Noah's Ark Zoo Farm Noah's Ark News 2013

Maguari said:
I think the phrase 'whatever elephants they can get' is the one that springs to mind...
Click to expand...

I presume we are all agreed that it will be NONE.

BTW: is there anything like a BIAZA policy on African elephant breeding?

Howletts - breeding (some recent unfortunate losses)
Port Lympne - intention to breed (current status in limbo due to losses)
West Mids - intention to breed
Colchester - breeding
Knowsley - intentions?
Paignton - older female, intention to expand perhaps African savannah after she passes on.
Blair Drummond - older non reproductive (is it not)

I would actually welcome several of these collections acquiring more elephants either young from the Continent or fresh imports from the wild
 
Maybe some young males from Cologne (asian elephant). To start with and to build up experience.
 
john said:
Maybe some young males from Cologne (asian elephant). To start with and to build up experience.
Click to expand...

Impossible. The facility is outside BIAZA and EAZA (and shown itself uncooperative within the BI to start up any breeding programs with good founder stock or make up numbers of the correct species).
 
Which of those collections, if any, have young bulls they might want to move out? Howletts? If they can send female Gorillas to Belo Horizonte in Brazil, why not Elephants to Somerset? They do anything they wish with their animals.
 
If not young bulls from Koeln, some members of the squabbling Howletts herd.
 
Pertinax said:
Not at all...if they are now advertising its opening in June, they must know they have a source of at least some Elephants to put in it surely.
Click to expand...

I would think that they must have had elephants lined up for the Elephant Eden before they built this £1.6 million exhibit,(20% of the cost was from a DEFRA grant). The article from the Bristol Post Online which I read states that they have engaged Dutch elephant expert Sandra de Rek from Colchester Zoo as head keeper and this new exhibit will create six new jobs, it is anticipated that this new attraction will increase visitor numbers by 10-15% and eventually they would also like to keep Asian elephants as well as the Africans. The article also states that they did consider housing retired circus elephants but decided against it as all they would be doing is watching elephants grow old and die,"It is Noahs Ark after all, two by two and all that"states the Park's owner Anthony Bush.
 
TARZAN said:
The article also states that they did consider housing retired circus elephants but decided against it as all they would be doing is watching elephants grow old and die
Click to expand...

They're all heart, aren't they?!

I still find the whole ethos of this place very odd and contradictory.
 
Maguari said:
They're all heart, aren't they?!

I still find the whole ethos of this place very odd and contradictory.
Click to expand...

Yes I agree, although I must state I have never visited the place,all I know about it is what I have read about on here from fellow members. Forgive the sarcasm but at least the cannot state that the elephants came from an anonymous collection in North East England, when in fact they came from a well known circus, as they did with the tigers which resulted in them being kicked out of B.I.A.Z.A., and in the worst case scenario, i.e. they CANNOT get elephants at all, I suppose it will make a lovely home for the three wise men's camels:)
 
TARZAN said:
I would think that they must have had elephants lined up for the Elephant Eden before they built this £1.6 million exhibit,(20% of the cost was from a DEFRA grant).
Click to expand...

I don't think so. The fact that they vacillated between 'retirement elephants' home' 'breeding group of Asians' or other Elephant combinations indicates to me they didn't know where they would come from, but does show determination to get some from somewhere.
 
TARZAN said:
Yes I agree, although I must state I have never visited the place,all I know about it is what I have read about on here from fellow members.
Click to expand...

I have, and found it a very strange experience. It is basically an (ex dairy?) farm but now with Zoo animal enclosures plonked down around the place in a very rough and ready way, plus large play areas for children, both outdoor and under cover in the barns. Religious instruction posters adorn many areas too.

I'm not sure if its still a 'working' farm or not, but it still feels very much like the 'farmpark' style of set-up, but as well as the more usual domestic horses, goats, sheep and poultry etc there are also Lions, Rhinos, Giraffe too!
 
Cologne doesn`t have any young bulls to re-home currently. Emmen has, but one of them recently tested positive to TB exposure, so until that is cleared up, it is unlikely that a british zoo gets import permits. I don`t think that the lack of EAZA membership is a problem - if they have a facility suitable for young bulls, they`d probably get these bulls without EAZA membership. It would even be less a problem with African elephants since the EEP of African elephants is a lot weaker and pretty much everyone does what he sees fit.

By far the most likely thing is that they stuck a deal with a circus/circus trainer and will get 2 or 3 circus elephants in the next weeks so that they don`t have to open an empty enclosure. However, that may very well just be a loan for a few months over the summer.
 
Yassa said:
Cologne doesn`t have any young bulls to re-home currently. Emmen has, but one of them recently tested positive to TB exposure, so until that is cleared up, it is unlikely that a british zoo gets import permits. I don`t think that the lack of EAZA membership is a problem - if they have a facility suitable for young bulls, they`d probably get these bulls without EAZA membership. It would even be less a problem with African elephants since the EEP of African elephants is a lot weaker and pretty much everyone does what he sees fit.

By far the most likely thing is that they stuck a deal with a circus/circus trainer and will get 2 or 3 circus elephants in the next weeks so that they don`t have to open an empty enclosure. However, that may very well just be a loan for a few months over the summer.
Click to expand...

The thought of borrowing a few circus elephants for a while did cross my mind,although in the U.K. there are no elephants in circus ownership,at one time Mary Chipperfield used to hire out elephants to zoos short term. As for getting them from abroad, this may be a possibility but at this time of year I would think most elephants would currently be engaged on circus tours, if it had been during the winter period that would have been a different matter.
 
In the video, they mention a team of experienced elephant keepers having been assembled. Does anyone know who those elephant keepers are?
 
sooty mangabey said:
In the video, they mention a team of experienced elephant keepers having been assembled. Does anyone know who those elephant keepers are?
Click to expand...

Sandra de Rek seems to be one of them.

Some African Elephants are possibly coming from a UK zoo.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top