Howletts Wild Animal Park Howletts Wild Animal Park News 2012

Who will occypy Djala's Group Enclosure when they leave for Africa then will it be a group from the ever expanding Howletts or will it be one of the Port Lympne Groups?
 
cyrildacat said:
Who will occypy Djala's Group Enclosure when they leave for Africa then will it be a group from the ever expanding Howletts or will it be one of the Port Lympne Groups?
Click to expand...

The other Gorillas at Port Lympne are all males, either singles or groups in existing accomodation so perhaps unlikely they will move any of them.

But its been mentioned on here recently that DA favours the young 9 year old male 'Ebeki' in Kifu's group at Howletts- possibly because this is the main/only(?) group he still 'goes in' with and therefore has a good relationship with this (the only)younger male still living in the group. 'Ebeki' is also the only offspring (still) at the parks of the w/c female 'Tebe' which might be a further(genetic) reason for giving him a group. So my guess would be they might form a fresh group around Ebeki and keep it at Howletts so DA can carry on that tradition of regular visits with him in the future. In which case one of the other Howletts breeding groups would have to move to the vacated 'Palace of the Apes' at Port Lympne, (unless a new 'Ebeki group' went there).

Of course that scenario might be completely wrong- in which case its anyone's guess what the reorganisation would comprise.
 
Last edited:
I definately can't see them wasting 'The Palace of the Apes'. Not when it cost them so much money, and has such a good reputation.

I would not be surprised if a group at Howletts move in to occupy it, given the fact that Howletts groups are not getting any smaller!

However with all that DA has said in his latest newspaper article about wanting to close the parks down and release all his animals to the wild, would shutting down PL or at least decreasing the number of species that it holds be the first big step to doing that?
 
Riziki said:
I definately can't see them wasting 'The Palace of the Apes'. Not when it cost them so much money, and has such a good reputation.

However with all that DA has said in his latest newspaper article about wanting to close the parks down and release all his animals to the wild, would shutting down PL or at least decreasing the number of species that it holds be the first big step to doing that?
Click to expand...

1. Palace of the Apes- I am sure it would soon be filled again with another group. They stated some years ago they don't intend building further Gorilla enclosures so will be using all the existing ones ad infinitum.

2. If the planned move of Djala's whole group back to Africa proves successful, maybe it would be followed longer term with some of their other groups - an unprecedented move. I don't know if the most humanised males like Kouillou or Kifu would be suitable for release though, if they are too trusting of, or dangerous to, people- I don't know how well protected, secure or people-free the wild reserves they would go to are.

3. Future of Port Lympne. It wasn't so long ago they were bringing in fresh animals- Wildebeest, Zebra, Giraffe etc to fill up the new African Safari area but I suppose all those species and a lot of others could be shed if PL was closed down. The obvious question is what would be done with many of the animals there, apart from Gorillas and Rhinos, including those which would be unsuitable for release. Maybe a mixture- some suitable ones released, others redistributed to other Zoos, or relocated to Howletts- which I can't see closing somehow, at least not in its entirety.
 
Last edited:
Emmie would not be going to Gabon, she would either be going to a Group at Howletts(Probably Kifus) or at Port lympne in the new group that would come from Howletts. Niether is Yene as she is Going to Rostock.

GB
 
GorillaBoy said:
Emmie would not be going to Gabon, she would either be going to a Group at Howletts(Probably Kifus) or at Port lympne in the new group that would come from Howletts. Niether is Yene as she is Going to Rostock.
Click to expand...

Yes, Emmie would be impossible to 'rewild'. I have heard Rostock are to get two or even three females for the single silverback 'Assumbo' who was born at Jersey, though given his age and background it might prove too late for him to be capable of breeding now. Is the female 'Sasha' at Howletts likely to be one of these also?
 
