South Lakes Wild Animal Park South Lakes news 2012

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I visited yesterday and had an enjoyable day – on the whole...

South Lakes I find to be a bit of an ‘odd un’ but that is not bad, it is just a bit hap-hazard ie, wooden walkways dripping water on my head!
Jaguars and Tigers sharing an enclosure (timeshare style of course!). I have seen better rhino houses and enclosures too, but I am sure there are far worse outside the UK I don’t know about. The penguin exhibit looked like it needed a good cleaning too. Yesterday, (5/2/12) I went in the snow, the staff had done a great job clearing ice away and putting salt down to keep everywhere as safe as possible for their visitors. There was three really enjoyable moments for me yesterday at SLWP.

1. Watching one of the pair of Sloths (Choloepus didactylus) actively moving around the enclosure (albeit it in the Primate house!), I have never seen a Sloth move so much, yawning as it went on its way, it was a real eye opener for me. I spent nearly 30 mins watching it crawl across branches and ropes, it threatened to eat something but refused after sniffing the bowl of fruit and veg, although I did see it drink some water. Maybe I was lucky or maybe it is more active than others I have seen, however its partner didn’t move an inch in time I was watching and when I went back to see them again later in the day, both where curled up, one in the same position I presume it had been all day.

2. Tiger feeding and Tiger Conservation talk was very good I thought. The guy who did the talk delivered it very well and the zoo do make a point of highlighting the truth about Tigers in the wild, their food was up a telegraph pole and it was great to see them grab their food (chickens) from the tops of these poles. Good on them for doing their tiger conservation work.

3. ‘Free-Ranging’ Macaws. For me I really enjoyed watching them and listening to them as they fly around the zoo. Not many more majestic sights than watching blue-and-yellow and scarlet macaws fly above your head and then landing in branches very close by.

The only negative for me and I believe they could address this very quickly and it would generate them money, is to get the canteen/restaurant sorted out. We stopped for a ‘half-time’ warm up meal and hot drink, but the food on offer was poor (mainly processed stuff) and worse still was the organisation with the staff and the customers who wanted to buy something, chaos, we just got a hot chocolate and left! (not the only ones who did so). SLWP - Cook some fresh food (its cheaper to do so), get organised and make a lot more profit here.
I bought a guide book on the way out (I do this as carrying them around is hassle and I never read them until I get home anyway), It seems very informative and for £3.00 you get a lot of info, I let them keep the change from my £10er as entry is free at the moment.
 
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I was just about to post about the Pygmy Hippo birth, but, I've been beaten to it. Best of luck to Quma and the newborn! DAY = MADE :D
 
The zoo has just posted a bit of news on their Facebook account:

South Lakes Wild Animal Park wins planning decision.

Friday 17th February will go down in the history of the park as the day when finally despite all the desperate efforts of Labour councillors in Barrow Council the government appointed inspectorate approved the plans exactly as were presented to the council well over 18 months ago????

David Gill the zoo’s owner and creator back in 1994 said “ We have one of the best tourist attractions in the North West of England, finalists in the Top Attraction for the North West region in recent years with now over 300,000 visitors from all regions of the country, we needed desperately to find a safe solution to car parking and to build better facilities for the animals and amazing volumes of people who want to visit the park year round. we have been persecuted by individuals on Barrow Borough council for many years , with an appeal win a few years ago when Councillor Murray from Dalton led opposition to a Car park being improved for disabled access, the same Councillor was a major part of the refusal process that involved the whole of the Labour group on the planning committee. We still have a formal complaint for breaches of required conduct that has not been concluded against Mr Murray and Mrs Thompson this is for alleged breaches of rules in the planning meeting that was minded to refuse the application against planners advice.
We now are fully vindicated once again and wonder when the electorate of Barrow will wake up to the fact that Labour Councillors have tried to block private investment, new jobs and wasted Council Tax payers money once again by being personal and not taking professional advice in the planning process.
We are not the only business to suffer from the negativity of the Labour controlled authority. I do hope that in the next local elections the people of Dalton and Barrow use common sense when voting and vote for real issues not party colours because the whole area needs entrepreneurs, investors and most of all confidence that Barrow Borough is a great place to work , rest and play and it certainly not under this council.

