charge and the Southern Timber Co. Ltd. of South Devon is supplying the wood.

Want to have fun while learning about the importance of protecting native wildlife? Then hurry and book your place today as places are limited!

When can I go wild?
Santa’s Wild Winter takes place at 10.30am, 11.30am, 1.30pm and 2.30pm on:

* Saturday 11th December
* Sunday 12th December
* Saturday 18th December
* Sunday 19th December
* Monday 20th December
* Tuesday 21st December
* Wednesday 22nd December
* Thursday 23rd December
*
Friday 24th December (morning only)

How much does it cost?

Annual members
Children aged 3-15 years - £8.00
Children under 3 are free of charge.
Adult and senior citizen members accompanying children are FREE, however please note only one adult will receive a free train ride. Additional members must buy a ticket at the usual rate.

Non-members
Children aged 3-15 years - £10.00
Adults - £12.00
Senior citizens - £10.00
Copyright Paignton Zoo 2006
 
Javan Rhino said:
but with todays PC world it wouldn't suprise me.
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I don't think you should be so dismissive. I respect the fact that the UK is a country which has Christian roots and that the Christian calendar still forms the structure of the year but I am not Christian and a great many people in the country aren't either.

I have no problem with public displays and festivities but I do resent it when there is an assumption that I celebrate Christmas and that I don't mind taking part. So I don't have an issue with Santa's grotto for example but I did find it offensive when a local church were singing carols and handing out flyers in the Waitrose on my street, I felt that this was intrusive and basically missionary activity.

I think you should look beyond tabloid headlines and think what PC actually is about: respect and consideration for the needs of those who aren't like you, whether because of race, religion, gender or sexual orientation. That to me is the essence of political correctness, it's just good manners.
 
Shirokuma said:
I don't think you should be so dismissive. I respect the fact that the UK is a country which has Christian roots and that the Christian calendar still forms the structure of the year but I am not Christian and a great many people in the country aren't either.

I have no problem with public displays and festivities but I do resent it when there is an assumption that I celebrate Christmas and that I don't mind taking part. So I don't have an issue with Santa's grotto for example but I did find it offensive when a local church were singing carols and handing out flyers in the Waitrose on my street, I felt that this was intrusive and basically missionary activity.

I think you should look beyond tabloid headlines and think what PC actually is about: respect and consideration for the needs of those who aren't like you, whether because of race, religion, gender or sexual orientation. That to me is the essence of political correctness, it's just good manners.
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Well said. I'm not strictly Christian (agnostic), but I celebrate Christmas as a commercial holiday like alot of people do. I do remember where I heard it now (and it wasn't strictly a real zoo thing).

The creator of MyZoo on facebook stated that he would not add things like Santa's grottos etc, to the properties tab so that the game has nothing to do with religion/culture in it (since it is played worldwide).
 
Shirokuma said:
I don't think you should be so dismissive. I respect the fact that the UK is a country which has Christian roots and that the Christian calendar still forms the structure of the year but I am not Christian and a great many people in the country aren't either.
QUOTE]

i must agree there.

On The 'beeing carful' subject, zoos, theme parks and airports in the US arn't allowed too but up or have a 'Christmas' Celibration. It Must Be celibrating the Winter Holidays, which i think is rather sad considering the USA is a Christian Nation.
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The USA isn't a Christian nation, church and state are separated although this has been, and continues to be challenged by certain groups.
 
No problem.

It is fair to say that compared with almost anywhere in Europe, the United States is a far more religious country and that religion plays a much more visible role in society.

Christianity has a very high profile in much of the country, but not all of it.
 
Do we really need a religous debate?? This is just a friendly talk on christmus at the zoos. Besides christmus is a christian time of the year to celebrate something truely magnificent!!! So really it's fine when anyone trys to catch your eyes by singing carols (much better than the meaningless christmus music).;)

However back to topic Colchester certainly has put on a nice "grotto" with a meet of father christmus and decorations as well as various displays from the christmus story.
 
