Twycross Zoo Twycross Zoo news 2014 #1

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Have Twycross published any statement anywhere about the reason for the baby Orangutan's(Kibriah's) death?
 
Such a shame that things are not moving forward at a pace at Twycross. Is Miss Evans still alive? I know that Miss Badham passed away some years ago. I thought she had left a considerable sum of money to the zoo for new developments and upkeep? We last visited in January and were surprised by some of the prioritising that has taken place.
 
To my knowledge, Miss Evans is still alive at the age of 95.
 
Picture on Facebook of a tiny baby elephant. No other info.

Found a quote from another board from April last year saying that Noor Jahan was 11 months pregnant through artificial insemination, dates from that do suggest she'd be due about now. As her previous calf was sickly maybe they are keeping it under wraps until it can be properly health tested?
 
I have visited today, got some pictures and some updates from around the zoo.

Just a few quick points to update on, any questions will get pictures up later.

Sorry to be a bit cheeky KJ, but I'd love to see some photos from the recent developments.

Thanks ;)
 
Baby Orangutan death

wouldn't have happened in the old days Kibriah is a good mum:(

Concerning the circumstances surrounding the baby Orangutan's death, it seems Jane Doe's comment above was not so out of place. I think those that launched into her with aggressive critisism over this comment perhaps owe her something of an apology.

A couple of months on, Twycross seem to be sidestepping an explanation of why the baby died and from what I know, I can rather see why.
 
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Concerning the circumstances surrounding the baby Orangutan's death, it seems Jane Doe's comment above was not so out of place. I think those that launched into her with aggressive critisism over this comment perhaps owe her something of an apology.

A couple of months on, Twycross seem to be sidestepping an explanation of why the baby died and from what I know, I can rather see why.

It is now two months since the death of the baby orang. The zoo officially stated on their own website that they would be conducting a full post mortem to establish the exact cause of death and that they would be making these results public, they have not issued any statement whatsoever regarding the death of this baby, the offspring of a very good experienced mother Kibriah. I enquired on this zoo's facebook page several weeks ago, along with other people if the post mortem results were available, the zoo's reply was that they would be getting back soon, after a couple of weeks waiting for their reply I again enquired, their response was to block me from their facebook page. This is a zoo that I was always very welcome at under the direction of its founders Miss Molly Badham and Miss Natalie Evans, and here we are today where I am not even welcome on this zoo's facebook page, my only crime being that I take an active interest in the well being of the animals that live at this zoo, I quite frankly feel insulted at the attitude of this zoo's management, this is not the first time I have been told from them that they would be "getting back to me soon", as in September of last year I enquired why they had removed the plaque in the gorilla house in memory of Joe, which was paid for by one of the visitors, I asked politely if they could put it back on display in the newer gorilla house, I have yet heard nothing.Some of us have good memories and do not forget in a hurry.
 
Twycross Zoo news 2014

Right, I've never been to Twycross, but I've read the book (as they say) and know how dedicated the founders were. Of course they did things that wouldn't be PC now, but even ZSL had (invented?) the Chimpanzees' Tea Party.
Second, baby things sometimes die and it's nobody's fault. I can imagine a scenario where an ailing baby male Bornean Orang wouldn't be removed for hand rearing as males could be hard to place.
Third, I don't think Twycross have ever had sufficient credit for their pioneering efforts with Elephants. I believe they are the only UK zoo to have successfully sent eles away to stud.
 
I don't think the sex of the dead baby orang had been made public, and I do not think it was ailing before its death. Regarding the elephants, yes indeed the zoo had an excellent success with the birth of Tara and Karishma in 1998, both born within a few weeks of each other, sired by Chang at Chester, pity Twycross saw fit in 2006 to pack Karishma off to Whipsnade, tearing her away from her family and breaking the stud book rules in the process by parting a mother and female calf. They did have a baby again to Noor Jahan, sired by AI, he did not live long unfortunately, the zoo initially stated that he died of a heart condition, although later in their annual report it was stated he died of the herpes virus, I wonder why the zoo initially stated that he died of a heart condition, as ZSL openly stated that the baby elephants had died of the herpes virus, just like Chester, their honesty is to be respected, just like when at Regents Park, Keisho the male gorilla killed the baby sired by his predecessor, not very nice no, none the less, an open honest public statement as to what happened.
 
Second, baby things sometimes die and it's nobody's fault. I can imagine a scenario where an ailing baby male Bornean Orang wouldn't be removed for hand rearing as males could be hard to place.

I believe they are the only UK zoo to have successfully sent eles away to stud.

You've got that part completely wrong, I'm afraid.. I have no idea of its sex, but its death was certainly not the scenario you suggest here.

They did send the Elephants away for mating-once- as they had no bull. Where they fell down IMO was in not repeating it, or exchanging their breeding cows for non-breeding ones if they didn't wish to a. keep a bull, or b. not have more offspring from them. The end result was many years with no more breeding, from either the two older females, or the three younger ones.
 
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Reflections

Having visited for the first time in nearly 2 years today, i left with mixed feelings, as there were positives as well as some negatives and the zoo does take a real bashing on here!
It was my 1st visit without Malayan Tapir, Sealions, Giraffe, but for me a few positives were:
Yellow-throated Martens visible.
Baby elephant again.
Amur Leopard enclosure- excellent use of a tired area and cheap way of giving them double or more space than before.
Good sized open air areas for lemurs & DeBrazzas monkeys.
Chips very edible & cheap in the new fish bar!
Negatives to follow, but have to ask why if they are building such a large zebra area couldn't they have done the same & kept the giraffe?
 
Whilst edible they're certainly not cheap for this part of the world:p.

I must live in the wrong place! £1.60 for what would be a large portion in my local chip shop(& 50p more) didn't seem too bad, especially compared to some other zoos' prices for poorer quality. I take your point though.
 
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