How to start your own zoo?

nanoboy said:
CGSwans,

Yeah I hear you on the farm life. I had a pet goat when I was a kid (no pun intended), and my brother had a pet duck. They both ended up on the dinner table.

Good point about the Palm Cockatoo, but I was thinking more along the lines of being able to import them from breeders overseas rather than catch a few in the wild. A quick internet search shows that there are loads of breeders in America, especially in Florida. Of course, be prepared to fork out a cool $10k. So if they are classed as 'least concern', and they are a native specie, then surely there shouldn't be a problem to import one in? That's my logic anyway....
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You're forgetting about quarantine.
 
Hmm.... ok let's factor in quarantine. I understand 'quarantine' to mean something like "We at the relevant department will keep the bird away from any other birds/animals for a while, and we'll get a vet to check on it and make sure it will not be introducing any diseases to local wildlife. If all is well, then after a period of X weeks or months, we will release the bird to you." Is this what you mean by 'quarantine'?
 
nanoboy said:
Hmm.... ok let's factor in quarantine. I understand 'quarantine' to mean something like "We at the relevant department will keep the bird away from any other birds/animals for a while, and we'll get a vet to check on it and make sure it will not be introducing any diseases to local wildlife. If all is well, then after a period of X weeks or months, we will release the bird to you." Is this what you mean by 'quarantine'?
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No. Bird quarantine is notoriously difficult and expensive. I don't know the details but I believe the birds have to be hatched and raised in isolation from other birds before they can even be considered for importation. And that's only the start.

Put it this way - you won't be doing it without a six-figure budget, if at all. Much better to focus on birds you can actually obtain in this country.
 
CGSwans said:
No. Bird quarantine is notoriously difficult and expensive. I don't know the details but I believe the birds have to be hatched and raised in isolation from other birds before they can even be considered for importation. And that's only the start.

Put it this way - you won't be doing it without a six-figure budget, if at all. Much better to focus on birds you can actually obtain in this country.
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Has anyone ever told you that you are a party pooper? :D

I better contact that person from the other thread who is giving away a red tailed black cockatoo! :o
 
Even zoos aren't trying to import birds - otherwise there would be a lot more flamingos in this country.

:p

Hix
 
Steve Robinson said:
The keeping of Deer, of any species, as pets or paddock cleaners or whatever is under review in Queensland

The vertebrate pest people want them banned in this State.
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DPI is also reviewing one of it's regulation. They want to stop issuing licenses for camels, bison, water buffalo etc. For private owners...
 
FriendOfTheZoo said:
Is it the same situation in big cats? I've never thought to research to see if it was the same in all felines of different sizes.

A total shame really, as there are so many cats throughout the world I'd love to use in my breeding program, but can't without importing. Dog breeders have it easy! :cool:

So AI can be done in successfully in eles - anyone know if it can it be done in animals like buffalo, przewalski horse etc like can be done in domesticated cattle/horse breeds?

Am I safe to assume that it should be an easy process (for a Veterinary AI specialist) to do in Gorillas/Chimps/Orangs?
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News flash via the ZAA Newsletter!!!

AI has been used with Fishing Cats at Hamilton Zoo in New Zealand. Although pregnancy has yet to be confirmed, it would seem that a successful technique has been developed.
 
Steve Robinson said:
News flash via the ZAA Newsletter!!!

AI has been used with Fishing Cats at Hamilton Zoo in New Zealand. Although pregnancy has yet to be confirmed, it would seem that a successful technique has been developed.
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The procedure was unsuccesful unfortunately, and will not be attempted again, as stated on the second page of the article:

Unfortunately on 12 January calling from Imphal was heard, confirming that she was not pregnant. It was decided not to attempt the procedure again due to Imphal’s age – she is now 13 years old- and even though the procedure was unsuccessful, it was an invaluable learning experience for all involved.
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Overall, it was an important step in developing AI techniques, even though unsuccesful this time, which is a blow for the regions (and especially NZs) Fishing Cat population.
 
MRJ said:
Quickest way: buy one.

Starting from scratch in Victoria, it is easy, all you need is planning permission and a licence from DSE. However, from personal experience:

Planning permission took us 3 years. Of course you will have to find an area where what you plan is an allowed usage. It is getting harder to find sutably zoned land in many areas that you might want to set up in.

Then you will have to deal with DSE (no damage to the environment), EPA (waste water disposal) and Vicroads (traffic issues). Things will happen like, when we wanted to build our wetland it was classified as a dam, when we discussed our sewage system it became a wetland again. Yes each classification resulted in more servere requirements against classification the other way round. We missed out on this, but today we would have had to have the property surveyed by the local aboriginals for cultural relics. And if you plan to dig more than 300mm into the ground they will want to hang around to make sure you don't dig up anything significant. I am sure there are others I have forgotten. All of the above you pay for of course.

Council will advertise your application. This may result in objections, in our case only two, and their attempts to get others to support their objection was rejected by our other neighbours. But if you want exotics I imagine you might have an entirely different experience. As I said it took us 3 years (they did change the planning scheme halfway through) and we did have broad support form the Council and the local community.

Once you have planning permission you can build your zoo. DSE have a number of requirements for issuing a licence, the most servere is that they must inspect the enclosures before they issue the licence. (Interestingly they don't ask for any evidence of your knowedge of animal husbandry). We were lucky in that many of the animals we wanted we could hold on private licences anyway. Different story for exotics, so I imagine you would have to have somebody with an appropiate licence hold your animals until you get a licence. Could be difficult.

Getting animals is largely a process of building relationships with the people and institutions who already hold them. There are dealers overseas who you can buy exotics off, but importing is a long-winded and expensive process.

Lastly some financial advice. Make sure you marketing budget is at least 3 times what you think is reasonable, and don't expect to make a profit for at least 5 years.

Hope that helps.
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Is it similar in new south Wales or is it different.
 
Macaulay said:
Is it similar in new south Wales or is it different.
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From what I understand about NSW it would be more difficult - tighter regulations and greater scrutiny by the authorities.
 
How much would a bird park like Bird World Ballarat or Bird World Kuranda cost?
 
Somewhat related but as a private keeper of about 50 odd native reptiles currently. I am more to than happy to answer any questions regarding private keeping of native wildlife. For those in Victoria there the Victorian Reptile Expo this Saturday at the Melbourne Showgrounds if that’s of any interest to anyone.
 
Josh F said:
Somewhat related but as a private keeper of about 50 odd native reptiles currently. I am more to than happy to answer any questions regarding private keeping of native wildlife. For those in Victoria there the Victorian Reptile Expo this Saturday at the Melbourne Showgrounds if that’s of any interest to anyone.
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Ooh. Collection list and pics?
 
CGSwans said:
Ooh. Collection list and pics?
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List as it stands currently subject to change on the weekend :

Indoors
Centralian Blue Tongue
Western Blue Tongue
Centralian Carpet Python
Murray Darling Carpet Python
Diamond Python
Regal Striped Skink

Outdoors
Blotched Blue Tongue
Eastern Water Dragon
King Skink


Edit - Forgot the fish tank
~15 Running River Rainbowfish as well which are an almost extinct native species of fish that you can find a documentary about on YouTube if you are that way inclined.
 
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