Twycross Zoo Twycross Zoo news 2014 #1

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Probably individual(s) in the PR department have a depraved fad for automatons and sci-fi stories anyway.

Pretty pathetic and pointless for a zoo PR.
 
Animal Friendly said:
Twycross Zoo have announced their 50 year celebration plans which will take place in Spring Week, 51 years after the zoo first opened.Monday 26th May, Live Music. Tuesday 27th Area 51 co, performance artist. Wednesday 28th, Adventures in time and space, including Daleks.Thursday 29th, Classic Car Day, Friday 30th, Bert and Gents Vintage Markets. What, may I ask do any of these events have relating to zoology, animals or indeed Twycross Zoo itself?
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Come, come -you're not thinking hard enough:

Live music -the animals in the zoo are alive (apart from those that cease to be under strange circumstances);

Performance Artists -in the early days of the zoo the Chimps performed in tea parties;

Adventures in space and time -Twycross exists in space and time (warp)*;

Daleks -non-human, as are the zoo's residents;

Classic car day -cars are used to get to the zoo (a nightmare by other methods by all accounts);

Vintage markets -Twycross is of a certain vintage, like an aged wine (if arguably a little "corked").

In reality, I'm as apoplectic about this as the next sane person and (attempted) humour is my coping mechanism.

I would also point out that the fairly late notice of these events does tend to suggest it was thrown together at the last minute (to be fair, it might have been announced late rather than arranged late -still strange though).

*done for cheap word-play, I know some of it's looking OK nowadays (though there's still a lot to sort).
 
Well I am pleased that other members are of the same opinion as myself on this matter, I had thought I might just be getting cynical in my older age, I am 51, this year celebrating my 50th!:). Regarding the Daleks, judging by what I read, here and elsewhere regarding the current state of the pathways at this zoo, I sincerely hope that they will be able to travel around the zoo without any problem, an image of a dalek falling over and repeating there well known catch phrase comes to mind,. Perhaps the zoo could have used this opportunity in their "50th anniversary week" to highlight the current situation of some of their critically endangered species, how about an orang day, an Amur leopard day etc, and just for a bit of fun to entertain the kids someone dressed up as the animal featured for the kids to have their photo taken with for a small charge, this money would be donated to the in situ conservation projects for each of the species chosen. One criticism of the anti zoo brigade is that zoos do not educate their visitors as well as what they claim to, by putting on music shows, daleks and car shows I don't think Twycross have done themselves any favours in that department.
 
i know it's probably a long shot but surely having the various different things at the zoo could pull in a different type of audience - classic car fans, darlek fans? even if they dont look at the animals at least they'd be paying entry?
 
hippophilic said:
i know it's probably a long shot but surely having the various different things at the zoo could pull in a different type of audience - classic car fans, darlek fans? even if they dont look at the animals at least they'd be paying entry?
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But that's not really the point, it's supposed to be a celebration of the zoo, it's history and it's animals. Something this half-Rst a year late just looks pathetic. If it's about getting people in the zoo and getting a little extra revenue (if it does) then fine, I just wish they wouldn't claim it's any kind of anniversary celebration without making a little more effort in that direction.
 
Shorts said:
But that's not really the point, it's supposed to be a celebration of the zoo, it's history and it's animals. Something this half-Rst a year late just looks pathetic. If it's about getting people in the zoo and getting a little extra revenue (if it does) then fine, I just wish they wouldn't claim it's any kind of anniversary celebration without making a little more effort in that direction.
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If they wanted to celebrate something this year that actually meant something, they could have celebrated the fact that Molly Badham was born in 1914, although from what the current C.E.O. and her Head of Life Sciences stated about the good lady on television and in the Daily Mail earlier this year perhaps they would just like her forgotten about, I sincerely hope this is not the case.
 
A vote has been opened to name the new elephant calf: The three choices are...

Kesari - After a place in Bengal
Esha - meaning pure
and.... NISHA! :D meaning night

101 Touch FM
 
zoogiraffe said:
Well if Nisha wins we will never hear the last of it :p
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I think everyone on Zoochat should vote for Nisha...:D (and I just noticed a Giraffe in Cincinnati has been named 'Nasha'!)

Actually being an Asian elephant calf I almost wish they didn't name it(yet)- it seems like tempting bad fortune...:(.
 
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I visited Twycross for the first time a couple of weeks ago. Saw the elephants rather expertly snapping the electric fence keeping them from the water's edge by dropping logs on it-we wondered if this was a common occurrence?
 
vogelcommando said:
Article about Molly Badham
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I really believe that the blame doesn't lie with the adverts as this implies but with the whole chimps as pets/babies philosophy and the years of mismanagement since, they could have been rehabilitated into suitable social groups twenty plus years ago. I find it irritating, I don't believe the chimps were abused like American entertainment chimps often (?usually ?always?) are but they certainly weren't given the life they deserved.
 
vogelcommando said:
Article about Molly Badham :
Gallery: The zoo that Molly built | Leicester Mercury
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worth looking at for the old photos. The text of the article is as follows. It's a bit wierd, the journalist obviously had a quick skim-read of Chimps With Everything and jotted down some notes, but then just jammed on the last couple of sentences with no context at all.

It all began with a scene plucked straight from the script of 1980s sitcom Never The Twain. Sutton Coldfield pet shop owner Molly Badham fell in love – with a woolly monkey.

It was in the window of Nathalie Evans’ rival store in the West Midlands town. She couldn’t really afford the £35 price tag – but felt she simply had to buy it and grudgingly gave her competitor the trade.

Over the years, the women’s shared love of primates took the sting out of their business hostility. They patched up their differences and joined forces.

They had a bungalow built to house their increasing collection of animals at Hints, near Tamworth.

But before long the constant stream of visitors was upsetting the neighbours. And the straw that broke the camel’s back came when a large antelope escaped into the next-door orchard.

The duo needed to move – and quickly. In 1962, they borrowed £10,000 from the bank to relocate. They settled on a red-brick Victorian house with 12 acres of land in west Leicestershire, and the county’s best-loved tourist attraction was born.

As it was, Twycross Zoo might never have happened. At first, the pair thought the site was an eyesore and too pricey to restore. But when they realised it was all they could afford on their limited budget, they pressed on with the purchase.

The zoo first opened its doors to the public at 3pm on Sunday, May 26, 1963, and life in this small Leicestershire village was never quite the same again.

The car-loads of punters queued up to see the beasts, and to get a glimpse of telly star Jean Morton, one of the original announcers from ATV, who was known to kids across the Midlands as Auntie Jean from the children’s show Tingha and Tucker.

As they settled down to life in the zoo, Molly and Nathalie used to bring chimps in their house for tea parties, which soon became firm favourites with visitors.

PG Tips had been running ad campaigns starring chimps since the mid-1950s and word reached London about the teatime antics at Twycross.

In 1968, Sam the chimp made his TV debut, drinking a cuppa in an advert. It was a hit and a series was born.

Over the years, chimps from the zoo became synonymous with the commercials. Scriptwriters would tell Molly what they wanted the chimps to do – and she would set to work training them.

“It’sh the tashte!” went the old PG Tips slogan. But public tashtes changed.

Recent studies suggest the apes were damaged by the experience.

The zoo now calls itself the World Primate Centre. Molly died in 2007.
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