Goretex said:
Do we really need a religous debate?? This is just a friendly talk on christmus at the zoos. Besides christmus is a christian time of the year to celebrate something truely magnificent!!! So really it's fine when anyone trys to catch your eyes by singing carols (much better than the meaningless christmus music).;)

However back to topic Colchester certainly has put on a nice "grotto" with a meet of father christmus and decorations as well as various displays from the christmus story.
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Sorry, my fault :o.

Tbh, I don't think we need any religious reason for Christmas in todays day and age (I mean, it is still a Christian holiday, and for Christians that is fine), but I think it is so commercialised that even non-Christian folk celebrate it. The whole PC thing surrounding it is actually very mediated.
 
No one is having a religious debate or being unfriendly, we are simply discussing how zoos in multi cultural and pluralist societies reflect current trends and attitudes.

It's totally valid to discuss the fact that not all public institutions in such societies are comfortable with the semi-religious tone of Christmas festivities and that there is a tension there whether we like it or not.

I think it's important to challenge assumptions that anyone not comfortable with everything is a grumpy old politically correct busybody. It's true that plenty of non-Christian people celebrate it but plenty don't too and that leads to dilemmas about how to approach the holiday in the public sphere.

It's true that about 70% of the British population identify as Christian but this figure is only about 58% in London and in the London Borough of Camden where London Zoo is located the figure is lower still at 30% according to the 2001 census.

So that's a big chunk of the population who may or may not be celebrating and all I am asking for is a bit of empathy when it comes to these questions instead of being dismissive.

I don't think it's ok for someone to 'catch my eye' with some missionary activity in a supermarket located in a Borough where a full 70% of the population do not identify as Christian and I wouldn't want it to happen in a zoo either.

However, as I said I appreciate and accept the fact that much of the basis of British society is Christian but there's nothing wrong with a bit of sensitivity and consideration of others.
 
Christmas has always been a secular holiday, even before the Christians got a hold of it and renamed it.
 
jbnbsn99 said:
Christmas has always been a secular holiday, even before the Christians got a hold of it and renamed it.
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Of course, it came from the pagan holiday Yule. Pagans also had forms of Easter, halloween and midsummer before Christians got hold of them ;)
 
Javan Rhino said:
Of course, it came from the pagan holiday Yule. Pagans also had forms of Easter, halloween and midsummer before Christians got hold of them ;)
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So what do christians celebrate at midsummer? I hadn't realised that one had been co-opted.
 
Midsummer is St. John's day. It's a big deal in northern Europe where it's called St Hans' day or eve in Scandinavia and was previously a major Viking/pagan festival.
 
This is a little off topic, but it seems this thread has kind of gotten off topic anyway, but what are all your local zoos doing for Halloween? Buffalo Zoo has decorations everywhere with some special touches. In front of the tiger and lion exhibits are tombstones with species of the big cats that are now extinct. The reptile house seems to have the most props incorporated into their exhibits. One of the snake exhibits has a tombstone in it with a little person of a person who died because they got too close to the snake. A skeleton in one of the small lizard exhibits, enter if you dare in the alligator exhibit. The cutest Halloween decor was Spooky Buki's Treat Pile (rocks behind an elephant cutout dressed up as a ghost. While I admit it is cute, I'm not sure if it's all together appropriate as it's Buki, their elephant that died last year. Not sure if they had this while she was living or if that's supposed to be her ghost still haunting the zoo with her "treat pile". I don't want to post photos here to save on photo space, but if anyone is interested in seeing pictures, let me know and I can send a link to my flickr page.

As for Christmas, I'll have to see what the zoo does. But when I came last January, they had stockings still hung up for the elephants, sea lions, and otters.
 
blospz said:
The cutest Halloween decor was Spooky Buki's Treat Pile (rocks behind an elephant cutout dressed up as a ghost. While I admit it is cute, I'm not sure if it's all together appropriate as it's Buki, their elephant that died last year. Not sure if they had this while she was living or if that's supposed to be her ghost still haunting the zoo with her "treat pile"
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I have to say that made me laugh... but it's actually quite surreal. I wonder what discussions they had about it.
 
They probably had it even before Buki's death. Most likely they kept it to remember her still. And most kids won't recognize what elephant is Buki. It was just sort of ironic to see.
 
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