I'm actually hoping for big things from this collection. They have developed very rapidly since they first opened, and anyone knows that initially to attract visitors there has to be a sizeable collection of animals from the word go, or people will not come, or revisit (even places like Jersey and Marwell 'filled in' with common species in their early years). So I can understand why so far they have more of the commoner or typical wildlife park species making up the basis of the collection. The acquisition and 'saving' of the Romanian Lions was a threefold success;1. it gave the Lions a good home, 2. it gave the park a major draw, big carnivores, and 3. it generated a lot of good publicity for them and helped put them on the map. The large spacious enclosures they were able to complete quickly for them hopefully indicates that further major developments are possible in future.
I believe the owners/managers have come from a previous zoo/wildlife park background and as such are not novice owners taking on an established or rundown zoo or farm conversion, but without (necessarily) any zoological experience or direction other than to run the zoo and its animal collection successfully. The intention to specialise in endangered species here no doubt stems from that and so I do look forward to seeing future developments.
We all know the score I guess. It will be interesting to see what species they intend to add. Some idea of what plans exist with the owners would be nice to divulge.
I am quite glad as an antelope science man that they have gone into addax (the erstwhile Edinburgh group I believe).
So, what is next?
Cheetah? Rhinos? Giraffe?
What themes: African? Asian? European (an often sadly under-valued collection area in many of Europe's zoos).