Pertinax said:
Yes, Emmie would be impossible to 'rewild'. I have heard Rostock are to get two or even three females for the single silverback 'Assumbo' who was born at Jersey, though given his age and background it might prove too late for him to be capable of breeding now. Is the female 'Sasha' at Howletts likely to be one of these also?
Click to expand...

Shasha is Meant to be going to Munster, also Ujiji is supposed to be going to South Korea and when he leaves Timbou might be moved into the Tower and Ambam and Bonz would be mixed and Kush and Djimu would be together and would rotate daily which pair gets the Outdoor Garden.

GB
 
There may not be a pregnancy. They told me back in May they didn't think the female(is it Salome?) was pregnant after all.
 
I came across a couple of videos of the late John Aspinall and his zoos on YouTube........called "Echo of the Wild" (1976) and "A Passion to Protect" (1983), narrated by John Aspinall himself. It shows the interaction between keepers and animals at the parks and you can also see some of the species thay kept back then, which they no longer keep like black leopards, chimps and Cape buffalo, as well as their first African elephants. Not sure somebody's already posted them on the forums somewhere. Here are the links in case anyone's interested :

"Echo of the Wild" :

Part 1 -

Part 2 -

Part 3 -

Part 4 -

Part 5 -

Part 6 -



"A Passion to Protect" :

Part 1 -

Part 2 -

Part 3 -

Part 4 -

Parts 5 & 6 -
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Thank you so much for posting these, I'd not seen either. These were the Aspinall parks of my childhood, where I first saw large mammals. Beyond spellbinding, watching keepers wander round enclosures playing with honey badgers, chimpanzees and tigers, going in to feed leopards and wolves, and wandering through enclosures with African buffalo and rhino. Really amazing to see those interactions.

I thought the most interesting point was attributing virtually no mortalities in their tiger cubs to the confidence instilled in the mothers through keeper interaction.

I guess the solitary gaur bull stayed that way at Howletts? I never saw any cows, and the narration suggested two cows destined for Howletts died in quarantine in the North of England.
 
You're welcome Johnstoni. I just happened to come across them while searching for Port Lympne videos on Youtube. What I didn't know though, was that the actual videos would post here after I copy/pasted the links :( Still getting used to all this, I hardly ever post anything here........i'm usually reading posts from others or looking at pics :)

I've never been to the parks, in fact i've never been to the UK lol. So I don't know too much about them, except what i've read on the internet. They're definitely among the best from what i've read/seen so far. Both have had great success with breeding, and have also done well in re-introducing animals back to the wild. I'm from Tanzania, and I was thrilled to hear that they sent black rhinos there recently. I hope they stay safe from poachers and boost the population.
 
Thank you for uploading these links. I have watched the first and will enjoy the others.
I saw an earlier version of the first film at a meeting which Mr Aspinall held in Oxford (I think) early in 1974. I visited Howletts for the first time later in that year: I think that it was only open to the public for a few days in the year.

Alan
 
I was just reading one of the articles from the ones that pop up on the side of the page about a tiger escaping and killing a keeper in Cologne Zoo:

The Associated Press: Tiger escapes, kills keeper in German zoo

It said that the tiger, which was shot and killed during the incident, was 'a 4-year-old male called Altai that came to Cologne Zoo from an animal park in England'. After some research, I found that Altai was born in Howletts in 2008. Such an awful situation for all involved :(
 
great videos, amazing how the keepers went in with the animals. the huge group of wild boar running through the woodland is amazing. thanks bwana for adding this post.
 
Joining thread :)
 
dublinlion said:
great videos, amazing how the keepers went in with the animals. the huge group of wild boar running through the woodland is amazing. thanks bwana for adding this post.
Click to expand...

You're welcome dublinlion. It sure is great to see what the parks looked like in the old days.......though not much has changed according to the current pictures, except for a few enclosures and different animals too. I hope to find more videos (if there are any).
 
As mentioned on the European gorilla thread, Shasha has left Howletts and gone to Munster Zoo in Germany.

GB
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top