Animals we miss the most

adrian1963

adrian1963

Well-Known Member
I was thinking that we have a thread started by me for the collections that we miss well I thought why not have a thread about the Animals we miss either through them being moved on to other collections we cannot get to or because they have passed on.

Myself must admit I do miss the Beautiful Sarah (Sumatran Tiger) passed away November 2010 from Dudley Zoo they have had 2 Beautiful replacements in Makari and Tamair but Sarah will take some replacing in my eyes.

I was very sad to also hear that Makari had passed away at WHF he was an outstanding beast and will be missed by the visitors at both WHF and Dudley Zoo.

I know this may upset a few people but I also miss the Rhino at London Zoo I was looking forward to seeing it on my last visit and was very surprised to see they had put Bearded Pigs in the enclosure (a very good species in their own right) but I really did miss the Rhino.

Here’s hoping you all have a very good festive holiday and many great zoo days for the future
 
I really miss Ethan my little gibbon friend from twycross - he's moved to paradise wildlife park. I really must get to see him soon.
 
I don't know if I miss them as such, but some animals I'd like to see again are:-

Cuddles the Killer Whale (Flamingo Park and Dudley)
Flossie the African Elephant (Flamingo Park and Dudley)
Gomba the African Elephant (Flamingo Park/Land; a keeper told me she had been at Cleethorpes, but thought she'd gone to FL when that place closed however she was at FL a good few years before that)
Thurston the Red River Hog (Dudley)
Pinto the Llama (Sewerby)

Those are just a few individuals. I'd love to see cetaceans back in British collections and I wish Flamingo Land still had African Grey Parrots.
 
Joey the Chimp at Welsh Mountain (r.i.p)
Blue the Arctic Fox at Welsh Mountain (r.i.p)
Although not gone, I miss Tuan the Bornean male orang at Chester, now I know where he is its my mission to see him.
 
Waddi said:
Although not gone, I miss Tuan the Bornean male orang at Chester, now I know where he is its my mission to see him.
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Did you know him somewhere else?

I miss Lucy the black and white ruffed lemur at Yorkshire Wildlife Park, she ruled the lemur woods with a rod of iron, her mate and young son can attest to what a tough character she was as they have gone from top of the hierarchy to the bottom and now get bullied by the brown and ringtail lemurs.
 
I miss the plumbeous redstart at London Zoo's Bird House. It had been hand-reared and would come up to me when I looked into its enclosure. It was one of the friendliest zoo animals I've ever seen. Zootierliste and ISIS doesn't list the species in any collection, although it formerly lived in three zoos (plus London).
 
Needless to say, my list is dominated by orangutans.

At the top of the list are Bulu and Gigit, who both died at Paignton.

I got to know Gigit at Twycross which I used to visit fairly often before moving to the deep South West, so I also miss Kibriah, who's still there, and Tiga, now in Colchester, Theodora and Tamu, now in Paris, and Satu who moved to Dvur Kralove.

Honourable mentions go to Mandrills Babinka and Brutus, who died at Paignton last year.
 
The one I miss the most was Hugo the male musk ox at Chester. Whenever I passed the enclosure he always came to meet me.
 
Waddi said:
No, just haven't seen him since RoRA was built.
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Was he there before RoRA? I assumed he came after it opened. He was sometimes to be seen if you were lucky, before the babies came along wasn't he, didn't Alan have a picture of him in RoRA romancing one of the ladies?

It is a shame we don't see him although maybe he appreciates not having people screeching, pointing, laughing and calling him ugly or 'she' - as they do...
 
I miss seeing Mercedes the polar bear at Edinburgh Zoo, although certainly not the enclosure she lived in before finally being transfered to better accommodation at the Highland Wildlife Park. I also miss the giraffes at Edinburgh and also the bactrian camels, which were growing into a nice little group in that large enclosure they had at Edinburgh, I realise that RZSS still have them now at the Highland Wildlife Park, but to me they are still a miss at Edinburgh. At London, Josephine the hornbill, who resided in the bird house for many years, although I certainly agree with the decision ten years ago to relocate the elephants at Whipsnade, which I am pleased to say has resulted in Aziza having two calves there, the elephants at London will always be a great miss to me.At Twycross, Joe the gorilla and now unfortunately Bongo, just a thought Adrian, we have had missed collections and now missed animals, how about a thread on missed zoo people next?, as far as Twycross is concerned there are one or two people I knew there who are no longer involved.
 
Interesting how most of the individuals we miss have names! – which comes first, I wonder. I mean, if we don't know an animal's name, do we get attached? Anyway, for me it's Bertram, London Zoo's Abyssinian ground hornbill, who died in October 2008, I still think about him! – he used to thwack his beak on the railings to greet passersby who he recognised.
 
Well with the news I posted from Chester yesterday, I will certainly miss the Taveta weaver. If I saw nothing else at the zoo, I would go into the Tropical Realm to see if he was still king of his tree.
 
For me I have a few-

Jagasar (Amur tiger)- Blackpool
Jitu (Gorilla)- Blackpool
Negus and Zoe (lions)- Blackpool
Ashoka, Tejas and Chakra (lions)-Chester
 
volvox said:
Interesting how most of the individuals we miss have names! – which comes first, I wonder. I mean, if we don't know an animal's name, do we get attached? Anyway, for me it's Bertram, London Zoo's Abyssinian ground hornbill, who died in October 2008, I still think about him! – he used to thwack his beak on the railings to greet passersby who he recognised.
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That's an interesting point. I was smitten with Ethan long before I knew his name, but if I get to know individual animals by their names they do become more important.
 
I haven't seen the Picasso Triggerfish at Bristol the last couple of times i've been. he/she was a cracking animal and one i always looked forward to seeing.
 
OrangePerson said:
Was he there before RoRA? I assumed he came after it opened.
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Ah, I fear I'm putting 2 and 2 together and getting 5. I hadn't visited Chester for a number of years, (although it is my closest zoo at only 15miles away I had become greater attached to the Welsh Mountain animals), and when I made my 1st return visit, RoRA had been built and there was no male Bornean to be seen, only recently have I learnt about Tuan and where he is located. I just assumed he was the same animal I remember seeing in the old Orang house all those years ago, thats if there even was a male Bornean kept at Chester about 15years ago and its not my mind playing tricks on me and blending the memories of 2 collections into 1.

So let me rephrase that,
I miss seeing male Bornean Orangs at Chester.
 
Waddi said:
I just assumed he was the same animal I remember seeing in the old Orang house all those years ago, thats if there even was a male Bornean kept at Chester about 15years ago
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'Tuan' arrived at Chester in 2007, which I believe was after the old Orangutan House was closed to the public. Prior to him, the previous two Bornean males were Sibu- who left Chester then returned, and before him 'Anak' who was born at London. It would probably have been one of them you saw.
 
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