Species on the brink of disappearing from U.K Collections

Until a couple of years ago, you would have said Polar bears were on this list.

Northern Luzon Giant Cloud Rats are only at Newquay, and with the recent departure from Edinburgh, I don't think there are any Southern ones left in the UK.

There are quite a few other species where there is oly one zoo holding them (e.g. Arctic Fox at Highland Wildlife Park) but they are not 'in danger' at the moment.
 
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Davef68 said:
There are quite a few other species where there is oly one zoo holding them (e.g. Arctic Fox at Highland Wildlife Park) but they are not 'in danger' at the moment.
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In fact, Arctic fox are doing better now than at the start of the year, as HWP now hold a pair :)
 
Davef68 said:
Until a couple of years ago, you would have said Polar bears were on this list.

Northern Luzon Giant Cloud Rats are only at Paignton, and with the recent departure from Edinburgh, I don't think there are any Southern ones left in the UK.

There are quite a few other species where there is oly one zoo holding them (e.g. Arctic Fox at Highland Wildlife Park) but they are not 'in danger' at the moment.
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I'm pretty sure Paignton do not hold Cloud Rats. If so, they must be very recent or are surely off-show?
 
Dassie rat said:
I agree with you about the Arabian oryx. It was one of the iconic endangered animals when I was a little boy and I was pleased when I saw my first Arabian oryx in a zoo.
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It is interesting how the 'rarity value' adds great kudos to a species, this species being a typical example. When it was on the verge of extinction, Arabian Oryx had almost mythical status. The story of how ZSL in the 60's sent their lone female 'Caroline' to join the nascent World Herd in Phoenix was cited as a great feat of co-operation(it was). FFPS adopted it as their logo too. Yet after their much vaunted comeback to London they were later shunted away to Whipsnade and even they have given up with them now.:(
 
Arabian Oryx in UK.

Tim May said:
I didn’t have time to look at this the other day but after perusing the studbook this evening it appears that Whipsnade sent two female Arabian oryx to Marwell on 25th November 2011.
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I've had another brief look too- it appears only one of the two ex Whipsnade females is still at Marwell now.

Marwell currently have just 4, the above-mentioned female, a male from Plackendal and 1.1 calves from 2010 and 2011, fathered by this male from other(deceased or transferred?) females.

I wonder if they in time will vanish from Marwell too? Maybe worth going to see them again just in case....:(
 
Dassie rat said:
Hallo Tim

I agree with you about the Arabian oryx. It was one of the iconic endangered animals when I was a little boy and I was pleased when I saw my first Arabian oryx in a zoo. I remember when the plans were made for 'Into Africa' and an education officer announced that Arabian oryxes would leave the collection 'because they were boring'. Another iconic endangered animal that entered and left the London Zoo collection was the trumpeter swan. It was kept in the area now occupied by Penguin Beach, but the swan I saw isn't listed in Zootierliste. It wasn't highlighted and it didn't seem to raise any concern when it left the collection, which was sad. In the 1990s, London Zoo had the only Nduk eagle owl. It was kept on the North Bank and died in 1997. Once again, it was ignored by most visitors, although I took a few people to see it.
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Yes, I was also dismayed when the Arabian oryx left Regents Park,at least they were held by the society though, albeit at Whipsnade, very surprising that ZSL no longer have them, I also find the comment made that they were boring to be most surprising, personally, I always found them to be an interesting and pleasant exhibit on the Cotton Terrace,and I am sure most visitors did also,even more interesting when you could read the labeling at this exhibit informing the visitors the role that the society played in conserving the species, I would have thought that they would have continued at Whipsnade with them, but no, again surprising.
 
TARZAN said:
I would have thought that they would have continued at Whipsnade with them, but no, again surprising.
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Yes, indeed, London's connection with saving them in the 1960's was a salient feature of keeping them again on the Cotton Terraces.

When I last saw them at Whipsnade they had been moved to a small sanded paddock set back from the road just inside the entrance to the Asian Plains exhibit. Could not be accessed on foot and probably went unnoticed by 99% of the cars passing through.:(

According to the SB the last male(euthanased in 20O9 or 10) had been castrated, presumably to restrict further breeding,
 
TARZAN said:
Yes, I was also dismayed when the Arabian oryx left Regents Park,at least they were held by the society though, albeit at Whipsnade, very surprising that ZSL no longer have them, I also find the comment made that they were boring to be most surprising, personally, I always found them to be an interesting and pleasant exhibit on the Cotton Terrace,and I am sure most visitors did also,even more interesting when you could read the labeling at this exhibit informing the visitors the role that the society played in conserving the species, I would have thought that they would have continued at Whipsnade with them, but no, again surprising.
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Thanks Tarzan

In about 1994, London Zoo had an extinction exhibition. I especially liked the little collection of material about extinct species that was shown in the old Parrot House. It's a shame that this only lasted a short time, as it is important for zoos to show their value in saving species from extinction by indicating the species they have saved (such as the Arabian oryx), as well as showing species that have become extinct in the past few centuries. I accept that the population of captive Arabian oryxes is high, but I feel that ZSL should keep this species because of its role in saving the species from extinction. After all, there are also thousands of meerkats in zoos and they are purely kept for commercial reasons and have no conservation value.
 
