born free, yet again, criticise london zoo. as always, they seem to position their case based upon assumption and a flawed premise. for starters, they assume that the money ZSL has spent on Gorilla Kingdom would otherwise of been available for in-situ gorilla conservation when clearly this is not the case. spending money on a gorilla habitat in london is not compromising gorilla conservation. the £5 million spent by ZSL is not coming out of a global pot of money for conservation, whereby london is taking money from other organisations.
it is more fair to assume, perhaps, that spending £5 million on gorillas in london will result in more long term benifits for gorilla conservation as ZSL field projects continue.
their attack on ZSL's big at breeding program also ignores the work the zoo is doing across the world for tiger conservation. it may be finding it difficult to breed its tiger, but as ZSL coordinates the EEP for Sumatran tigers and is working actively in Asia to protect tigers IMO it is unfair to allege that london zoo is not making a contribution.
the last few years have seen much progress at london zoo, and more to come. i expect they will sustain and indeed increase visitation in the years to come. ZSL may not be attracting record crowds anymore but it must be said that London now has many more competing tourist attractions, as well as a vastly different domesti tourist culture. recent surges in crowd numbers do indicate that in the future london zoo will remain viable, surely a good thing considering its international portfolio of conservation work.
finally, i dont think london zoo seems squashed or cramped on its site, small as it may be. the deliberate thinning out of the collection, focus on endangered species and movement of many bigger animals as led to a varied range of species better suited to the site.
of the larger animals still kept at london i would rate the majority of their enclosures to be fine or very good.
last week i went to london zoo twice, and im going again on wednesday. here is some news....
the two sumatran tigers are seperate, and as pointed out Raika will be returning from Dudley Zoo soon.
the gorillas are all in together and the group is functioning OK. not as much silverback behaviour from Bobby as one might like to see, but Born Free's labelling of the group as disfunctional clearly shows they do not understand the impoverished life Bobby once led.
on the gorilla side of things, the zoo is taking steps I believe to change the enclosure. because of the success of the enclosure the large number of people visiting the exhibit has become a source of mild aggitation to the animals. BF would probably say this is ZSLs fault but zoos around the world have gorillas with glass viewing areas; i think its probably a combination of factors stressing the animals most of which will settle in time. i would assume that Bobby's upbringing and subsequent changes to the groups would result in stress to him particualrly, plus the extra visitors. the change of environment too could also be a source of stress, as zoos the world over have found that older apes take longer to settle in newer enclosures, no matter hwo much better they might be.
the zoo is monitoring hormones in the animals urine and has put up posters in the large viewing gallery to promote more quiet behviour from visitors. within the indoor area screens of logs provide privacy, and outdoors the vegatation is becoming more established; hiding the hot wires.
those who have been critical of the hot wires should consider that by them being in place london was actually able to create a moat of less width than you traditionally see in zoos, so actually the island is larger and the gorillas have more usable space than they would of if the zoo had tried to build wider moats. in terms of privacy for the animals outdoors the undulating exhibit and screened off area at the back of the exhibit do provide a degree of privacy. it was cold when i visited but on both occassions the animals were foraging quite alot outside. it would be nice to see more overhead vegetation and maybe in time this will come; in the meantime the rampant vegetation at the back has created a forest glade type of atmosphere.
and i think anyone who can remember the old enclosures would agree this is a better setting for the animals, and a more meaningful expression of a gorillas habitat for the people who come to see them.
i was very impressed by the bird house renovation, as well as the clore. the children zoo will be amazing, and quite big, with the development extending right down towards the mappin terraces.
the outback theming of the mappin is, to an australian, quite fine. and i particularly liked the into africa exhibit for its creative approach to heritage listed structures, space limitations and financial constraints. very effective. very london.
