South Lakes Wild Animal Park Kadi, Sumatran tiger cub

I heard it on Granada Reports, the Monday after the keeper had died. They were not allowed in to the park to film and was told the owner had gone away for a few days.
 
My biggest concern here is for the animals under his care - if the zoo was closed lets say - many of them would have to be put down as finding homes for them is not viable. So my ideal scenario is that an independant zoo inspection team goes in - gives him notice to improve and repair etc and everything is got to an acceptable level of safety and suitability for all concerned - that will take time.
So - South Lakes are currently undergoing a large expansion building new enclosures and utilising more land - lets see what transpires?
 
Yeah it seems like another form of approval has been granted for the expansion (I thought it had already been approved?) judging by yesterday's post on the South Lakes Facebook page. At the same time, rather than celebrating the positive news, Mr Gill posted a massive rant on there about the Council trying to hold him back and telling his fans NOT to vote for particular councillors at the next local elections!

South Lakes on Facebook... it really is the gift that keeps on giving!
 
Sand Cat said:
Yeah it seems like another form of approval has been granted for the expansion (I thought it had already been approved?) judging by yesterday's post on the South Lakes Facebook page. At the same time, rather than celebrating the positive news, Mr Gill posted a massive rant on there about the Council trying to hold him back and telling his fans NOT to vote for particular councillors at the next local elections!

South Lakes on Facebook... it really is the gift that keeps on giving!
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I am aware that anybody who posts negative comments on the South Lakes Wild Animal Park facebook page has the comment removed almost instantly, as I found out for myself two days ago, all this leaves is a constant stream of people praising David Gills, his zoological collection and his marvelous biography, I ask these people if they have ever been to a zoo that is properly run, as this establishment is no great distance from Blackpool or Chester. I agree with the above poster who suggests that closing this place down would not be a good thing, as it would probably result in some of the animals having to be put down, as I remember at Lambton Lion Park when this happened on its closure, I was also very concerned the way Twycross was going last year, happily I would say things appear to be going better for this zoo this year due to a change in direction, if it had closed who would have wanted all those chimps?, what a terrible thought, Comments have also been made about the private life of Mr. Gills, quite frankly this does not interest me in the slightest, he can do what he wants in his private life, but what does interest me is the welfare of the animals in his care, hopefully things will improve in this direction when the zoo expands in the near future, unfortunately I will not be able to witness this for myself, as I have now barred myself from ever going there again, on principle of the way Mr. Gills and his zoo chose to deal with the death of Kadi.
 
karoocheetah said:
My biggest concern here is for the animals under his care - if the zoo was closed lets say - many of them would have to be put down as finding homes for them is not viable.
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This place sounds like a Madhouse to me- admittedly I have never been but I know people who have and the constant bad publicity and photos on this Forum are pretty enlightening.

IMO the best scenario would be if someone more stable was able to take over the Park and run it responsibly. Unfortunately there is no suggestion he wants to sell it.
 
Pertinax said:
This place sounds like a Madhouse to me- admittedly I have never been but I know people who have and the constant bad publicity and photos on this Forum are pretty enlightening.

IMO the best scenario would be if someone more stable was able to take over the Park and run it responsibly. Unfortunately there is no suggestion he wants to sell it.
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Perhaps when the park has been extended and hopefully improved upon then maybe it will be of a more attractive proposition to a prospective buyer and realise a greater purchase price than what it would do at present, just a thought from my suspicious mind:)
 
I will tell anyone who wants to listen - DO NOT GO TO THIS PARK! :mad:
 
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I am also on the zoochat ban list! :D it seems one post has survived not being removed yet but no comment has been given yet either.
 
I've always had suspicions about what happened to Kadi. So glad to have found this thread but sad to know she did indeed pass :( we saw her when she was a tiny cub and watched her grow. Shame on Gill for telling lies about what really happened, especially to people who sponsored.
 
I have just had my comment on south lakes facebook removed too, when i remarked that i felt that david gill had lied to us. He told us Kadi had been moved to another zoo and i believed him. It is only today that i now read on his facebook site that in actual fact Kadi died last september, i have been to visit South lakes twice and loved Kadi i actually filmed her playing hide and seek with me. I will cherish that footage!!
 
Welcome to a long club of people that have had comments removed,or have been blocked from commenting for asking akward comments on facebook,Mr Gill doesn't like people questioning his version of the truth!Many of us on this site knew what had happened to Kadi,long before the news broke anywhere else,but we knew that at somepoint he would slip up and admit the truth of what happened!So now people know that Kadi is dead and that for over year people were lied to by the park prehaps some of the other blind followers and believers of every word,will wake up and see that everything at SLWAP is not as good as they think it is!
 
Colour me unsurprised that when one of our number posted a comment listing the exact date Gill had claimed Kadi had moved to another collection - November 23rd 2012 for the record - the entire post regarding the new snow leopard and Kadi's death being confirmed was removed ;)

Wonder if, in the time the post was on there, too many people for Gill's liking checked for themselves and saw the truth? :p
 
Copule of general points on this thread re Licensing - yes, it's the Local Authority that licence the zoo (and Barrow's Licensing team is a small one) but inspections and recommendations are suually done by Zoo Inspectors selected form a list provided by DEFRA.

Details here:

Zoos Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency

Freedom of Inormation requests can obtain copies of the last Zoo Inspection report.
 
Davef68 said:
but inspections and recommendations are suually done by Zoo Inspectors selected form a list provided by DEFRA.
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Interesting. Regarding the suitability of certain of the mixed exhibits, particularly the Spectacled/Bear/Tapir et al. one, I should have thought the most relevant sections of the Zoo Inspection Report Form would be as follows;

Section 2. Provision of suitable environment.

Section 4. Provision of an opportunity to express normal behaviour.

Section 5. Provision of protection from fear and distress.

Nowhere(that I can see) is there any actual mention of animals in Mixed Exhibits, but I wonder how closely these are examined regarding species compatability, and how they are rated, with regard to the above criteria.
 
Pertinax said:
Interesting. Regarding the suitability of certain of the mixed exhibits, particularly the Spectacled/Bear/Tapir et al. one, I should have thought the most relevant sections of the Zoo Inspection Report Form would be as follows;

Section 2. Provision of suitable environment.

Section 4. Provision of an opportunity to express normal behaviour.

Section 5. Provision of protection from fear and distress.

Nowhere(that I can see) is there any actual mention of animals in Mixed Exhibits, but I wonder how closely these are examined regarding species compatability, and how they are rated, with regard to the above criteria.
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I think some zoos today, in the desirable drive to create naturalistic environments for their animals, may unconsciously forget that there has to be a limit to the naturalistic approach, because a zoo is by definition a series of closed environments from which no escape is possible. Is it possible that one of South Lakes' issues is that its owner seems at times to deny this?
 
Someone I know posted on the South Lakes Safari Facebook page about Kadi. The park responded by telling him to get a life, it is a shame that Kadi cannot have her life, it was ended far too early.
 
IanRRobinson said:
because a zoo is by definition a series of closed environments from which no escape is possible. Is it possible that one of South Lakes' issues is that its owner seems at times to deny this?
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I also think that most 'mixed exhibits' (and that's not only at SL) are entirely a product of the captive environment. The species involved may be from the same region or countries (or not, as the case may be) but even if they are, a lot of them rarely, if ever, come into contact in the wild. They may occupy complete different habitat niches, live at completely different elevations etc. And even if they do share the same habitat, they still don't come into the continual close or enforced proximity experienced in captivity.
 
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