Do London no longer have Cloud Rats, I know that was a while back when I last heard they had them?

Also I believe Exmoor used to have Arctic Foxes, are they still there?
 
JamesB said:
Do London no longer have Cloud Rats, I know that was a while back when I last heard they had them?

Also I believe Exmoor used to have Arctic Foxes, are they still there?
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London still keep Panay Cloud Rats, a related but seperate species from the Northern Luzon Cloud Rats and Southern Luzon Cloud Rats previously discussed.

Exmoor does not have Arctic Foxes. Not sure if they ever did?
 
I'm sure they had an enclosure labelled with Arctic Foxes when I went.. hmm, about 5 years ago?

Thanks for the cloud rat correction, I wouldn't have a clue if they were related or not!
 
Dartmoor used to have them; maybe this is the source of your confusion?
 
Dassie rat said:
Thanks Tarzan

In about 1994, London Zoo had an extinction exhibition. I especially liked the little collection of material about extinct species that was shown in the old Parrot House. It's a shame that this only lasted a short time, as it is important for zoos to show their value in saving species from extinction by indicating the species they have saved (such as the Arabian oryx), as well as showing species that have become extinct in the past few centuries. I accept that the population of captive Arabian oryxes is high, but I feel that ZSL should keep this species because of its role in saving the species from extinction. After all, there are also thousands of meerkats in zoos and they are purely kept for commercial reasons and have no conservation value.
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Regarding the meerkats, we discussed these a while back and it was stated that Edinburgh and the Highland Wildlife Park were, at this time, the only collections not to have them, as we know, since then, Edinburgh have returned to them, possibly by great public demand. I don't have a problem with every zoo having them, but as you say they have no conservation value whatsoever, as long as they are regarded as a "pets corner" type of exhibit, all well and good, at least they don't require a huge enclosure, which for zoos of limited acreage, the space could be utilised better for endangered species. It is interesting how this animal's popularity has grown over the last few years, boosted of coarse, by television adverts for car insurance, I wonder if in the future the adverts with meerkats will disappear from our t.v. screens and they will then go out of fashion when the public have forgotten about them, it could be the case that in the future that the meerkat itself could be a species that are hardly ever seen in U.K.zoos anymore, just like the Old English sheepdog, that regularly appeared in t.v. adverts years ago to advertise paint, in fact, this breed, at the time, was often referred to as the "Dulux"dog, since this dog hardly ever appears on television now to advertise paint, its popularity would appear to have decreased somewhat, in fact I cannot remember the last time I actually saw one.
 
TARZAN said:
I wonder if in the future the adverts with meerkats will disappear from our t.v. screens and they will then go out of fashion when the public have forgotten about them, it could be the case that in the future that the meerkat itself could be a species that are hardly ever seen in U.K.zoos anymore, just like the Old English sheepdog,
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Almost certainly! Though it may take a number of years and a new generation of folk who have 'identified' with some other species. 'Cute' does seem the most popular theme at present, with Meerkats and Penguins at the forefront of popularity and mirrored in the zoo exhibits. Or maybe the Zoo exhibits actually make them more popular? I can imagine how in years to come, without the T.V marketing connection, a new generation may just look at Meerkats, if they are still displayed then, and think, oh, look, little Mongoose things- and promptly move on to something else.

General public are heavily influenced by what they see on T.V. or the media generally etc. as to what becomes fashionable or popular. As you said, in the dog world O.E. Sheepdogs are much more rarely seen nowadays. Many of those people who bought them couldn't cope with the grooming anyway and resorted to having them shaved, so they looked nothing like the big fluffy Dulux dog which would have been beautifully groomed by professionals for his/her advert appearances. I think they do still appear in the T.V. paint advert though more briefly, maybe no-one's intersted anymore though. The current vogue in dogs seems to be for 'designer crossbreeds'- labradoodles, sprockers, chiwesties etc and 'tough macho' or unusual-looking dogs. As a result, the rescue centres are just full of breeds like the 'blue-eyed' Huskies and Weimaraners nowadays.
 
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In terms of the meerkats I share the same view that there is nothing wrong with zoos exhibiting them. The fact though that West Mids have 3 separate groups each in rather large enclosures of their own is pretty ridiculous as a zoo person.
 
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