The people of the Borough spoke very loudly in support of the zoo when the council were minded to refuse our expansion and I really do hope they voice the same disgust at Barrow Labour Councillors who voted against the plans. to get out of this recession caused by the Labour Government wasting tax payers money over 15 years we need a new vision , we need individuals to make a difference and we need councillors who put the people before their own personal issues. and spend council Tax wisely not on refusing clearly obviously positive development.
Mr Gill said “I will spend around £4 m in the local economy via employment, contractors and suppliers this will circulate and help the area in many ways. we plan to employ 15 more staff in key roles over the next years and grow our visitation and be Cumbria – the Lake Districts flagship attraction. this approval safeguards 50 jobs and will bring many new animals to the park as well as to give more space and new habitats to existing animals. This May is the zoos 18th birthday and we are going to celebrate this in style now we have this permission to start work immediately.”
we are already a world class zoo with operations in 4 continents and this will allow us to develop not just the zoo in Dalton but our conservation programmes all around the world.” Ends.
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Mr Gill sure knows how to be magnanimous in victory and hold out the olive branch doesn't he?:D
 
Shorts said:
Mr Gill sure knows how to be magnanimous in victory and hold out the olive branch doesn't he?:D
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Yep, enuf said.
(being Lb meself).

However, I do agree that the Council has been less than cooperative in making the zoo a better place. And I sincerely hope SL WAP will improve and - as per comment and design - will overcome some of the more - let us say well-meaning if peraps ill-thought out multiple species concepts -! :D
 
Firstly, I would like to say I am pleased at the news of the birth of the male pygmy hippo, excellent news. Secondly, I am also pleased that the zoo now has the appropriate permission to extend and improve this attraction.I understand that the zoo has been in dispute with the local council over this issue for some time, however the fact that is a labour controlled council in my opinion may not be the main reason for this long running dispute, is it not a case of a personality clash between the zoo's director and councilors who have been deliberately obstructive towards someone who is free spirited and who at times is not averse to being outspoken and controversial?.The comment has been made by the zoo that the current recession in this country was caused by the previous Labour government,well that is a matter for debate, I have had the pleasure of visiting this zoo almost from the start in1994, is it not the case that the time when this zoo took off and grew happened under the time of the previous labour government under the leadership of Tony Blair?, was South Lakes complaining then when people had money in their pockets to spend on the likes of South Lakes Zoo?, I also ask how things have improved financially and otherwise since Mr. Cameron took over,a man despite all the troubles in the country at present is hell bent on legalising fox hunting, as someone who has lived in an area of high unemployment and social deprivation all my life I regard as an insult, and just to connect this political statement to the U.K. zoo scene, is it not apparent that working class areas/labour strongholds are areas in this country that do seam to be sparse in major zoological collections, the whole of Scotland has only three, where is the national zoo of Wales?, Merseyside at least has a safari park unlike the North East where the safari park only lasted eight years.The fact that most zoos that are successful in the U.K. are south of Watford could be perhaps linked to the simple fact that to be successful the zoo has to have plenty of people with plenty of money in their pockets coming through the pay box, this is a simple economic fact, I look forward to visiting the improved and expanded South Lakes Zoo in the future, just as I am looking forward to visiting the South Yorkshire park in Doncaster which I visited last year for the first time in another area of the country which cannot be described as affluent.
 
Does this news only relate to Car Parking issues/extensions or does it mean the Park can now extend its total (animal) area too, and by how much?
 
Rhino swap

Female White Rhino, Nyala (Born June 2008) has left for Dublin today. In return South Lakes have recieved female, Zuki (Born May 2008 at Dublin)
 
Nisha said:
Female White Rhino, Nyala (Born June 2008) has left for Dublin today. In return South Lakes have recieved female, Zuki (Born May 2008 at Dublin)
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Interesting move, so South Lakes now have three available females to breed from (once Zuki matures and Ntombi weans Indianna) wonder if Mazungo or Huubke breed with her, all in all very promising move.
 
zoogiraffe said:
Its even better news that its is being parent reared!
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Yes it is - keepers have taken away other offspring before as there was a problem. It's brilliant news, especially when there has been three born in two of the collections in the UK.:)
 
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Good news, this - after a few dry years for babirusa, this one seems (fingers crossed) to be a good one!
 
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